John Philip Sousa Biography

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John Philip Sousa
Instrumental | 3 CD Set
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Patriotic fervor was the key factor in the musical life of John Philip Sousa, whose marches are still the theme of bands from high school to the military. Sousa's major career was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when stirring music got everyone's attention. Born in 1854, Sousa was the son of Portuguese parents from Spain who emigrated to the United States before his birth in Washington, D.C. His father was a trombonist in the U.S. Marine Band and John joined that band at age thirteen to play violin. As a boy, he had watched the growing enthusiasm and hysteria coupled with the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 but he also gained a love for band music from his father. He studied both violin and trumpet. He stayed with the Marine Band for two years, leaving to play in theater orchestras in Washington, including Ford's Theater, while studying music and harmony. He began writing marches and other light music before he was 20. After playing and writing for orchestras, Sousa was back in the Marine Band, this time as director in 1880. He remained twelve years, leaving to form his own concert band called Sousa's New Marine Band, which was decked out in colorful military-styled costumes. However, the band was not part of the military and the government forced him to change its name to Sousa's Band. This band had much success in playing major venues like Carnegie Hall and the Chicago World's Fair as well as touring around the world and recording. Sousa became the "march king" about 1890 after so many of his marches became known. His "Semper Fideles," "Washington Post" and "El Capitan" are just a few of his major triumphs, but it was his stirring "Stars and Stripes Forever" that has continued to keep the Sousa name alive. When the copyright ran out in 1956, more than100 versions of the march were written. Sousa again joined the military during World War I, helping to form some 100 bands at the age of 63. He made his first radio appearance in 1928 at age 74. Sousa died in 1932, leaving a huge legacy of patriotic music as well as comic operas, vocal music and a variety of other music.

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