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A Gift to America

One of the most unique Christmas gifts to the United States happened during the holiday season of 1896. Let me tell you about a talented young man who was responsible for it.

John was born on November 6, 1854, in Washington, D.C., the immigrant son of a Portuguese father and a German mother. He grew up there during the Civil War, and as a child enjoyed hearing the military bands that filled the streets of the city. His father played the trombone and was a member of the U.S. Marine Band. In addition to attending grammar school, John was enrolled in a private conservatory of music where he studied piano and most orchestral instruments, although his first love was the violin. By the age of 13, he was very proficient at playing violin, and determined to join a circus band. His father learned of John’s plan and put an end to it, instead enlisting him as an apprentice musician with the Marine Band, where he remained until he was 20 years old. For the next six years, John worked as a musician, composer, and proofreader, as well as playing in the orchestra with multiple traveling theater companies.

While he was on tour, John received a telegram which would shape the rest of his life. He was offered the position as leader of the Marine Band in Washington. He accepted and reported for duty on October 1, 1880, becoming the band’s 17^th leader.

This was John’s first experience conducting a military band. He updated and made changes to the music, wrote original compositions for the group, and initiated exceptionally strict and demanding rehearsals. John had perfect pitch and the talent of reading a musical score and hearing exactly how it sounded in his head. He called it his “brain-band.” As the Marine Band director, it became the premier military band in the nation, attracting enthusiastic audiences and even touring the country each year beginning in 1891. The group flourished for 12 years with John at the helm, and continues to this day as an elite band, “The President’s Own”. In fact, John wrote “Semper Fidelis”, the official march of the Marine Corps, dedicating it to the officers and men of that branch of the military.

This successful band director was none other than John Phillip Sousa. The American bandmaster became known as the “March King” because of his many original, stirring band compositions.

In 1892, he resigned his post as director, starting his own Sousa Band. It toured the United States and Europe from 1892-1931, performing in 15,523 concerts and exposing audiences to the latest cutting-edge music, ragtime, and of course, his incomparable marches.

In December 1896, John and his wife took a well-deserved vacation in Europe. While there, he received word that the manager of his Sousa Band, David Blakely, had died.  He immediately booked passage back to the United States on the ship Teutonic. As the vessel steamed out of the harbor, he began to hear a rhythmic beat of a band playing in his brain. Throughout the whole voyage, the imaginary band played the distinct melody over and over again. John said that day after day as he walked, it kept crashing into his very soul. The ship docked, and on Christmas Day, 1896, he wrote down the song that his “brain-band” had played for days, without changing even one note.

What was this Christmas gift of glorious band music? John called it “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” The march was an immediate success, and Sousa’s Band played it from then on at the end of almost every concert, with piccolos, trumpets, and trombones front and center on the stage. “The Stars and Stripes Forever” is considered to this day one of the finest and most patriotic marches ever written. Audiences spontaneously rise to their feet and the song often draws tears to their eyes. The words of the chorus have captured the hearts and spirit of what it means to be an American.

Hurrah for the flag of the free,

May it wave as our standard forever,

The gem of the land and the sea,

The banner of the right.

Let despots remember the day

When our fathers with mighty endeavor,

Proclaimed as they marched to the fray,

That by their might, and by their right,

It waves forever!

On December 11, 1987, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” was designated as the national march of the United States. John Phillip Sousa’s Christmas gift to America more than 100 years ago continues to be an integral part of the celebration of American life. Thank you, Mr. Sousa, and Merry Christmas.

 

Sources

https://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/sousa/aa_sousa_forever_1.html

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/john-philip-sousa/the-stars-and-stripes-forever

https://www.marineband.marines.mil/About/Our-History/John-Philip-Sousa/

 

This story was written by Jean Tonioli

 

Copyright Glenn Rawson 2022