Concert Band

Salute to the Victor

Grade 4 | 4 Mins

Salute to the Victor was commissioned by Helen, Alex and James Grieve for the Golden Kangaroos (Hornsby Concert Band) from Sydney, Australia, in memory of their parents, Louise and Victor Grieve, Founder and Director of Music.

Victor Grieve began his musical career as a fourth generation military musician joining the Gordon Highlanders as a boy musician in 1954. He received much of his training at the Royal Military School of Music (Kneller Hall) and also studied at the London College of Music and Trinity College London. 

He was nine years member of the horn sections of the Sydney and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, taking part in overseas tours to Asia and Europe. In 1974 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study in Europe under Prof. Hermann Baumann and chose to use part of his award to study youth orchestras and wind bands in the U.K., France, Holland, Germany, U.S.A. and Scandinavia. 

He founded the Golden Kangaroos (Hornsby Concert Band) in 1970 and served as their musical director for nearly 40 years, establishing it as one of the best-known bands in Australia.

Salute to the Victor is in traditional march form and, as a tribute to Victor Grieve, who was a devotee of English music (in particular that of Sir Edward Elgar) contains a short quote from that composer’s Sea Picturesin the trio.