Guido Deiro - "Sharpshooters' March" (1911)

Sharpshooters' March
Composed by Richard Eilenberg
Performed by Guido Deiro
Recorded January 1911
Columbia A984

Count Guido Pietro Deiro (1886 - 1950) was a famous vaudeville star, international recording artist, composer and teacher. He was the first piano-accordionist to appear on big-time vaudeville, records, radio and the screen. Guido usually performed under the stage-name "Deiro". Guido and his younger brother Pietro Deiro (known as "Pietro") were among the highest paid musicians on the vaudeville circuit, and they both did much to introduce and popularize the piano accordion in the early 20th century.

Sharpshooter's March, an all-time favorite of accordionists for many years has often been attributed to Guido Deiro, but according to Deiro in a 1948 article he claims that he first heard it in Germany in 1907 played on a hand organ. Deiro was so impressed that he asked the organist to play it again several times. The organist didn't know the name of the piece but knew it was an Italian march. When Deiro was unable to find the European publisher of this music, he arranged his own version from memory. When he returned to the United States he performed it in his vaudeville act with great success and since it was a military march he named it "Bersaglieri" or "Sharpshooters." In 1910, Columbia Record Company requested that he record "Sharpshooters' March" which resulted in this recording. The label credits the composer as Richard Eilenberg. Later he recorded it for Edison Recording Company and it was titled "Italian Army March" by Deiro. Later publications of Sharpshooters subtitled it "Curro Cuchares March" and listed the composer as G Metallo. Deiro never claimed to be the composer but he was responsible for introducing it and making it popular with the American public.