Sousa, John Philip

(b Washington DC, 6 Nov 1854; d Reading, PA, 6 March 1932). American composer, bandmaster and author. Composer of the official national march of the United States, The Stars and Stripes Forever, Sousa, who was known as the ‘March King’, was the most important figure in the history of bands and band music.

1. Life.

2. Legacy.

3. Works.

WORKS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PAUL E. BIERLEY

Sousa, John Philip

1. Life.

Both his parents were immigrants: his father, John Antonio, a trombonist in the US Marine Band, was born in Spain of Portuguese parents; his mother, Marie Elisabeth Trinkaus, was born in Bavaria. The family name was Sousa, despite stories that it was originally ‘So’, to which ‘USA’ was appended. John Philip, the third of ten children, was first educated at home because of poor health, and then attended local schools. In the evenings he attended the Esputa Conservatory of Music, where he studied singing, the violin, piano, flute and several brass instruments. At the age of 11 he organized an adult quadrille orchestra. He was about to run off with a circus band when his father had him enlisted as an apprentice musician in the US Marine Band at the age of 13. During the early Marine Band years Sousa performed professionally as a civilian violinist with several Washington theatre orchestras and probably also taught at the Esputa Conservatory. Meanwhile, he tried his hand at composition. He studied with George Felix Benkert, a Washington composer and conductor, and played the violin in Benkert's chamber orchestra.

After leaving the Marine Band at the age of 20 Sousa continued working as a violinist and conductor at Washington theatres, and also performed with a string quartet in informal concerts at the home of William Hunter, Assistant Secretary of State. In 1875 he became conductor for Milton Nobles's travelling theatre troupe, composing incidental music for the play The Phoenix (Bohemians and Detectives). He returned to Washington and soon went on the road again as conductor of Matt Morgan's Living Pictures, a vaudeville show. In 1876 he moved to Philadelphia for the American centenary celebration, playing first violin in the International Exhibition Orchestra. While Offenbach was the orchestra's guest conductor, Sousa composed The International Congress for him. After the centenary, he performed, arranged and composed for several Philadelphia theatres and also corrected proofs for one of his publishers, W.F. Shaw. Among his works at that time were orchestrations of several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. He composed two versions of an operetta, Katherine, but neither was produced. HMS Pinafore was then the rage in America, and Sousa was chosen to conduct the Philadelphia Church Choir Company's production. He made his own orchestration, which was praised by Gilbert and Sullivan. In 1879 he married a young understudy from the company, Jane van Middlesworth Bellis.

After Pinafore Sousa arranged and conducted a variety show, Our Flirtations, which toured after a run in Philadelphia. His accomplishments impressed the Marine Corps officials, and he was appointed the 14th conductor of the US Marine Band in 1880. During the next 12 years he transformed the band into the finest military band in America. He composed new marches and transcribed classical works to augment the band's limited repertory. His first published operetta, The Smugglers, appeared in 1882, followed by the more successful Désirée in 1883. Sousa also helped to form the Washington Operatic Association and conducted numerous oratorios. His early marches attracted limited attention, but The Gladiator (1886) was widely played and eventually sold over a million copies. As his national and international popularity increased, his publisher, Harry Coleman, made a fortune from sheet music sales of his marches, meanwhile paying Sousa only $25 to $35 for each new march.

During his last two seasons with the Marine Band, two national tours were made under the management of David Blakely, who persuaded Sousa to leave military service and form his own civilian band. The new band, known as Sousa's Band, toured the North American continent each year from 1892 and made four European tours (1900, 1901, 1903, 1905) and one world tour (1910–11). During this period, Sousa had reached his peak as an operetta composer, and El capitan (1895) was particularly successful. The only interruption in the band's concert schedule came during World War I, when Sousa volunteered to serve in the US Navy, organizing fleet bands at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. World War I marches which have maintained their popularity include Sabre and Spurs, US Field Artillery and Solid Men to the Front.

After the war the Sousa Band tours began again and continued until the Great Depression of 1929, when the number of engagements decreased. The last concerts were held at Atlantic City’s Steel Pier in September 1931. Meanwhile the band had begun to give radio concerts, which continued until Sousa's death. During the last decade of his life he was regarded as an American institution. He became increasingly interested in school music, adjudicated at band contests and frequently conducted massed bands. Sousa died of a heart attack after rehearsing the Ringgold Band of Reading, Pennsylvania. Fittingly, the last selection he conducted was The Stars and Stripes Forever.

Sousa has been widely commemorated, both in Washington (the Sousa Bridge, the Sousa Stage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sousa Hall in the Marine Barracks) and further afield. Extensive Sousa archives are on deposit at the Library of Congress, the US Marine Band and the University of Illinois. Perhaps the most touching of all the tributes to him came from former members of Sousa's Band, who formed the Sousa Band Fraternal Society 12 years after his death. Each year, on his birthday, members travelled to New York and held dinners. Chapters eventually were formed in other cities, and a newsletter was issued. It was a ‘last man's’ organization, never to be reinstated.

Sousa, John Philip

2. Legacy.

In his era Sousa was a phenomenon of the entertainment world. He and his band had a remarkable impact on the musical tastes of America, and because of their collective artistry they put America's best foot forward in travels abroad. The band was regarded as the foremost ensemble of its kind during an era known as the ‘golden age of bands’. The musical organization Sousa created was a phenomenon in itself. It was a large band, ranging from 43 to 73 musicians, was completely self-financing and travelled exclusively by rail and ship. During its 40-year history (1892–1932), it presented over 15,200 concerts. Sousa demonstrated that a major music organization could take music of good quality directly to the people, often performing in two towns per day, and do so profitably.

A student of both classical and popular music, Sousa was one of the most accomplished conductors of the day. He could attract superior musicians by offering elevated pay scales and the prestige of performing for a high-profile composer–conductor before appreciative audiences. The technical excellence of the band can be gauged from the constantly varied programmes, which the musicians frequently played without rehearsals, often using manuscript parts or transposing orchestral parts.

At the turn of the 20th century Sousa was possibly the most widely known name in music. People on both sides of the Atlantic were dancing the two-step to his Washington Post, bands everywhere were playing his marches, and both sheet music and recordings were selling briskly. He initially despised the phonograph, which brought him no financial return. Sales of the sheet music made him wealthy, however, and by the end of the 20th century The Stars and Stripes Forever had probably sold more sheet music and recordings than any other single piece ever written.

Sousa had a passion for perfection, whether presenting a common street melody or a classic, and he did more to diminish artistic snobbery than any other conductor of his era. Soloists always played a prominent part in Sousa Band concerts, and he engaged established artists. Among those were violinist Maud Powell, soprano Estelle Liebling, cornettist Herbert Clarke and trombonist Arthur Pryor. Sousa was also seen in a progressive role, introducing much new music, including excerpts from Parsifal nine years before the opera was performed in New York.

An aspect of Sousa's legacy often overlooked is his patriotism. This is seen in the titles he gave his music, which literally tell the story of America, and even more emphatically in his personal life. He spent a total of over 19 years in military service and volunteered to extend that in times of national crisis. His patriotism began as a small boy, born within sight of the nation's capitol building and exposed to the sights and sounds of the Civil War. It was perhaps most evident in his presentation of the pageant, The Trooping of the Colors, during the Spanish-American War and his enlistment in the US Navy at the age of 62 during World War I.

Sousa's influence was felt in many areas. Aside from his legacy of marches and his huge impact on the band movement, he also made a significant contribution to early American operetta, and had a substantial influence on the recording and sheet music industries. He is credited with introducing ragtime to Europe when his band made its first European tour in 1900. He was also a champion of composers’ rights, being one of the charter members of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and a campaigner for the American copyright law of 1909. Sousa's contribution to the literary field was minimal, but he was the author of seven books and well over 100 pieces for magazines and newspapers.

Sousa's influence on the American music scene continued long after his death. Musicians who played under him, numbering about 1200, went on to hold positions in symphony, opera and ballet orchestras. Some, such as Meredith Willson, became noted composers. Others, including Arthur Pryor, Herbert Clarke and Frank Simon, became prominent conductors, thus carrying the Sousa tradition to a later generation.

Sousa, John Philip

3. Works.

Although known almost entirely for his marches, Sousa composed music of many types, including operettas, songs and suites. Aside from the operettas and suites, most of the remainder of his works were composed specifically for band.

Of Sousa's marches, 135 stand as independent pieces. Others sometimes classified as marches were derived from songs or belong to larger works. The marches are diverse in character, which is surprising in view of the restrictive framework of the common quickstep march. They are often described as being typically American, perhaps because of their breezy energy. Some have a distinctive swing, particularly in their second sections. Among the finest of the marches are The Stars and Stripes Forever, now the official American march; The Washington Post, which was used internationally for dancing the two-step; and Semper Fidelis, adopted by the US Marine Corps.

The early marches have a definite military bearing, easily adapted to marching, but later ones are more sophisticated. Only one third have military titles. Except for three dirges and one lengthy collection of national tunes, all are of the quickstep variety. Much of their success is due to their straightforward construction. The melodies and harmonies are actually quite simple except for ‘break’, or episodic, sections, and countermelodies and obbligatos are used sparingly. In general, the marches follow two patterns: AABB–trio–break–trio–break–trio, and AABB–trio–trio–DD. He seldom used da capos and ensured that the last strains made an emphatic final statement. Sections are usually 16 or 32 bars in length, except for the introductions, which are usually four bars, and the break sections, which vary. He did not favour specific keys, writing down what he heard in his ‘brain band’, as he called it (he did not use an instrument when composing). Flat keys were usually used for band arrangements, and sharp keys for orchestra arrangements. Piano reductions and other arrangements, many of which were created by the publishers, were in whatever keys were convenient for the performers.

It is interesting that Sousa never performed his marches as published, for two reasons. First, the published editions were fully orchestrated and thus suitable for marching, whereas his band was strictly a concert organization. He used variations in voicing, dynamic shading and accents to add variety. Second, he did not want others to play his music exactly as he did. For finales he often had the cornets, trumpets and trombones come to the front of the stage. He did not change tempos during the performance of his marches.

Next in importance to Sousa's marches are his 15 operettas. For much of his professional life he never entirely abandoned his ambition of becoming an operetta composer–conductor, but this ambition was dashed when he was appointed leader of the US Marine Band at the age of 25. Before assuming leadership of the Marine Band, he had composed one operetta and had orchestrated and conducted others. Despite the demands on his energy made by the Marine Band, he found time to compose The Smugglers and Désirée, both of which ran with limited success. He also orchestrated Felix Marie Masse's Paul and Virginia, and possibly other works. These were forerunners of American operetta, and Sousa found himself as one of several composers caught up in the creation of a new market for American musical entertainment.

Several subsequent operettas met with little acceptance. But El capitan, first performed in 1896, played for four years in America and six months in England and turned out to be the most important 19th-century operetta by an American composer. Encouraged by its success, Sousa wrote The Bride Elect, The Charlatan and Chris and the Wonderful Lamp in the span of four years. From 1900 to 1911 his operetta production was curtailed because of overseas touring with his band. The Free Lance was successful in 1906, as was The American Maid in 1913, but these were the last of his operettas to be produced. The Irish Dragoon was completed in 1915, but by this time public interest in this form of musical theatre had waned.

Sousa's style of operetta can be traced to that of Gilbert and Sullivan, and to a lesser extent Offenbach, Suppé and Wagner. Full of spirited march melodies, the operettas had an unmistakable aura of optimism perfect for the time. The marches were quickly modified as quickstep marches and marketed independently, and long outlived the works from which they were drawn. The operettas reflect Sousa's strong sense of propriety with no risqué wording or suggestive action. Their librettos, the best of them by Charles Klein, are deliberately nonsensical make-believe. Some contain innovative production ideas: The American Maid, for example, features glass-blowing artisans on stage. However, Sousa's operettas remain period pieces, and except for El capitan have had little success when revived.

Sousa's 70 songs reveal an unknown side of his musical personality. A few are of a minstrel type, complete with absurd humour, but these are far outnumbered by the serious songs. Characteristically, the songs employ simple melodies, harmony and rhythms, with very little syncopation, and straightforward chordal accompaniments. All are written in the treble clef, with few indications of whether the voice(s) should be female or male. Major keys are predominant, even when the subject matter is sad, although chromaticism is occasionally used to expressive effect. Most are of the stanza and refrain types, sometimes with recitative between verses.

Sousa's fantasies and humoresques for band did not follow the format favoured by most other composers. They were used exclusively as showpieces and are of two basic types. One type is a set of variations on a familiar melody, with fragments of other songs added where appropriate. The other type, used with great effect at his concerts, is a series of songs which have a common subject in their titles and are strung together so as to tell a story. Sousa wished to keep them exclusively for his own band, and few were published.

Sousa, John Philip

WORKS

Unless otherwise stated, printed works were published in Philadelphia, and MSS of unpublished works are in US-Wc

for a more complete list of works see GroveA (H.W. Hitchcock)

stage

operettas unless otherwise stated

vocal

instrumental

for band, unless otherwise stated

many works also published in versions for piano, orchestra and numerous other instrumentations

Sousa, John Philip

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GroveA (H.W. Hitchcock) [incl. more complete list of works]

J.P. Sousa: Marching Along (Boston, 1928, rev. 2/1994 by P.E. Bierley)

C.F. Church: The Life and Influence of John Philip Sousa (diss., Ohio State U., 1942)

Sousa Band Fraternal Society News (Los Angeles; Anderson, IN; New York; 51 issues, 1945–90)

J.R. Smart: The Sousa Band: a Discography (Washington DC, 1970)

W.B. Stacy: John Philip Sousa and His Band Suites: an Analytical and Cultural Study (diss., U. of Colorado, 1972)

P.E. Bierley: John Philip Sousa, American Phenomenon (New York, 1973, 2/1986)

J.A. Whistler: The Songs of John Philip Sousa (diss., Memphis State U., 1975)

L.J. Bly: The March in American Society (diss., U. of Miami, 1977)

J. Newsom, ed.: Perspectives on John Philip Sousa (Washington DC, 1983)

P.E. Bierley: The Works of John Philip Sousa (Westerville, 1984)

M. Heslip: Nostalgic Happenings in the Three Bands of John Philip Sousa (Westerville, 1992)

M.R. Jorgensen: John Philip Sousa's Operetta El Capitan: a Historical, Analytical and Performance Guide (diss., Ball State U., 1994)

J.N. Korzun: The Orchestral Transcriptions for Band of John Philip Sousa (diss., U. of Illinois, 1994)

M.E. Hester: A Study of the Saxophone Soloists Performing with the John Philip Sousa Band: 1893–1930 (diss., U. of Arizona, 1995)

P.E. Bierley: Sousa Band Fraternal Society News Index (Westerville, 1997)

A set of 85 scrapbooks containing clippings and programmes of the Sousa Band is in the archives of the US Marine Band, Washington DC.