HMR Project: History of Music & Modern Recording

John Philip Sousa

Had Billboard been charting popular music around the cusp of the 20th century John Philip Sousa could easily have found himself on the Hot 100 with a few Top Tens. That's because patriotic sentiment was among the aspects of the romantic period which the military band addressed. "What a parade!" around year 1900 was like "Don't bogart that joint, my friend, pass it over to me" at a concert in 1968 (Fraternity of Man). Romantic, huh? Come Tik Tok for romance half a century later. The photograph above is not a selfie, for Sousa was prevented by linear time from using selfies to become famous. He had, instead, been chiefly dependent on marches, also composing operettas, fantasies, humoresques and other classical works. Though Sousa didn't precede billboards, the latter already populating roads by the time he was born, he was thirty-one years old when Karl Benz patented the automobile on 29 January 1886. Even as people began puttering about extensively at the dawn of the 20th century with assistance by Ford, et al, Sousa kept marching. He and his band otherwise covered greater distances by rail, of which he wrote in his song, 'The Golden Cars', included in 'The Charlaton' of 1899.

Born on 6 Nov 1854 in Washington D.C., Sousa is the earliest classical American composer to be addressed in the VF History. He was raised a Freemason, began study of various instruments at age six, and would later be partially responsible for the development of a bass tuba for marching called the sousaphone as an improvement on the helicon. When the March King was thirteen his intention to join a circus band got redirected by his father, a trombonist in the U.S. Marines, who enlisted him into the same as an apprentice instead. That would have been 1867, four years after his first composition, a piece for violin titled 'An Album Leaf' in 1863, now lost. Sousa remained in the Marines until 1875, during which time his more mature compositions began to appear. The first to see publishing was his waltz, 'Moonlight on the Potomac', in 1872.

Being twenty upon discharge from the Marines, Sousa toured as a violinist, eventually coming to conduct the Sullivan & Gilbert musical, 'H.M.S. Pinafore' on Broadway from 10 March to 24 May at the Broadway Theatre (which would become Daly's in 1879 until its razing in 1920). By all accounts Sousa was well on his way to virtuosity with a violin during his early career, but that he would trade performing for composing and directing bands. He reenlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1880 to lead the U.S. Marine Band also called The President's Own. Among works composed during that period was 'Semper Fidelis' ('Always Faithful'), march of the U.S. Marine Corps, in 1888. 'Semper Fidelis' had been a request by President Chester Arthur for a work to represent the Presidency.

'Nymphalin' John Philip Sousa 1880

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band

Violin: William Rusinak

'Tally-Ho! Overture' John Philip Sousa 1886

From Sousa's song 'Tally-Ho!' of 1885

Performance above by the U.S.A.F. Heritage of America Band

'La Reine de la Mer' ('The Queen of the Sea') John Philip Sousa 1886

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band 2016

George Mason University in Fairfax VA Conducting by Lt. Col. Jason K. Fettig

'Semper Fidelis' in C major ('Always Faithful') John Philip Sousa 1888

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band Washington D.C. 2009

Another of Sousa's famous marches is 'The Washington Post' composed for 'The Washington Post' (est. 1877) to occasion the newspaper's Amateur Authors Association awards at the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution (est. 1846) on 15 June of 1889. Banjoist, Vess Ossman's, first cylinder recording of 1893 was a cover of Sousa's 'The Washington Post'. Unable to determine their proper order, marches of 1889 below are stacked alphabetically.

'The Picador' John Philip Sousa 1889

Performance above by the Grenadier Guards

'The Thunderer' John Philip Sousa 1889

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band 2015

George Mason University in Fairfax VA Conducting by Lt. Col. Jason K. Fettig

'The Washington Post' John Philip Sousa

Premiere at the Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C. 15 June 1889

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band Washington D.C. 2009

Tinfoil [ref below] finds Sousa's U.S. Marine Band recording the Mexican dance, 'La Media Noche', on cylinder for Columbia as early as 1891. Though Sousa directed that band, he didn't participate in its recordings because he neither enjoyed recording nor liked the results, which at that early phase in technology didn't sound real good. Discharged from the Marines (again) in 1892, Sousa then assembled his Sousa Band with which he would come to tour the United States and Europe throughout the rest of his career. Sometime in 1893 he wrote 'Beau Ideal March' and his suite for wind instruments of ten and a half minutes w four movements, 'The Last Days of Pompeii'. His famous 'The Liberty Bell' was also written in 1893, that having been performed by the U.S. Marine Band at five of the last seven Presidential inaugurations from Clinton in 1993 to Trump in 2017.

'The Liberty Bell' John Philip Sousa 1893

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band Washington D.C. 2009

It was also 1893 when James Walsh Pepper built the first sousaphone in collaboration w Sousa, among the essential aspects of its design being that it blast notes overhead to hover over the rest of the passing band. The sousaphone was an improvement to the helicon and tuba.

Sousa premiered his operetta, 'El Capitan', at the Tremont Theatre in Boston on 13 April 1896. He borrowed from that for his 'El Capitan March' in B major of 1896.

'El Capitan' Operetta Part 1 John Philip Sousa

Premiere at the Tremont Theatre Boston 13 April 1896

Barry Martin conducting the Grand Valley State University Band

'El Capitan' Operetta Part 2 John Philip Sousa

Premiere at the Tremont Theatre Boston 13 April 1896

Barry Martin conducting the Grand Valley State University Band

'El Capitan' Operetta Part 3 John Philip Sousa

Premiere at the Tremont Theatre Boston 13 April 1896

Barry Martin conducting the Grand Valley State University Band

'El Capitan March' John Philip Sousa 1896

Timothy Foley conducting the Great American Main Street Band 1991

Another of Sousa's compositions for which he is well-known is the military march, 'Stars and Stripes Forever', first performed at Willow Grove Park near Philadelphia on 14 May 1897. 'Stars and Stripes' was written on Christmas Day of 1896 on a cruise liner as Sousa was returning to the States from a European vacation. It was legislated by Congress as the official National March in 1987 (as compared to 'The Star-Spangled Banner' by Smith and Key which had become the official U.S. National Anthem in 1931).

'Stars and Stripes Forever' John Philip Sousa

Premiere at Willow Grove Park Philadelphia 14 May 1897

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band Washington D.C. 2009

DAHR finds the Sousa Band recording 'The Thunderer March' on Berliner matrix 30 as early 10 August 1897. Come 'El Picador' on Berliner matrix 8012 on 22 April 1899. It is unlikely, however, that Sousa contributed to those. Henry Higgins did the conducting for Souza Band recordings until Arthur Pryor took over in 1899. Souza did conduct some recordings, but I leave those rare occasions ungathered.

Sousa also dipped into film, first appearing in that medium in a silent documentary short of 1900. His essay, 'The Menace of Mechanical Music', appeared in 1906. Sousa had put an axe of self-sabotage to his forehead when he sold the rights for 'Semper Fidelis' and 'The Washington Post' to a music publisher for the whopping sum of $70. But by 1915 he was able to purchase the Long Island home overlooking Manhasset Bay where he'd been living since 1912. In the meantime, he and the Sousa Band had rolled into the 20th century like fireworks (after disembarking the train), maintaining their huge popularity for another three decades. Though Sousa didn't conduct a lot in the recording studio, he loved to perform for a live audience. His 'With Pleasure' was dedicated to the members of the Huntingdon Valley Country Club in Jenkintown PA.

'With Pleasure' ('Dance Hilarious') by John Philip Sousa 1912

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band

Sousa's major pastime when not producing music was trapshooting. Having pursued the sport seriously since 1906, he became president of the American Amateur Trapshooting Association in 1916, the National Association of Shotgun Owners in 1917. He also began a third tour in the military in 19i7, joining the Navy Reserve to lead a Navy band at the Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois until the end of World War I in 1918. His memoir, 'Marching Along', was published in Boston in 1928 by Hale, Cushman & Flint w editing by Paul E. Bierley. He continued to compose to as late as 1932, leaving 'Library of Congress' unfinished.

'George Washington Bicentennial March' John Philip Sousa 1930

The President's Own U.S. Marine Band Alexandria VA 2012

Conducting by Colonel Michael J. Colburn

Sousa died of heart failure on 5 March 1932 in Reading, Pennsylvania [obit]. 'Stars and Stripes Forever' had been the last march he conducted at above 15,600 concerts given during the forty-year existence of his band. He'd composed 137 marches, 15 operettas, 5 overtures, 11 suites, 28 fantasies, and 24 dances in addition to above 300 symphonic arrangements.

Sources & References:

Chronology

Military Wikia

New World Encyclopedia

New York Times

Steve Sullivan

Tinfoil

VF History (notes)

Wikipedia (English)

Wikipedia (French)

Wikipedia (German)

Audio of Souza: Individual Titles: