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John Philip Sousa was born in
Washington, D.C. on November 6th, 1854. He was the third born in
a family of ten children. His father, who was of portuguese descent and his
mother who was from Bavaria, were in the military. His father played in the U.S.
Marine band and the young Sousa was introduced to the world of music at a very tender age.
By the age of six
he was playing and studying several instruments, and became an accomplished
musician. His love for music, particularly of the Brass band style made him
attempt to run away from home in order to join the Circus band. The family
then enrolled him, as an apprentice, into the Marines at the early age of
thirteen. He published his first composition in the year of 1872 at the age
of eighteen. This was called "Moonlight
on the Potomac Waltzes"
In 1875 he was discharged
from the U.S. Marines and started touring and performing on the violin. He
eventually rose to the level of Conductor in theatre orchestras and conducted the Gilbert
and Sullivan comic opera "H.M.S.
Pinafore" on
Broadway. In 1880 returning to the city of Washington, he took on the leadership of the U.S.
Marine Band. For twelve years he conducted "The Presidents Own" and served
under presidents Hayes, Garfield, Cleveland, Arthur and Harrison. Although he
made two very successful but limited tours with the Marine Band, he was convinced by
promoter David Blakely to resign from the Marines and organize a civilian concert band.
They presented their
first concert in the September of 1892 at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New
Jersey. Many musicians from other bands were drawn to Sousa and, he formed a
formidable group of very talented players. The original name of the band was
Sousa's New Marine Band, but this name had to be dropped after much criticism from
Washington.
In 1895 the first of
Sousa's successful operettas "El
Capitan" was presented. In 1896 after the
death of his promoter, David Blakely, he had the inspiration to pen one of his most famous
tunes, being "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and from 1900 to 1905 he made three very
successful tours of Europe. In 1910 the band made a World tour to great
acclaim. He continued to turn out great marching tunes many of which are just
as popular today as at the time of the original presentation.
After the 1914-18 war, Sousa
continued to tour with the band. He was a strong promoter of musical education
and fought strongly for the rights of composers. The last piece of music that
this great composer conducted was at a rehearsal of the Ringgold Band in Reading,
Pennsylvania. The final composition being that of The Stars and Stripes
Forever. His introduction of the instrument, the Sousaphone
became one of the favourite and cementing items of a Marching Brass Band.
Photograph taken in Johannesburg South Africa 1910/1911 on the World
Tour
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