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The Victors
"The Victors" is the fight song of the University of Michigan. Michigan student Louis Elbel wrote the song in 1898 after the football team's victory over the University of Chicago, which clinched an undefeated season and the Western Conference championship.
An abbreviated version of the song, based on its final refrain, is played at University of Michigan sporting events and functions. "The Victors" is considered one of the greatest college fight songs ever written.
"The Victors" was written by University of Michigan student Louis Elbel in 1898 following the 12–11 football victory over the University of Chicago that clinched the Western Conference championship on Thanksgiving at Chicago's Stagg Field. Singing "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" after the game—then considered school's unofficial fight song—Elbel felt the event should be "dignified by something more elevating for this was no ordinary victory." With that in mind, Elbel wrote "The Victors" in the style of a military march on the train ride back to Ann Arbor.
Elbel and a student orchestra made the first public performance of "The Victors" on April 5, 1899, during A Night Off, an on-campus undergraduate musical. It was received well, with the audience requesting an encore. Three days later in Ann Arbor, the song was performed during a concert by United States Marine Band leader and "March King" John Philip Sousa. Sousa held the song in high regard: "No one but a master of counterpoint could have conceived the splendid harmony that marks the composition throughout," the bandleader said.
After Michigan temporarily withdrew from the Western Conference in 1907, a new Michigan fight song, "Varsity," was written in 1911 because the line "champions of the West" was no longer applicable. Both songs were popular, but with Michigan's reentry to the Western Conference in 1917, followed by an undefeated football season in 1918, "The Victors" was readopted permanently.
During World War I, both German and French military bands played the song. The U.S. 125th Infantry Band played the song in 1918 as Michigan soldiers entered defeated Germany. In the 1920s, an alternate set of lyrics were penned by an unknown author.
Elbel returned for Michigan's homecoming yearly to lead the band in playing "The Victors" until his death in 1959. In 1961, the Michigan Band went on a world tour in 31 countries with "The Victors" as a selection played.
Elbel copyrighted "The Victors" in early 1899. In 1983, Michigan marching band alumnus George Anderson found that the song's trio bore a strong resemblance to George Rosenberg's "The Spirit of Liberty March," which was copyrighted in 1898. Jim Henriksen, another band alumnus, wrote "The Authorship of 'The Victors March'" paper covering the various theories about the similarities indicating that none would be proved to be true. Former U-M Band Alumni president Joseph Dobos considered Elbel the only author, which received support from Bill Studwell, author of College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology, as many composers borrowed from each other. Dobos also wrote the "Did Louis Elbel Write 'The Victors'?" essay for the band alumni publication M-Fanfare fall 2007 issue indicating that Victors was more "tightly composed" than "Spirit" and was a "circus" march while "Spirit" was a "two-step."
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The Victors
"The Victors" is the fight song of the University of Michigan. Michigan student Louis Elbel wrote the song in 1898 after the football team's victory over the University of Chicago, which clinched an undefeated season and the Western Conference championship.
An abbreviated version of the song, based on its final refrain, is played at University of Michigan sporting events and functions. "The Victors" is considered one of the greatest college fight songs ever written.
"The Victors" was written by University of Michigan student Louis Elbel in 1898 following the 12–11 football victory over the University of Chicago that clinched the Western Conference championship on Thanksgiving at Chicago's Stagg Field. Singing "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" after the game—then considered school's unofficial fight song—Elbel felt the event should be "dignified by something more elevating for this was no ordinary victory." With that in mind, Elbel wrote "The Victors" in the style of a military march on the train ride back to Ann Arbor.
Elbel and a student orchestra made the first public performance of "The Victors" on April 5, 1899, during A Night Off, an on-campus undergraduate musical. It was received well, with the audience requesting an encore. Three days later in Ann Arbor, the song was performed during a concert by United States Marine Band leader and "March King" John Philip Sousa. Sousa held the song in high regard: "No one but a master of counterpoint could have conceived the splendid harmony that marks the composition throughout," the bandleader said.
After Michigan temporarily withdrew from the Western Conference in 1907, a new Michigan fight song, "Varsity," was written in 1911 because the line "champions of the West" was no longer applicable. Both songs were popular, but with Michigan's reentry to the Western Conference in 1917, followed by an undefeated football season in 1918, "The Victors" was readopted permanently.
During World War I, both German and French military bands played the song. The U.S. 125th Infantry Band played the song in 1918 as Michigan soldiers entered defeated Germany. In the 1920s, an alternate set of lyrics were penned by an unknown author.
Elbel returned for Michigan's homecoming yearly to lead the band in playing "The Victors" until his death in 1959. In 1961, the Michigan Band went on a world tour in 31 countries with "The Victors" as a selection played.
Elbel copyrighted "The Victors" in early 1899. In 1983, Michigan marching band alumnus George Anderson found that the song's trio bore a strong resemblance to George Rosenberg's "The Spirit of Liberty March," which was copyrighted in 1898. Jim Henriksen, another band alumnus, wrote "The Authorship of 'The Victors March'" paper covering the various theories about the similarities indicating that none would be proved to be true. Former U-M Band Alumni president Joseph Dobos considered Elbel the only author, which received support from Bill Studwell, author of College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology, as many composers borrowed from each other. Dobos also wrote the "Did Louis Elbel Write 'The Victors'?" essay for the band alumni publication M-Fanfare fall 2007 issue indicating that Victors was more "tightly composed" than "Spirit" and was a "circus" march while "Spirit" was a "two-step."