John Philip Sousa
The March King
http://www.dws.org/recordings/42-strictly-sousa
• nicknamed “The March
King”
• composed 136 Marches
• “The Stars and Stripes
Forever”
• Father played trombone
in the U.S. Marine band.
• grew up around the
military band and music.
John Philip Sousa
• born November 6, 1854
in Washington D.C.
• To John Antonio Sousa
and Maria Elisabeth
Trinkhaus.
• the 3rd of 10 children.
• had 5 sisters and 4
brothers
• Limited formal education
Birthplace – National Shrine
• John Philip began studying
music at the age of 6.
• These studies included:
voice, violin, piano, flute,
cornet, baritone, trombone
and alto horn
• He also began studying
harmony and composition at
this young age as a pupil of
John Esputa and George
Felix Benkert.
Musical education…
• At the age of 13, a
circus leader
overheard Sousa
practicing his violin
and offered him a job
with his troupe.
• His father did not
think this would be a
good livelihood and
instead enlisted him
in the US. Marine
Corp
• Developed a tremendous reputation conducting the U.S.
Marine Band.
• Set a standard that has yet to be surpassed.
• “One of the exciting aspects of this celebration is the
recognition of an American composer who, in his
specialized sphere, is so widely accepted as the
quintessence of the American spirit in music.” William
Schuman
http://www.dws.org/recordings/42-strictly-sousa
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136 Marches the best known of which are:
Stars and Stripes Forever
Semper Fidelis
The Washington Post
The Liberty Bell
Daughters of Texas
The Thunderer
King Cotton
Manhattan Beach March
10 Operettas including:
El Capitan
The Queen of Hearts
The Smuggglers
Desiree
Writings:
The Fifth String - a novel
Pipedown Sandy - a novel
The Transit of Venus - a novel
Some of his works…
http://www.dws.org/recordings/42-strictly-sousa
• He led "The
President's Own"
band under five
presidents from
Rutherford B. Hayes
to Benjamin Harrison.
• Played at two
Inaugural Balls, those
of James A. Garfield
in 1881, and
Benjamin Harrison in
1889
• Developed in the 1890s at the
request of Sousa.
• hélicons - an instrument that
can be wrapped around a
players body thus facilitating
marching activities
• History is unclear as to who
the first sousaphone was
developed by in the early
1890’s - either J.W. Pepper or
C.G. Conn
• The new instrument known as
the Sousaphone, would have
an oversized bell pointing
straight up, but otherwise
would be like a normal hélicon
Sousaphone
• Sousa in 1900: “During my concerts at the Paris Exposition in 1900,”
he said, “‘The Stars and Stripes Forever’ seemed to make a deep
impression on the French people, and they spoke of it as the Musique
Americaine with a greater frequency than they did of any other
composition. One night, at a dinner, a brilliant Frenchwoman said to
me that the march seemed to epitomize the character of our people.
‘For every time I hear it,’ she confessed, ‘it seems as if I can see the
American Eagle throwing arrows into the Aurora Borealis.”
On tour in Paris….
• - "Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through
their feet instead of their brains."
• - "Sincere composers believe in God."
• - "When you hear of Sousa retiring, you will hear of
Sousa dead."
• - "Remember always that the composer's pen is still
mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the
possibilities of the creation of beauty."
Sousa quotes…..
• - "These talking machines are going to ruin the artistic
development of music in this country. When I was a boy
... in front of every house in the summer evenings, you
would find young people together singing the songs of
the day or old songs. Today you hear these infernal
machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal
cord left. The vocal cord will be eliminated by a process
of evolution, as was the tail of man when he came from
the ape."
Eccentricity of genius!
http://www.dws.org/recordings/42-strictly-sousa
• Memorialized on a
U.S. Stamp
US Postage Stamp, Issue of 1940
http://www.dws.org/recordings/42-strictly-sousa
• Sousa died of heart failure on March 6, 1932 in
Reading, Pennsylvania at the age of 77.
• He is buried in the Congressional Cemetery, in
Washington DC.
• Fittingly, the last piece he conducted was "The Stars and
Stripes Forever", at a rehearsal of the Ringgold Band the
on March 5, 1932
http://www.dws.org/recordings/42-strictly-sousa
• Sousa Quote “I don’t believe in an alliance between
America and any other country,” he said. “We are strong
and powerful and prosperous enough on our own account,
without making alliances with anybody or anything.
Fittingly….