Though he may not be a household name in this day and age, 19th century march composer and bandleader R.B. (Robert Browne) Hall has an international reputation, and an important place in the history of Bangor and in Maine in general. So much so, that the last Saturday of June in Maine each year is designated R.B. Hall Day, and is celebrated with a yearly gathering of community bands, in a different town each year.
This year’s R.B. Hall will be organized by the Bangor Band and celebrated in Bangor for the first time in nearly 20 years. This year’s event is set for Saturday, June 25, at Peakes Auditorium at Bangor High School, and will feature 11 bands in total.
Hall for much of the 1880s conducted the Bangor Band and wrote a number of marches dedicated to the Queen City. And yet, many folks have no idea who he was. So who was he?
R.B. Hall was born in Bowdoinham in 1858, and died in Portland in 1907. He was a lifelong Mainer and almost never left the state — but the hundreds of marches he composed in his 50 years put him in league with the other major march composers of the era.
“He may not be as formative as John Philip Sousa, but he’s certainly a major composer,” said Lori Wingo, president of the Bangor Band. “And he’s incredibly popular in the U.K. The British love him. His marches are still played regularly. People sometimes think he’s English, but he’s not. He’s a Mainer.”
During his years in Bangor, Hall conducted the Bangor Band — which, by the 1880s, was in danger of disbanding.
“He singlehandedly saved the Bangor Band way back in the 1880s, from going the way that so many other community bands went after the Civil War,” said Wingo. “After the war these guys needed something to do, so they formed drill teams and military-style bands. But after 20 years or so, the interest started to wane and a lot of these bands started to die out.”
Hall made sure the Band kept going — and considering this year the Bangor Band celebrates its 157th consecutive year, he was pretty successful at it.
There are lots of stories about Hall and the Bangor Band that survive to this day. The Band gave Hall a gold-plated cornet inscribed to him from the “grateful citizens of Bangor,” which is still housed in a museum in Waterville. Wingo has heard a story about Hall — who suffered a stroke during the last decade of his life that left him unable to walk — riding with the Band on a barge that sailed down river from Bangor to Stockton Springs, playing for crowds gathered on the riverbank. According to legend, when the Band disembarked in Stockton, they forgot to bring Hall with them. After several hours someone finally remembered to get him.
“He was an integral part of the history of this band,” said Wingo. “It’s very important for us to recognize the man. You can’t look at him, and the Bangor Band in general, and see the connection to community and tradition and service. We’ve very mindful of that.”
Wingo believes Hall would be very pleased with the current state of the Bangor Band, which has nearly doubled in size over the past few years, from a low of 35 players to 65 in 2016.
For R.B. Hall Day on June 25, the community bands from all over the state set to perform include the Brewer Hometown Band, the Brooklin Band, the Hallowell Community Band, the Lincolnville Band, the R.B. Hall Memorial Band, the Maine Pops Concert Band, the Casco Band Wind Symphony, the Bath Municipal Band, the Westbrook City Band, the Sebasticook Valley Community Band and the Skowhegan Community Band. Also, at around 1 p.m., every player from every band is invited to get on the stage at Peakes to perform an R.B. Hall composition.
“Anyone that wants to play can jump onstage and we can all play together,” said Wingo. “It’ll be quite a show.”
R.B. Hall Day kicks off bright and early at 9 a.m. on June 25, and will go all day until the Bangor Band plays at 5:30 p.m. The event is free, though donations are welcome. The Bangor Band also plays at 7 p.m. every Tuesday in locations throughout the Bangor area, through Aug. 16. For more information, visit bangorband.org.
