John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for US military marches. He is known as "The March King" (or the "American March King" to distinguish him from his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford). Among Sousa's best-known marches are "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (national march of the US), "Semper Fidelis" (official march of the United States Marine Corps), "The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer", and "The Washington Post".
Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert.
In 1868, Sousa's father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice. Sousa left the band in 1875, and over the next five years, he performed as a violinist and learned to conduct. In 1880, Sousa rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. In 1892, he left the Marine Band and organized the civilian Sousa Band. From 1880 until his death, Sousa focused exclusively on conducting and writing music. He aided in the development of the sousaphone, a form of marching tuba based on the helicon.
Upon the US joining World War I, Sousa was awarded a wartime commission of lieutenant to lead the Naval Reserve Band in Illinois. He thereafter returned to conduct the Sousa Band until his death in 1932. In the 1920s, Sousa was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant commander in the naval reserve.
Early life, family and education
John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C., the third of 10 children of João António de Sousa (John Anthony Sousa) (September 22, 1824 – April 27, 1892), who was born in Spain to Portuguese parents, and his wife Maria Elisabeth Trinkaus (May 20, 1826 – August 25, 1908), who was German, from Bavaria.Bierley 2001, p. 23, 241.Warfield, Patrick. "John Philip Sousa." In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 4, edited by Jeffrey Fear. German Historical Institute. Last modified May 27, 2014. Sousa began his music education under the tutelage of John Esputa Sr., who taught him solfeggio. This was short-lived due to the teacher's frequent bad temper.
Sousa's real music education began in 1861 or 1862 as a pupil of John Esputa Jr., the son of his previous teacher under whom Sousa studied violin, piano, flute, several brass instruments, and singing. Esputa shared his father's bad temper, and the relationship between teacher and pupil was often strained, but Sousa progressed very rapidly and was also found to have perfect pitch. During this period, Sousa wrote his first composition, "An Album Leaf", but Esputa dismissed it as "bread and cheese", and the composition was subsequently lost.
Sousa's father was a trombonist in the Marine Band. He enlisted his son in the United States Marine Corps as an apprentice at age 13 to keep him from joining a circus band. That same year, Sousa began studying music under George Felix Benkert. Because Sousa was enlisted under a minority enlistment, he would not be discharged until his 21st birthday.
Career
In 1868,John Philip Sousa, United States Navy Memorial. Sousa enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 13 as an apprentice musician (his rank listed as "boy"). Sousa completed his apprenticeship and left the Marine Corps in 1875. He then began performing on the violin and joined a theatrical pit orchestra where he learned to conduct.
Sousa returned to the Marine Band as its head in 1880 and remained as its conductor until 1892. During this period, he led the Marine Band through its development into the country's premier military band. Under Sousa, the band's repertoire and instrumentation focused more on symphonic music, with more rigorous rehearsals. He led "The President's Own" band under five presidents from Rutherford B. Hayes to Benjamin Harrison. Sousa's band played at the inaugural balls of James A. Garfield in 1881 and Benjamin Harrison in 1889.
In July 1892, Sousa requested a discharge from the Marine Corps to pursue a financially promising civilian career as a band leader. Sousa organized The Sousa Band the year that he left the Marine Band, and it toured from 1892 to 1931 and performed at 15,623 concerts, both in the United States and internationally, including at the World Exposition in Paris and at the Royal Albert Hall in London.Royal Albert Hall Archives Jascha Gurewich, an early popularizer of the saxophone in the concert hall, was soloist for Sousa's band in the early 1920s. In Paris, the Sousa Band marched through the streets to the Arc de Triomphe, one of only eight parades that the band marched in during its 40 years.
Sousa was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve on May 31, 1917, shortly after the United States declared war on Germany and entered World War I. He was 62 years old, the mandatory retirement age for Navy officers. During the war, Sousa led the Navy Band at the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago,Bierley 2001, p. 250. and he donated all of his naval salary except a token $1 per month to the Sailors' and Marines' Relief Fund.Bierley 2001, p. 78.
Sousa was discharged from active duty after the end of the war in November 1918 and returned to conducting his own band. In the early 1920s, Sousa was promoted to lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve but did not return to active duty. He frequently wore his Navy uniform during performances for the remainder of his life.
For his service during the war, Sousa received the World War I Victory Medal and was elected as a Veteran Companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars. He was also a member of the New York Athletic Club and Post 754 of the American Legion.
Personal life
On December 30, 1879, Sousa married Jane van Middlesworth Bellis (February 22, 1862 – March 11, 1944), who was descended from Adam Bellis who served in the New Jersey troops during the American Revolutionary War. They had three children: John Jr. (April 1, 1881 – May 18, 1937), Jane Priscilla (August 7, 1882 – October 28, 1958), and Helen (January 21, 1887 – October 14, 1975).
On July 15, 1881, Sousa was initiated into Freemasonry by Hiram Lodge No. 10 (Now Hiram-Takoma Lodge No. 10) in Washington, D.C., where he remained an active member until his death in 1932. Among other Masonic honors, Sousa was named the Honorary Band Leader of the Temple Band of Almas Shriners, the DC-based Chapter of Shriners International. A number of his compositions were for the organization, including the "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" March.
In his later years, Sousa lived in Sands Point, New York. On March 6, 1932, he died of heart failure at age 77 in his room at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania. Sousa had conducted a rehearsal of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" the day before with the Ringgold Band as its guest conductor. Sousa is buried at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Every year on November 6, the Marine Band performs Semper Fidelis at Sousa's grave. His house Wildbank has been designated as a National Historic Landmark, although it remains a private home and is not open to the public. and
One of Sousa's great-grandsons, John Philip Sousa IV, works as a political activist for the Republican Party.
Honors Sousa was decorated with the palms of the Order of Public Instruction of Portugal and the Order of Academic Palms of France. He also received the Royal Victorian Medal from King Edward VII of the United Kingdom in December 1901 for conducting a private birthday concert for Queen Alexandra.
In 1922, Sousa accepted the invitation of the national chapter to become an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, the national honorary band fraternity. In 1932, he was initiated as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national fraternity for men in music, by the fraternity's Alpha Xi chapter at the University of Illinois.
The World War II Liberty ship was named in Sousa's honor. The Marine Band possesses the ship's bell, using it in performances of the "Liberty Bell March".
In 1952, 20th Century Fox honored Sousa in their Technicolor feature film Stars and Stripes Forever with Clifton Webb portraying him. It was loosely based on Sousa's memoirs Marching Along.
In 1987, an act of Congress named "The Stars and Stripes Forever" as the national march of the United States.
In 2012, a crater on the planet Mercury was named in Sousa's honor. He was posthumously enshrined in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1976.
Memberships Sousa was a member of the Sons of the Revolution, Military Order of Foreign Wars, Freemasons, and the Society of Authors and Composers. He was also a member of the Salmagundi, Players, Musicians, New York Athletic, and Lambs clubs of New York City and the Army and Navy and the Gridiron clubs of Washington.
Music
Sousa wrote over 130 marches, 15 operettas, 5 overtures, 11 suites, 24 dances, 28 fantasies, and countless arrangements of nineteenth-century western European symphonic works.
Marches
Sousa wrote over 130 marches, published by Harry Coleman of Philadelphia, Carl Fischer Music, the John Church Company, and the Sam Fox Publishing Company, the last association beginning in 1917 and continuing until his death."Sam Fox, 89, Dies; Music Publisher", The New York Times, December 1, 1971 Some of his more well-known marches include: "Review" (1873) (Sousa's first published march) "The Gladiator March" (1886) "Semper Fidelis" (1888) (Official March of the United States Marine Corps) "The Washington Post" (1889) "The Thunderer" (1889) "The Loyal Legion March" (1890) "High School Cadets" (1890) "The Liberty Bell" (1893) (later used as the credits theme for Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series) "Manhattan Beach March" (1893) "King Cotton" (1895) "Stars and Stripes Forever" (1896) (National March of the United States) "El Capitan" (1896) "Hands Across the Sea" (1899) "Hail to the Spirit of Liberty" March (1900) "The Invincible Eagle" (1901) (dedicated to Pan-American Buffalo Exposition) (Interim United States Space Force Anthem) "Imperial Edward" March (1902) Dedicated to King Edward VII of the United Kingdom "Fairest of the Fair" (1908) "Glory of the Yankee Navy" (1909) "Columbia's Pride" (1914) "U.S. Field Artillery" (1917) (modified version "The Army Goes Rolling Along" is the official song of the U.S. Army)Army Regulation 220–90, Army Bands, November 27, 2000, para 2-5f, g "Anchor & Star" (1918) Dedicated "To the U.S. Navy" "Who's Who in Navy Blue" (1920) (composed at the request of the United States Naval Academy class of 1920 and dedicated to Tamanend, a bronze reproduction of the figurehead of that occupies a key place at the Academy) "The Gallant Seventh" (1922) "The Dauntless Battalion" (1922) Dedicated "To Col. Hyatt, the Faculty and Cadets of the Pennsylvania Military College" (Now Widener University in Chester, PA) "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" (1923) "The Black Horse Troop" (1924) (written in honor of Troop A, 107th Cavalry, Ohio National Guard). "Pride of the Wolverines" (1926) "The Minnesota March" (1927) Dedicated to "The faculty and students of the University of Minnesota" "New Mexico March" (1928) "Salvation Army March" (1930) (dedicated to the Salvation Army's 50th anniversary in the U.S.)
Sousa wrote marches for several U.S. universities, including the University of Minnesota, University of Illinois, University of Nebraska, Kansas State University, Marquette University, Pennsylvania Military College (Widener University), and the University of Michigan.
Operettas
Sousa wrote many notable operettas, including: Désirée (1883), libretto by Edward M. Taber El Capitan (1896), libretto by Charles Klein The Charlatan (1898), also known as The Mystical Miss, book by Charles Klein and lyrics by Sousa Chris and the Wonderful Lamp (1899), libretto by Glen MacDonough