John Philip Sousa

1854 - 1932

A native of Washington D.C., John Philip Sousa was the third of ten children born to a Spanish father and a German mother. His father was a trombone player in the United States Marine Band. Sousa learned to play the violin at an early age. After finding out he was literally planning to run away and join the circus, father got him an apprenticeship with the Marine Band.

His internship ended in 1875, and he took a job with a theatre orchestra. In 1879, he conducted Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore" in Philadelphia, where he also met and married his wife. He wrote an opera called "Our Flirtations" and took it on tour, but was offered a job as conductor of the Marine Band, which he accepted.

Among his first acts as conductor were to get the band new uniforms, new repertoire, and higher salaries (he got his own salary as conductor all the way up to $1500/year!) His first performance with the band was a New Years' Day 1881 reception at the White House. In contrast to the band's generally loud style of playing, Sousa kept the group soft, focusing on balance and blend. President Rutherford B. Hayes found Sousa to personally let him know what an improvement this was.

After the assassination of President James Garfield later that year, Sousa had some time to compose new music during the period of national mourning when the band was not needed. His first march to become a hit was "The Gladiator." President Chester A. Arthur told Sousa that he did not like the song "Hail to the Chief," traditionally played when the President enters a room, so Sousa composed a polonaise.

Sousa resigned from the Marine Band on August 1, 1892 and founded the Sousa Band (quadrupling his salary to $6000/year), which toured the world for the next forty years. His marches remain iconic standards of American music.