When asked what his occupation was, John Philip Sousa–composer of marches, operettas, songs, and a host of other works; leader for twelve years of the United States Marine Corps Band and for nearly forty years of his world-famous Sousa Band; entrepreneur, inventor, author, political activist, sportsman, rare book collector, and self-made millionaire–typically described himself as a “Salesman of Americanism.” That epithet eloquently summarizes the man’s life and achievements.
Sousa led the US Marine Corps Band for twelve years and transformed the ensemble from an undisciplined and amateurish group into one of the finest bands in America. The Marine Band, as the official ensemble of the President of the United States, performed regularly at the White House, and Sousa took great pride in having served under five American Presidents.
In 1892–the peak of the “Golden Age” of the concert band–Sousa accepted an offer to form his own touring concert band. In its nearly forty-year existence, the Sousa Band visited every part of America and Canada, and completed four tours of Europe and one tour of the world, presenting over 15,200 concerts. As Paul Bierley wrote in John Philip Sousa: American Phenomenon:
[I]t was something of a miracle in show business for a musical organization of its size to have played to capacity houses for thirty-nine years. In a single season it presented formal concerts to approximately two million people. And no other musical organization of its time–or perhaps any other time–under a single conductor, traveled so extensively. One of Sousa’s ambitions was to travel a million miles with his band, an ambition realized in 1927.
Sousa was a “Salesman of Americanism” in his writings and as a political activist. While on the Sousa Band’s first European tour in 1900, Sousa wrote articles for the Paris Herald decrying government subsidies for the arts. One article was titled:
NO STATE AID FOR ART
SAYS MR. JOHN PHILIP SOUSA
OPPOSED TO THE IDEA OF NATIONAL THEATRES,
NATIONAL BANDS, AND SIMILAR SUBSIDIZED ORGANIZATIONS
Sousa’s position was based on practical experience:
Although at a certain period of my life, I rather favored the idea of “national theatres,” “national orchestras,” “national bands” and “national conservatories,” I have been converted completely by a comparison of the superior results produced by individual effort with those due to a governmentally-subsidized art…. An artistic organization that is fostered by State aid is like a hardy plant brought up in a hot-house. It may keep on living, and that’s all you can say about it, for it will always be sickly.
While opposing state subsidies, Sousa defended the right of artists to profit from their work. Up to 1906, composers had received no royalties from the use of their music on phonograph records and piano rolls. The Copyright Division of the Library of Congress drafted a new bill to secure composer’s rights, but the bill faced strong opposition. Together with operetta composer Victor Herbert, Sousa campaigned tirelessly in its support. Sousa published several articles on the subject and testified before the congressional committee. The bill passed in 1909.
Sousa was above all a “Salesman of Americanism” through his music. The biggest source of his enduring fame and popularity is, of course, his marches.
The characteristics of a military march derive from its original utilitarian function. It must have clear, even beats, alternately strong and weak, for the left-right motion of the soldiers’ feet. It must motivate and energize the soldiers and galvanize public enthusiasm for the national cause. It must be stirring, proud, invigorating, and exuberant–implying confidence, victory, and celebration.
It comes as no surprise, then, that this was the genre that attracted John Philip Sousa and provided him with the ideal vehicle for expressing his distinctively American spirit. Music has no means of directly specifying an object of an emotion it evokes, such as America or its founding ideals. But Sousa’s music is patriotic–because it conveys the distinctively American sense of life.
Sousa’s marches are lighter and faster than the typical European military march (he favored the so-called “quickstep” march), so instead of a certain pomp or stately quality, they project vitality, upbeat optimism, and straightforward simplicity.
In his autobiography, Marching Along, John Philip Sousa recounts the composition of the his most famous work. He was on vacation in Europe in 1896 when he learned of the death of his manager and left abruptly to sail home.
As the vessel steamed out of the harbor I was pacing the deck, absorbed in thoughts of my manager’s death and the many duties and decisions that awaited me in New York. Suddenly, I began to sense the rhythmic beat of a band playing within my brain. It kept on ceaselessly, playing, playing, playing. Throughout the whole tense voyage, that imaginary band continued to unfold the same themes, echoing and re-echoing the most distinct melody. I did not transfer a note of that music to paper while I was on the steamer, but when I reached the shore, I set down the measures that my brain-band had been playing for me, and not a note of it has ever been changed. The composition is known the world over as The Stars and Stripes Forever…
After Sousa wrote this march, he conducted it at every one of his concerts, and it was the last work he conducted before his death in 1932. According to one report, The Stars and Stripes Forever has been recorded more times than any other single piece of music. It is now the official national march of the Unites States of America.
This is a condensed version of an article that appeared in The Intellectual Activist magazine, July 2003.