[Sheet music] Torchlight parade march

Sheet music for the instrumental march titled 'Torchlight Parade March', written by the Australian composer Thomas Bulch. This instrumental piece appears to have first been published in Australia around 1909, with this copy dating from about 1910.

This copy of the sheet music features a pink cover with decorative patterns and the title of the song printed in green font. Underneath, appears the name of the composer printed in stylised lettering. This copy was printed in England and published by the Australian publishers, Allan & Co. It sold for 2/-.

The inside cover features an advertising preview of music for the song titled 'Merry Bells', composed by Henry Bollman. The following page features the same design as the front cover but with a white background. The inside back cover includes two additional advertising previews of musical pieces titled 'Melodie d'Amour' by H. Englemann and 'Silver Brooklet' by J. L. Truax. The back cover contains an ‘imperial edition of educational works’ comprising numerous classical albums of sheet music and finger exercises for piano and violin that were available from Allan & Co.

Before the First World War Thomas Edward Bulch formed a private band of musicians in Ballarat, which later went on to become the Ballarat City Brass Band. He was also jointly responsible for establishing the South Street Band Contest in Ballarat. This band still exists today, as does the Albury Town Band and the West Geelong Brass Band of which he also served as bandmaster. Bulch enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force with the provision he remain in Australia. During the war, his music shop in Melbourne was vandalised because he was selling German sheet music published before the war. His son, Thomas Edward Bulch, served with the 23rd Infantry Battalion and was bandmaster of the 23rd Battalion Band. He died of wounds in France on 20 June 1916.


Towards the bottom of this page is a sound recording of this sheet music, or a parody, that was created as part of the Music and the First World War project. More information about this recording, including names of the performers, can be found on the catalogue record for the sound recording. A link to the catalogue record for the sound recording can be found at the bottom of this page, under the heading ‘Related objects’ where it can be identified with the prefix [sound recording].