College Music in the Cane Fields: Religion, Americanization, and the Louisiana
Record Book of St Mary’s Brass Band, 1869-1905.

R. Eric Platt
University of Memphis

Abstract

Few scholars explore late nineteenth-/early
twentieth-century music education in the
American South. Even less pay attention to
related phenomena at Southern Catholic
colleges. As such, this study provides an
analysis of the St. Mary’s Brass Band record
book—penned by students attending a
Louisiana Marist institution of higher education
and participating in an early college brass band.
Contextual analysis sheds light on the
intersection of religion, regionality, and
Americanization on college-level music learning
and performance.

Introduction
Music education, as part of the larger US

curricular landscape, has experienced significant
changes, particularly during the nineteenth
century. Historically, nineteenth-century music
instruction could encompass subjects from
individual vocal, piano, and string lessons to
organized wind and percussion ensembles at
schools, colleges, and universities. Indeed,
music education at the collegiate level
underwent numerous transitions during the latter
half of the nineteenth century—of particular
note was the emergence of college brass bands.
Such phenomena have been recounted in
various music education history texts (Mark
2008, Weiss & Taruskin 2007, Keene 1982).
However, music education in the American
South has been under-researched. Southern
states with significant musical legacies, such as
Louisiana, have been largely omitted from the
existing cannon of historical music education
publications. Most history books and articles
focus on music instruction in European
academies and US educational institutions
located in Northern states. While overlooked,

formal music education in the American South
existed during the nineteenth century—
particularly at religiously-affiliated academies.
In South Louisiana, parochial education and
Catholic higher education took root due to the
region’s strong ties to the Catholic Church.
Instructors at the early Catholic academies of
New Orleans and South Louisiana incorporated
music instruction, as did professors at the
region's first Catholic institutions of higher
education (Gray 1991).

While focused examinations of music
education in South Louisiana's Catholic higher
education scene have yet to be performed,
attempts have been made in recent years to
address portions of Louisiana's overall music
education history. In his book, Concert Life in
Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: A
Comprehensive Reference, John H. Baron (2013)
devotes an entire chapter to the subject. Still, the
text only briefly references music instruction in
the state’s Catholic academies. Though Baron
and other historians acknowledge the rise of
American brass bands in antebellum French
Creole Louisiana as well as the Reconstruction-
era growth of African American-led brass bands
(Burns 2006, White 2001), no in-depth research
explores the advent and evolution of music
education in Louisiana’s nineteenth-century
Catholic academies. And yet, nineteenth-century
Catholic brass band activities were common
enough that Baron cited several Reconstruction-
era ensembles, including the Christian Brothers
Parochial School Brass Band, Saint Mary’s
Orphan Boys Asylum Band, the St. Joseph’s
School Brass Band, and St. Mary’s Brass Band
of St. Mary’s Jefferson College (Baron 2013).
St. Mary’s Brass Band is the only ensemble
associated with a Catholic college featured in
Baron’s text, despite the existence of several
regional, period Catholic colleges.



37

Regarding the history of Catholic higher
education in the American South, various
Catholic institutions opened during the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Unfortunately, many closed due to poor
finances, low social support, curricular
intransigence, and failure to compete with state-
supported institutions of higher education.
Historically, the American South was hostile to
the Catholic Church, owing to the region's
predominantly Protestant population, and anti-
Catholicism was a regular occurrence.
Subsequently, Catholic colleges and schools
suffered. Those institutions that experienced
success were located in geographic spaces with
relatively high Catholic populations, such as
New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama.
In addition, several Catholic rural communities
existed in Louisiana that boasted active
nineteenth-century colleges. For example,
Grand Coteau was the site of Louisiana’s first
Catholic college: St. Charles College (founded
1831). Similarly, in 1864, the Society of Mary
(Marists) established St. Mary's Jefferson
College in Convent, Louisiana, the first US
Marist college. At each of the aforementioned
institutions, music was a part of the instructional
paradigm. Regardless, these, and several other
Louisiana Catholic colleges closed for reasons
similar to the above described. Today, three
Catholic institutions of higher education remain
in Louisiana: Loyola University New Orleans,
Xavier University of Louisiana, and University
of Holy Cross—all founded in the early
twentieth century and largely supported by the
Southern metropolis of New Orleans (Manning
2006, Capace 1999).

Given the rise and fall of so many
Southern Catholic colleges, it is no surprise that
their histories have not been properly recorded.
Nor have the histories of their students,
administrators, and curricular activities. Many
higher education origin stories occurred at
colleges that have closed, as is the case with this
study’s subject. What may have been the earliest
Catholic college brass band in the American
South was founded, thrived, and ultimately

perished at the defunct St. Mary’s Jefferson
College, in the heart of Louisiana’s sugar
plantation region. Taking into consideration the
lack of published literature concerning
nineteenth-century music education in South
Louisiana, this study attempts to shed light on
the foundation, development, maintenance, and
evolution of music instruction at a Catholic
college founded at the end of the American
Civil War (1861-1865). As has been mentioned,
US music instruction underwent extensive
instructional and instrumental change during the
latter half of the nineteenth century. Music
education in South Louisiana followed suit.
Though several curricular catalogs and
newspapers advertisements depict late
nineteenth-century music instruction at
Louisiana’s Catholic educational institutions, a
singular archival document sheds light on the
advent and evolution of one early Catholic
college brass ensemble—the record book of St.
Mary’s Brass Band. The record book’s entries,
penned by student secretaries, detail not only the
ensemble’s activities, but also the effects of
regionality, religion, and Americanization on
music instruction.

Figure 1. “St. Mary’s], Jefferson College, La.” c.
1900. Image courtesy of the Archives of the
Society of Mary, Atlanta, GA.



38

Catholic Music Instruction, Louisiana’s
Early Colleges, and the Brass Band
Movement

Recorded accounts of music education
extend back to approximately 500 BCE. As the
western expansion of education progressed, the
Catholic Church not only engaged in
pedagogical practices centered on Catholic
dogma and the spread of Christianity, priests
also permitted music instruction and student
performance as a means to glorify God (Mark &
Gary 2013). With the advent of Protestantism
(1517), religious education for both Catholics
and Protestants progressed simultaneously—
though not always amicably. Though limited to
the offspring of affluent men and women or
those associated with clerical training,
religiously-affiliated education spread
throughout Europe with music affixed to
curricular designs (Sternfeld 1948). From the
1603 establishment of the first Catholic school
in colonial American by Franciscan Friars (St.
Augustine, Florida), music instruction was
attached to New World parochial education in
the form of vocal and instrumental instruction
(Gray 1991). Though US Catholic education
experienced waves of Anti-Catholicism,
Catholic schools and colleges persisted. While
Northern states such as Maryland, Michigan,
and New York experienced significant Catholic
numbers, most Southern states, save geographic
regions formerly located in French or Spanish
colonial territories (South Louisiana, South
Alabama, Coastal Mississippi), played host to
smaller Catholic populations (Woods 2011). In
1725, the first Catholic school opened in New
Orleans. One of the academy’s genesis
instructors was a music teacher, Pierre Fleurtet
(Baudier 1939).

Though state-supported higher education
had been a part of the Louisiana landscape since
the founding of the Collège d’Orléans in 1812,
chartered Catholic colleges in Louisiana did not
emerge until 1837. That year, members of the
Society of Jesus (Jesuits) established St. Charles
College. Soon after, Jesuits founded the College
of the Immaculate Conception in New Orleans

(1849). At these Catholic colleges, music
instruction was included (Platt 2014). As
Louisiana’s educational scene progressed
through the antebellum period, music instruction
evolved from song and occasional violin lessons
to include brass and percussion instruments.
Though music was taught in regional parochial
schools and colleges, most music instruction
was conducted by private tutors. During the
early nineteenth century, private music
instructors advertised their pedagogical services
in newspapers (Baron 2013). Private music
tutors offered their services to affluent families
and often taught in area plantation homes (Pryor
1981). Regardless of the occurrence of private,
home-based music instruction, formalized music
education remained a part of South Louisiana’s
Catholic schools and colleges.

As the US music scene progressed, so
did instrumentation and instruction. During the
1840s and 1850s, the United States experienced
a surge in industrialization and agricultural
wealth. It also experienced an increase in public
music performances and the recasting of
traditional instruments in group ensembles.
Public events, parades, promenades, and concert
halls (formerly reserved for string and vocal
performances) witnessed the birth of the
American brass band. Early brass bands were
small groups of male performers who played
cornets, valved trombones, early tubas, drums,
and cymbals. They provided music to the public
(something that was historically reserved for
private homes or ticketed events) and played
marches or brass arrangements of popular
period tunes (Newsome 1998).

As brass bands became commonplace,
such ensembles were incorporated into US
military units as well as college campuses.
Perhaps the earliest establishment of a college
brass band in South Louisiana was at Centenary
College in Jackson, Louisiana. Despite
Louisiana’s French heritage, Jackson, located in
East Feliciana Parish, was largely populated by
Anglo-Americans representing other Southern
States such as Virginia and South Carolina.
Following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase,



39

Protestant Anglo-Americans moved to
Louisiana en masse to profit from the sugar
industry (Rehder 1999). This new population of
Anglo-American Southerners steadily increased
throughout the antebellum period, affecting the
region's cultural and political landscape. When
the Collège d’Orléans closed in 1825, Anglo-
American legislatures plied for state funding to
found a new academy in Jackson. Funds were
granted and Louisiana College opened in 1825.
That same year Anglo-American legislatures
converted the instructional language used in
regional schools from French to English.
Outraged, Catholic French Creoles put forth
funds to establish an institution that would
venerate French Creole heritage. The result was
Jefferson College, located in the French Creole
populated St. James Parish, surrounded by fields
of sugarcane and plantation vistas (Morgan
2008, Platt 2017)

When Louisiana College closed in 1845,
the campus was purchased by the Methodist
Episcopal Church in 1846 and renamed
Centenary College. American traditions and
practices were commonplace at the Protestant-
affiliated institution. In 1851, the college’s
administration ordered a cadre of brass
instruments to establish a band under the
direction of a US music educator, Mr. Blackmar
(Gipson 2002). At antebellum French Creole
Jefferson College, however, music instruction
was relegated to the periphery (Statutes, Plan of
Education, and Rules, Adopted in Jefferson
College, Louisiana 18—?). Despite French
Creole pride in Jefferson College, funding
dropped following the 1837 agricultural panic
and a crippling campus fire in 1842. Due to
rebuilding debts and poor financial support,
Jefferson College closed in 1848. In 1853, the
college was reopened under the administration
of French immigrant and educator, Louis Dufau.
However, owing again to poor social support the
college closed in 1856 (Carriere 1974). Three
years later, regional planters revived the
institution once more, only to have it close for a
third time in 1862, due to the Civil War. Fearing
that the college would be converted into a

freedman’s school by Union authorities, planters
offered the campus to the Society of Mary
(Marists) who reopened the institution in 1864
as St. Mary’s Jefferson College (De Sennegy
1877). Prior to the Marist arrival, music
instruction under each of the former Jefferson
College regimes was maintained by private
instructors via individual lessons.

After the Civil War, brass band
popularity significantly increased due to the
connection with Confederate and Union military
units and the need to improve regional morale in
the wake of Southern war losses, emancipation,
and political reconstruction. As local colleges
became symbols for community pride and
celebration, festivals tied to campus life became
sought after for entertainment. As a result, brass
bands formed at colleges across the American
South. Additionally, as military instruction was
a fixture at several Southern colleges prior to
and after the Civil War, brass bands were often
affixed to student cadet corps, donned similar
uniforms, and led student military units in
parades, competitions, and commencement
ceremonies. The same was true at various
Southern Catholic colleges (Andrew 2001; Platt,
McGee, King 2016).

With the end of the Civil War, French
Creole plantation wealth was ruined, as were the
fortunes of various Anglo-American families.
Anglo-American culture had slowly subsumed
French Creole culture during the late antebellum
period due to the increase in Anglo-Americans
relocating to the sugar parishes between New
Orleans and Baton Rouge. As Reconstruction-
era French Creoles sold plantation properties to
American sugar corporations and
representatives from Northern states, South
Louisiana’s sugar region was further
Americanized (Rehder 1991, Rodrigue 2001).
Soo too was regional curricula. After the war,
South Louisiana college curricula shifted from
wholly liberal arts to encompass science,
commercialism, and brass band instruction. To
compete with regional private and state-
supported institutions of higher education, the
Marist administrators of St. Mary’s Jefferson



40

College incorporated new curricular and
extracurricular trends such as business
management, accounting, mechanical science,
football, baseball, debate, cadet training, and
even student journalism (Platt 2017).
St. Mary’s Brass Band and the St. Mary’s
Brass Band Record Book

Before the establishment of athletics and
military training at St. Mary’s Jefferson College,
one particular Americanism significantly
influenced the institution. In 1869, several brass
instruments were ordered from France by the
college’s Marist administrators. “On January
22nd, 1869, . . . sixteen brass instruments, one
bass drum, a pair of symbols [sic], three snare
drums, and a triangle” arrived at the campus.
That same year, St. Mary’s Brass Band was
established under the direction of three Marist
priests: Jean-Baptist Bigot, Antoine Halbwachs,
and Antoine Pompallier. The purpose in
establishing the ensemble was “to encourage the
study of music to afford the members of that
philharmonic society an agreeable and useful
pastime during the year and add solemnity and
spirit by their performances to the celebration of
the Religious and Literary festivals of the
College” (Blanc 1878, 6). The brass band
comprised the majority of music education at
the rural Catholic academy. In time, a small
string orchestra was operated in addition to the
brass ensemble, but it never gained the
popularity of St. Mary’s Brass Band. In 1878,
the ensemble’s new director, Father George S.
Rapier, ordered a custom record book from the
Mobile Register Bindery in South Alabama to
record the ensemble’s activities.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, student record books, diaries, etc.
were not uncommon. Various examples exist in
academic archives or have been published as
edited and annotated volumes (Dabney 1863-
1869, Jeffrey 2016). Even so, detailed record
books kept by students regarding singular extra-
curricular organizations—in this case a music
ensemble—are not as common. The record
book of St. Mary’s Brass Band comprises 250

Figure 2. “St. Mary’s Brass Band [Record
Book], Jefferson College, La.” 1878-1905.
Image courtesy of the Archives of the Society of
Mary, Atlanta, GA.

lined and numbered pages, almost two-hundred
of which contain copious written documentation
that depicts more than three decades of student
memory, musical performances, and related
activities. When directorship of the brass band
was turned over to a US music educator in 1882,
members of the brass band were encouraged to
engage in a level of student leadership and
decision making that had been unheard of in
other, similar music organizations at regional
Catholic schools and colleges—the election of
student leaders by majority vote, music
selection and performance by vote, and the
maintenance of ensemble record keeping, which
had first been established under the directorship
of Father Rapier. The first entry in the record
book was penned by the brass band’s 1878
student secretary, J. C. S. Blanc. The opening
entry extols the ensemble’s history, rules
and regulations, and list of the band’s twenty
members. Finally, the entry ends with the names
of eight “aspirants” who practiced with the



41

ensemble, but would not perform with the group
until their musical talents improved sufficiently
to warrant full membership. Each subsequent
page provides colorful details of student
festivals, Catholic bazaars, funeral parades,
Mardi Gras celebrations, commencement
ceremonies, changes in instrumentation, the
results of student elections, etc., accompanied
by or associated with the college brass band.

As time passed, music selections
performed by the brass band reflected local
cultural changes. In this historically French
Creole region influenced by nineteenth-century
Paris, music often displayed aspects of French
culture. However, as the band progressed into
the late 1800s, music selections and
performances changed to reflect regional
Americanization trends. Though the
Americanization of St. Mary’s Brass Band is
evident in the ensemble’s record book, regional
changes related to the nineteenth-century influx
of German and Irish immigrants are also
apparent. While French Creole influence gave
way to an Americanized music repertoire,
religion, in this case Catholicism, remained
omnipresent throughout the lifespan of the
student organization. A detailed analysis of the
record book’s myriad entries illustrates three
aspects germane to the existence and evolution
of music education at a South Louisiana
Catholic college in the latter-half of the
nineteenth/early twentieth century: religion,
regionality, and Americanization. As a record of
a Catholic academy situated in Louisiana’s
French Creole sugar plantation region slowly
acclimating to Anglo-American culture,
numerous instances in this significant primary
source showcase how religion, regionality, and
Americanization each influenced music
education and performance.

Religion
When St. Mary’s Brass Band was

founded in 1869, the student ensemble was
organized under the patronage of St. Mary.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also a patron
saint of St. Mary’s Jefferson College. In

addition to honoring Mary, the ensemble also
venerated the Holy Family. The names Jesus,
Mary, and Joseph are often inscribed on record
book pages via the acronym “JMJ.” Such
symbolism did much to link the brass band to
the college and to the Catholic Church.
Reflecting these continuing ties, Father Henry
Gaud, president of the Marist college (1870-
1874), presented the ensemble with a “costly
banner” that was blessed during a high mass at
the campus chapel (Blanc 1878). Religious
symbolism is evident in the record book, but
equally important are the entries recounting the
group's participation in Catholic ceremonies and
festivals. The brass band regularly performed at
fairs and fundraising bazaars in support of local
churches such as St. James Church in Vacherie,
Louisiana, nearby St. Michael’s Church in the
town of Convent, and Holy Name of Mary
Church in Algiers, across the Mississippi River
from New Orleans (Tuxillo 1886, Derivas 1892,
Middleton 1895).

Figure 3. “St. Mary’s Brass Band [Record
Book], Jefferson College, La.” 1878-1879 rules
entry. Image courtesy of the Archives of the
Society of Mary, Atlanta, GA.



42

Likewise, the band often led the campus
procession of Corpus Christi near the end of
each academic year, as well as processions
associated with the Feast of the Assumption of
Mary in August (Lacassagne 1883). In 1886, the
band’s student secretary, Robert Truxillo,
recorded that year’s Feast of Corpus Christi, the
associated religious pomp and circumstance,
and the ensemble’s role in venerating the Body
of Christ: “The band was called to order in front
of the [campus] Chapel; to join in the
procession. . . . Immediately following the
cross . . . [came] the banner of St. Mary’s Brass
Band . . . followed by the Sodalists, headed by
their banner . . . and lastly the clergy. . .” (1886,
June 24) St. Mary’s Brass Band became a
regular fixture at campus and local religious
celebrations. The band so often performed at
holy services that archbishops and other
religious leaders commented on the ensemble’s
ability.

In 1885 the brass band performed for
Father James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore,
Maryland. The following year, the ensemble
performed for Sénior Staniero, a delegate from
Rome (E. Rapier 1886). In March of 1888, New
Orleans Archbishop Francis Janssens visited the
college and “administered the sacrament of
confirmation to about 24 boys.” When Janssens
arrived, the band “burst forth in a loud but
harmonious strain.” The archbishop was so
taken by the band’s performance that he
requested their presence at a similar
confirmation ceremony at the nearby Convent of
the Sacred Heart. After the ceremony, “the boys
immediately fell into ranks, and another march
was played during the retreating procession. The
Band marched under a small tree which
afforded but a scanty shade, and there prepared
to give a concert.” Janssens heaped so much
praise on St. Mary’s Brass Band that the student
musicians offered up “three cheers for the Arch-
Bishop [sic]” (Dornier 1888, March 14).

St. Mary’s Brass Band performed not
only for sacramental ceremonies, but also for
marriages, funerals, and Catholic processions
that honored the deceased. When Father Rapier,

the band’s former director and college president
died in 1887, the ensemble not only
accompanied the mass for the repose of Rapier’s
soul, they marched and played at the front of his
funeral procession. They continued to play
while Rapier’s body was interred in a crypt next
to the campus chapel (Lauve 1887). Likewise,
the band regularly attended and performed for
the November 1st Feast of All Saints, in
veneration of the faithfully departed. The band’s
secretary, Sidney Montéguh, recorded events
related to the group’s cemetery performance:
“In the evening the sorrowing train [of people]
moved towards the graveyard where Reverend
Father Mandy preached an eloquent sermon . . .
The sermon being finished, the auditors, most of
them now ‘with beads of sorrow on their
cheeks,’ took a farewell parting to the city of the
dead. With weary steps and sorrowed hearts, we
arrived at College there to meditate on what we
had seen and heard during the course of the
day” (1887, November 1). In 1894, additional
details about the band’s presence at the annual
Feast of All Saints were recounted: “There were
many eyes dimmed with tears [at the cemetery].
The crowd then repaired to the church lawn
where the Band played several lively pieces to
allay their spirits” (Coco 1894, November 1).

The presence of St. Mary’s Brass Band
at the annual mourning rituals, as well as other
Catholic festivals and services, illustrates the
influence of religion on the ensemble’s music
selection, regular practices to perfect
appropriate compositions, and promotion of the
college’s strong Catholic affiliation. This strong
influence is perhaps unsurprising, for as
previously mentioned, Catholicism in South
Louisiana was and remains an important part of
regional culture. Aspects of Catholicism
intertwined with the area’s French Creole
heritage, Irish and German immigrant culture, as
well as the ethos influenced by Southern
secession, the Confederacy, and post-Civil War
society.



43

Regionality
Catholicism has long been a part of Louisiana’s
cultural heritage. So too has Francophilia,
Confederate “lost cause” sympathies, and
aspects of Southern history tied to racism and
segregation. Though Louisiana became a US
state in 1812, many of its nineteenth-century
residents claimed a lineage that crossed the
Atlantic Ocean. As many St. Mary’s Jefferson
College students were part of French Creole
families, they, like their progenitors, heralded
France as the mother of Louisiana. In 1869,
members of St. Mary’s Brass Band performed
the “Marseillaise” and “Galop de la Bande
Noire” to acknowledge regional ties to Paris.
While the band occasionally played French
music, the ensemble also performed pieces that
resonated with other Louisiana immigrant
populations. The band sometimes played
“Wearing of the Green” (Blanc 1878), which
was popular with Irish individuals who
immigrated to Louisiana during the nineteenth
century (Kelley 2014). Furthermore, in post-
Civil War Louisiana, music that venerated the
Confederacy was often performed.

In 1870, St. Mary’s Brass Band
performed “Overture [to] Stonewall Jackson,” in
veneration of the Confederate General.
Similarly, in 1872, brass band members played
“Dixie’s Land,” a famed pro-Confederate tune
(Blanc 1878). When former Confederate
officers visited the college, brass band members
heralded their arrival with musical scores that
venerated the Confederate Lost Cause. In 1887,
Louisiana governor Francis Tillou Nicholls,
former Confederate brigadier general (Dawson
1990), visited the Marist college to review the
campus and its academic activities. The band’s
secretary recorded the following regarding
Nicholls’ arrival: “The college threw open her
massive doors to receive an honorable visitant,
Francis T. Nicholls . . . a true patriot—one who
was, in turn, a brave warrior . . . who stood with
unflinching hand at the helm of his cherished
country to guide her free-born sons in the broad
pathway of duty and virtue.” The student
secretary not only regarded Nicholls as a

Southern patriot, but also one who defended the
Confederacy and its “free born” white citizens.
Nicholls was moved by the musical reception
and requested that the college president declare
the rest of the day a holiday (Montéguh 1887,
November). US archbishops, Louisiana
governors, and even local celebrities appear to
have frequented the campus of St. Mary’s
Jefferson College. For example, in 1891 the
famed female journalist for the New Orleans-
based Times Picayune newspaper, Martha Field,
visited the campus while writing about late-
nineteenth-century sugar plantation life. During
her visit, Field (who wrote under the pseudonym
Catherine Cole) was afforded the opportunity to
listen to the college brass band (McLaughlin &
McLaughlin 2006). Thereafter, she wrote a
positive review of the ensemble in her
newspaper column (Brou 1891).

Interest in South Louisiana’s post-Civil-
War plantation vestiges brought many tourists to
the sugar parishes. Travelers not only
commented on the region’s sugarcane crop, they
also recognized the importance of the
Mississippi River to local residents. Indeed, the
river not only influenced agriculture, but also
the travel performances of St. Mary’s Brass
Band. Ensemble members often practiced
marching while playing their instruments on the
winding road adjacent to the river. The brass
band’s secretary recorded that residents watched
the ensemble march by playing a crowd favorite,
“Les Dragons de La Reine” (1886). The tune,
composed by Austrian pianist and 1867 New
York immigrant, Heinrich Maylath, honored the
queen of France’s personal guard (Remy 1919).
Not only did the brass band practice on the river
road, they also traversed the waterway to
perform for social events. Multiple record book
entries reference traveling and performing on
“floating palace” river boats (Blanc 1878,
Groetsch 1893).

Student secretaries wrote about trips on
steamboats such as the Pelican to perform at
plantation picnics (Points 1898). At the home of
Hector Hymel, the band played to a local crowd.
Thereafter, “the band proceeding to a large oak,



44

where a sumptuous meal awaited them. The
boys were well treated and enjoyed themselves
exceedingly well.” That evening, the band
“marched as far as Thibodaux’s, where they
were invited to take a glass of wine” (Groetsch
1893, February 5). Alcohol was commonplace
at South Louisiana festivals and brass band
students often recorded their enjoyment of both.
At one particular event, the band’s student
secretary Leon J. Coco recorded, “We were
indeed very hospitably treated. At 11 we were
given an excellent supper. Our appetites were as
sharp as swords and we did ample justice to the
meal. Punch, soda, lemonade, beer and even
champagne were at our demand” (1894,
September 16).

Recollections of local celebrations and
social gatherings fill the pages of the record
book. During the Christmas season, the band
marched from the college campus to the earthen
levees that flanked the Mississippi River.
Bonfires roared atop the levees while the band
played festive overtures and marches for
onlookers who attended the annual tradition
(Bourgeois January 6, 1884). Similarly, the
ensemble participated in yearly Mardi Gras
parades and festivities (Lacassagne 1883).
Though these regional traditions long influenced
the performances of St. Mary's Brass Band, the
Americanization of South Louisiana continued.
By the end of the nineteenth century the
ensemble reflected more American traditions
than it had in the past.

Americanization
As early as 1869, St. Mary’s Brass Band

began playing US favorites such as John
Howard Payne’s “Home, Sweet Home” (Blanc
1878). Payne was an American actor and singer
who made the tune popular following its
inclusion in the 1823 opera, Clari, or the Maid
of Milan (Sylvester 1922). That same year, the
band played “Hail Columbia,” one of the
unofficial US anthems prior to the 1931
adoption of the “Star-Spangled Banner” (Blanc
1878, Collins 2003). Excerpts from European
composers popular in America during the latter

half of the nineteenth century were often
performed by the college band. Pieces such as
the overture from the Barber of Seville and the
“Anvil Chorus” were heard at events that
featured the ensemble.

As in the American South, racism
permeated the larger sphere of nineteenth-
century US society. Racist aspects often
appeared in music composed by Northerners as
well as Southerners. For example, during the
1870s, the brass band played “Shoo Fly, Don’t
Bother Me” by American composer T. Brigham
Bishop (Blanc 1878). Bishop composed the
song during the Civil War while in command of
a Union African-American military unit.
Originally, the song contained racial slurs and
references to Bishop’s regiment—Company G
(Macintyre 1916). As music selections and
performances were influenced by
Americanization, so too was the ensemble’s
organizational structure and operation.

In 1882, directorship of the band was
turned over to an American musician and music
educator, Professor F. Greene (Lacassagne
1883). When Greene assumed directorship, he
introduced another facet of Americanization:
democracy. Despite the democratic state
governmental conversion of Louisiana in 1812,
local Catholic organizations remained
authoritarian. St. Mary’s Jefferson College was
similarly governed with Marist priests
comprising all high-level administrative
positions. Even so, the continued
Americanization of South Louisiana caused the
region’s cultural stance to favor collective voice
in lieu of strict dictatorial leadership. While the
Marist college’s administrative structure
resembled the hierarchical norm of the Catholic
Church, student organizations such as St.
Mary’s Brass Band experienced an increase in
democratic practices.

During the early 1880s, yearly
democratic elections for student president, vice
president, secretary, and treasurer were
incorporated (Lacassagne 1882, Middleton 1894,
Nargassans 1905). Likewise, if an aspirant
wished to join the performing group, he had to



45

Figure 4. “St. Mary’s Brass Band,” c 1903.
Image courtesy of the Archives of the Society of
Mary, Atlanta, GA.

formally apply, audition, and be voted in by
existing ensemble members. Organizational
rules and monetary fines for infractions were
also decided by vote (Lacassagne 1883,
Bourgeois 1885). The group went so far to
ensure a collective, democratic voice by having
the student secretary submit draft reports for
peer review before they were entered into the
record book (Landry 1889).

In addition to democracy, other aspects
of Americanization influenced the brass band.
American militarism was common at Southern
colleges during the nineteenth century.
Militarism at St. Mary’s Jefferson College, on
the other hand, seems to have begun with the
brass band. Military marches had been popular
among brass band members since the 1870s.
During the 1890s, the organization adopted
several marches composed by “The March
King,” John Phillip Sousa, director of the US
Marine Band. The group performed Sousa’s “In
Memoriam: President Garfield’s Funeral
March” to honor college presidents that passed
away (Middleton 1895). The band played other
Sousa marches such as “The Bells of Chicago”
and “Red, White, and Blue” (a sobriquet for
“Stars and Stripes Forever”) at campus
ceremonies (Points 1898).

Just as American militarism influenced
the band, so too did American athletics. Due to
the proliferation of college sports in the

American South (baseball and football in
particular), brass bands often performed at
athletic events. The same was true for St.
Mary’s Brass Band. Indeed, a popular tune
played by the ensemble during the 1880s and
1890s was titled “Base-Ball” (Truxillo 1885). In
1901, it was recorded that the ensemble
performed at regional athletic events including
St. Mary’s Jefferson College baseball games as
well as local Catholic academy sporting events.
At the end of these athletic events, the band
would play “Home Sweet Home” if requested
by the crowd (Broussard 1901).

Towards the end of the nineteenth
century, additional elements of Americanization
became evident at the Marist college and were
observable in the brass band. In the 1890s, cadet
training was incorporated at St. Mary’s
Jefferson College. Student cadets, along with
members of the brass band, donned fatigues
similar to West Point uniforms. The band was
thereafter attached to the college cadets and led
the uniform-clad students in military drills
(Groetsch 1893). Donning military attire,
members of St. Mary’s Brass Band performed
on national holidays including the January 8th
holiday that commemorated President Andrew
Jackson’s victory at the 1812 Battle of New
Orleans. Per the band’s student secretary: “Just
as the blush of morn began to mantle in the East,
the old Jefferson bell tolled the dawn of that
legal holiday which commemorated the birth of
American freedom. . . . [T]he sun, emerging
from the eastern horizon, shed the blithesome
rays of liberty over the fantastic oaks & white
washed walls of our beloved Alma Mater. That
pride which animated our forefathers roused the
spirits of every student. The band rendered a
few national airs & was enthusiastically
applauded” (Broussard 1902, January 8).

Though St. Mary’s Brass Band entered
the twentieth century playing military marches
and newly-learned American rag-time tunes, the
ensemble languished in the early twentieth
century. In 1900, Professor Greene stepped
down as director and Professor L. Staiert, a
recent European immigrant, assumed the



46

position. Staiert, it would appear, did not share
Greene’s enthusiasm for record keeping or the
brass band in general. From 1901 until 1905,
detailed student secretary recording keeping
dramatically decreased. In 1905 the record book
ends with a list of that year’s 29 brass band
members (Nargassans 1905). From 1906 until
Staiert resigned in 1912, the brass band
performed sporadically. The college’s orchestra,
however, took center stage as Stairt seemed to
prefer European orchestral traditions to
American brass band instruction. Thereafter, the
ensemble experienced almost yearly
directorship turnover (“St. Mary’s Jefferson
College Catalogs” 1900-1920). Many of these
new music educators were also European
immigrants who paid little or no attention to the
college brass band. Instead, they highlighted
orchestral instruction and performance. While
the brass band diminished, St. Mary’s Jefferson
College was also weakening. Due to curricular
competition with large, regional public and
private universities such as Tulane University of
Louisiana and Louisiana State University, St.
Mary’s Jefferson College began to decline. In
1927, the Mississippi River rose to an
unprecedented level and flooded South
Louisiana’s agricultural region. Countless
livelihoods were lost and the Marist college was
further diminished. The college closed that year,
ending more than six decades of Catholic higher
education in the sugar parishes (Platt 2017).

Conclusion
After the closure of St. Mary’s Jefferson

College, all related records, including the record
book of St. Mary’s Brass Band, were sent to the
Marist archives in Washington, D.C. During the
twentieth century, the archives were relocated to
the Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia. Until
now, the record book has gone largely
unexamined. Despite the myriad details
provided about the band, no significant accounts
of national politics, regional social class
struggles, or elements regarding race or gender
were recorded by student secretaries. Only one
entry makes note of race. On May 29, 1886, the

ensemble attended a fair at St. James Catholic
Church. While there, the student group
witnessed a “band of Colored Musicians”
passing by the churchyard (Truxillo 1886, May
29). Likewise, aspects related to gender are
mentioned infrequently. A handful of entries
mention female students attending the local
Sacred Heart Convent school. It appears that the
record book reflects the limited world in which
the students of St. Mary’s Jefferson College
lived, confined to the events of rural campus life
and local performance venues set amidst the
backdrop of sugarcane fields and Americanized
South Louisiana culture.

Still, this significant primary source
allows for unique insights concerning student
life and music education at a South Louisiana
Catholic college. Despite the closure of St.
Mary’s Jefferson College and the end of St.
Mary’s Brass Band, the brass band movement
had taken hold at other colleges and universities
across the American South. Though the Marist
college brass band no longer exists, the
organization’s detailed record book does much
to illustrate more than three decades of social
and music education evolution as influenced by
religion, regionality, and the Americanization of
higher education in the sugar parishes of French
Creole Louisiana.

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