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JOHN PHILIP SOUSA

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Entertainers, Entertainers J, Entertainers P, Entertainers S

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BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

Description: Composer, Marching songs, USA

Known For: “The Liberty Bell” (1893)
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Location: United States of America

Date Born: 6th October 1854
Location Born: Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America

Date Died: 6th March 1932
Location Died: Reading, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Memorial: He is buried in Congressional Cemetery in Southeast Washington.
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CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site: John Philip Sousa Foundation

Other Links: See below:

BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE

John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known primarily for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as “The March King” or the “American March King” due to his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford also being known as “The March King”. Among his best-known marches are “The Liberty Bell”, “The Thunderer”, “The Washington Post”, “Semper Fidelis” (Official March of the United States Marine Corps), and “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (National March of the United States of America).

Sousa’s father was Portuguese, born in Açores, Portugal and his mother was born of Bavarian ancestry. Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. His father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868. After departing the band in 1875, Sousa learned to conduct. From 1880 until his death, he focused exclusively on conducting and the writing of marches. He eventually rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. On leaving the Marine Band, Sousa organized his own band. He toured Europe and Australia and developed the sousaphone, a large brass instrument similar to the tuba. On the outbreak of World War I, Sousa was commissioned as a Lieutenant Commander and led the Naval Reserve Band in Illinois. Following his tenure, he returned to conduct the Sousa Band until his death in 1932.

John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C., to John Antonio Sousa, who was of Portuguese ancestry, and Maria Elisabeth Trinkaus, who was of Bavarian ancestry. Sousa started his music education by playing the violin as a pupil of John Esputa and George Felix Benkert for harmony and musical composition at the age of six. He was found to have absolute pitch. During his childhood, Sousa studied voice, violin, piano, flute, cornet, baritone horn, trombone and alto horn. When Sousa was 13, his father, a trombonist in the Marine Band, enlisted him in the United States Marine Corps as an apprentice to keep him from joining a circus band.

Several years long after serving his apprenticeship, Sousa joined a theatrical (pit) orchestra where he learned to conduct. He returned to the U.S. Marine Band as its head in 1880 and remained as its conductor until 1892. Sousa led “The President’s Own” band under five presidents from Rutherford B. Hayes to Benjamin Harrison. Sousa’s band played at two Inaugural Balls, those of James A. Garfield in 1881, and Benjamin Harrison in 1889. The marching brass bass, or sousaphone, a modified helicon, was created by J. W. Pepper – a Philadelphia instrument maker who created the instrument in 1893 at Sousa’s request using several of his suggestions in its design. He wanted a tuba that could sound upward and over the band whether its player was seated or marching. The sousaphone was re-created in 1898 by C.G. Conn and this was the model that Sousa preferred to use.

He organized The Sousa Band the year he left the Marine Band. The Sousa Band toured from 1892–1931, performing at 15,623 concerts both in America and around the world, including at the World Exposition in Paris, France. In Paris, the Sousa Band marched through the streets to the Arc de Triomphe – one of only eight parades the band marched in over its forty years.

Personal life

On December 30, 1879, Sousa married Jane van Middlesworth Bellis (1862–1944). They had three children: John Philip, Jr. (April 1, 1881 – May 18, 1937), Jane Priscilla (August 7, 1882 – October 28, 1958), and Helen (January 21, 1887 – October 14, 1975). All were buried in the John Philip Sousa plot in the Congressional Cemetery. Wife Jane, daughters Jane Priscilla and Helen Abert joined the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in 1907. Their Patriot was Adam Bellis.

Late in his life, Sousa lived in Sands Point, New York. Sousa died of heart failure at the age of 77 on March 6, 1932, in his room at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania. He had conducted a rehearsal of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” the previous day with the Ringgold Band. He is buried in Washington, D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery. A school (John Philip Sousa Elementary) and a band shell were named after him and there was a memorial tree planted in nearby Port Washington, New York. Wild Bank, his seaside house on Hicks Lane, has been designated a National Historic Landmark, although it remains a private home and is not open to the public. He was posthumously enshrined in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1976, one of just 102 Americans ever to be honored in such a manner.

Sousa died on March 6, 1932, in his room at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Marches

Sousa wrote 136 marches, published by the Sam Fox Publishing Company beginning in 1917 and continuing until his death. Some of his notable ones are:

Composed marches include.

“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 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” (dedicated to the band of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets – the Highty-Tighties) (1899)
“Hail to the Spirit of Liberty” March (1900)
“Invincible Eagle” (1901) (Dedicated to Pan-American Buffalo Exposition)
“Imperial Edward March” (1902)
“Fairest of the Fair” (1908)
“Glory of the Yankee Navy” (1909)
“U.S. Field Artillery” (1917) (Modified version The Army Goes Rolling Along is the official song of the U.S. Army)
“Who’s Who in Navy Blue” (1920) (Composed at the request of the United States Naval Academy class of 1920 and dedicated to Tecumseh, a bronze reproduction of the figurehead of the U.S.S. Delaware that occupies a key place at the Academy)
“The Gallant Seventh” (1922)
“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)
“Minnesota March” (1927)
“New Mexico March” (1928)
“Salvation Army March” (1930) (dedicated to The Salvation Army’s 50th anniversary in the USA)

Sousa wrote marches for several American universities, including University of Illinois, University of Nebraska, Kansas State University, and Marquette University.

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