What American Tune Always Gets a Standing Ovation?

Three Hints:

1. It's 100 years old this year.
2. John Philip Sousa's band never gave a concert without playing it.
3. In 1987 President Ronald Reagan made it America's National March.

by Victoria Doudera *

One hundred years ago, on May 14, 1897, a Philadelphia music critic attended a concert of the famous Sousa Band. The band's leader, John Philip Sousa, composer of such popular marches as "Liberty Bell," "El Capitan," and "Washington Post," was introducing a brand-new march. In the next day's paper the reviewer wrote: "Sousa's latest march, 'The Stars and Stripes Forever,' was given for the first time and the audience was not satisfied until they heard it three times. ... The Sousa swing and vigor that have made all his compositions of this character distinctive are very evident, and it will likely become as popular as its predecessors."

Another reviewer was not so restrained. He wrote in the usually staid Philadelphia Public Ledger, " 'The Start and Stripes Forever' was stirring enough to rouse the American eagle from his crag and set him to shriek exultantly, while he hurls his arrows at the aurora borealis."

From the first, the march provoke emotional responses in audiences, with listeners rising to their feet in respect when it was played. After its premiere, Sousa included it in every concert, even if the march was not on the printed program. Paul. E. Barlow, author of John Philip Sousa, American Phenomenon (New York: Appleton, Century Crofts, 1973), interviewed many former Sousa band members and found that none could recall a concert in which "The Stars and Stripes Forever" was not played. Band members remembered repeating it several times on many occasions.

A century later, Americans still thrill to the sounds of Sousa's most popular march. For many of us, the familiar, rousing strains of the "Stars" (as Sousa referred to it) evoke memories of that most American of holidays, the Fourth of July. Harold C. Shonberg, music critic for The New York Times, said in 1978 that "The Stars and Stripes Forever" may be "the greatest piece of music ever written by an American composer."

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was born in Washington D.C. He was a gifted classical violinist before becoming, in 1880, the conductor of the United States Marine Band, which he developed into one of the best military bands in the world. In 1892 he formed his own touring band. Wearing new white gloves for every performance, custom made shoes, and a uniform sporting 35 yards of braid, Sousa and his wildly successful band entertained America for almost 40 years. Along the way he composed songs, operettas, and his famous marches, invented an instrument called the Sousaphone, and penned a few books. His profession, he said, is "salesman of Americanism, globe-trotter, and musician."

The inspiration for "The Stars and Stripes Forever" came to Sousa in November 1896 while vacationing in Europe. Sousa was homesick. He thought wistfully of his days in Washington D.C., as leader of the Marine Band and often pictured the flag flying from its staff on the grounds of the White House. "To my imagination it seemed to be the biggest, grandest flag in the world, and I could not get back under it quick enough."

The vacation ended suddenly in December when news of his manager's death reached Sousa. Sailing home, Sousa had an experience that he described in his autobiography, Marching Along:

"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 which 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 we reached shore, I set down the measures that my brain-band had been playing for me, and not a note of it has ever changed. The composition is known the world over as 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' and is probably my most popular march.

Sousa's original piano score for the march is housed at the Library of Congress. He completed it on Christmas Day 1886, just two days after his ship docked in New York. A later score added the band parts, in particular the brass and piccolo themes unique to the march. This band score, complete with penciled notations and changes, is among more that 120 Sousa manuscripts ­ an estimated 74 percent of his work ­ at the University of Illinois's Collection.

"A march stimulates every center of vitality, awakens the imagination, and spurs patriotic impulses which may have been dormant for years," said Sousa, who insisted that all good marches must appeal to the musical and unmusical alike. He quipped that his music could make a man with a wooden leg get up and march.

Sousa intended the three themes in the march to represent different parts of the United States. The main melody, full of contrasts, is the North, The South is symbolized in the piccolo obbligato, and the bold West by the ripping trombone counter melody. When Sousa's band performed the march, his piccolo and brass sections would line up across the front of the stage for the march's finale, playing directly to the audience for a rousing finish.

Americans aren't the only ones who love "The Stars and Stripes Forever." When Arthur Fiedler directed the World Symphony Orchestra in 1972, he chose to end each concert with Sousa's famous march. The late maestro was initially criticized for choosing such a partisan piece, but Fiedler defended the march. "I put my foot down, explaining that 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' was great music and that is would stand on its own merits. As it turned out, it was a grand concluding number bringing standing ovations at every concert."

The march is such a part of the American experience that over the years citizens have sought official national recognition for it. Early efforts failed because of disorganization, but a new generation of Sousa fans succeeded in November of 1987. The bill passed with ease in both the House and the Senate, and on December 11, 1987, President Ronald Reagan added his signature making "The Stars and Stripes Forever" the United States of America National March. That Sousa himself loved the march was no secret. When asked by the musical magazine Étude in July of 1930 what musical he would choose to hear if he had but 24 hours to live, Sousa answered, "The Stars and Stripes Forever." He said, "I would meet my Maker face to face with the inspiration that grows out of the melody and the patriotism that gives it being." Fittingly, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" was the last composition played under Sousa's baton, and a fragment of the march is inscribed on his tombstone. Though a hundred years has passed since this most American of tunes was introduced, its melody continues to inspire us. May John Philip Sousa's famous "Stars" shine brightly forever. The photo was scanned from the Old Farmer's Almanac and was originally from the collection of Paul E. Bierley. The Musical score is from the University of Illinois Library

Sousa himself wrote these words when he used his march as the finale to a patriotic pageant in 1898, just before the Spanish-American War. The first 12 lines are sung with the main melody; the last none lines with the trio (That's the section with the fancy piccolo part).

Return to deBellefeuille home.

The above article is reprinted by permission of Victoria Doudera.

Victoria Doudera is a freelance writer and the owner of the Blackberry Inn in Camden, Maine.