Washington Post March

Sousa, John Philip

Washington Post March by: John Philip Sousa

Original Copyright: 1889

By: Carl Fischer

BandMusic PDF Library

Gift of East Bay Scout Band Venture Crew #224

Joe Ayers, Director

Music Preservation Team: Tom Pechnik, Senior Archivist; Mary Phillips; Wayne Dydo; Bill Park, Director; Marcus Neiman, Program Notes

North Royalton, Ohio www.bandmusicpdf.org

John

Phi

lip S

ousa

DO

B:

Nov

embe

r 6th

, 185

4 (W

ashi

ngto

n, D

C)

D

OD

: M

arch

6th

, 193

2 (R

eadi

ng, P

A)

John

Phi

lip S

ousa

wro

te th

e m

ost f

amou

s A

mer

ican

mili

tary

m

arch

es o

f all

time,

incl

udin

g "S

tars

and

Stri

pes

Fore

ver,"

ear

ning

hi

m th

e ni

ckna

me

"the

Mar

ch K

ing"

; he

was

als

o kn

own

as a

gre

at

band

lead

er, a

nd o

rgan

ized

the

fam

ed c

once

rt an

d m

ilita

ry g

roup

, S

ousa

's B

and.

Bor

n in

Was

hing

ton,

D.C

., on

Nov

embe

r 6, 1

854,

S

ousa

follo

wed

in th

e fo

otst

eps

of h

is fa

ther

, a m

usic

ian

in th

e U

.S. M

arin

e C

orps

, and

enl

iste

d by

the

age

of 1

4. B

efor

e th

is, S

ousa

had

stu

died

vio

lin w

ith J

ohn

Esp

uta.

Whi

le a

ctiv

e in

the

Mar

ines

, he

com

pose

d hi

s fir

st m

arch

, "S

alut

atio

n."

Aro

und

the

age

of 1

6, S

ousa

beg

an s

tudy

ing

harm

ony

with

G.F

. Ben

kert,

then

wor

ked

as a

pit

orch

estra

con

duct

or a

t a lo

cal t

heat

er, f

ollo

wed

by

jobs

as

first

cha

ir vi

olin

ist a

t the

For

d O

pera

H

ouse

, the

Phi

lade

lphi

a C

hest

nut S

treet

The

ater

, and

late

r led

the

U.S

. Mar

ine

Cor

ps B

and

(188

0-19

92).

Alth

ough

mos

t fam

ous

for h

is m

arch

es, S

ousa

com

pose

d in

oth

er s

tyle

s as

wel

l, in

clud

ing

a w

altz

, "M

oonl

ight

on

the

Pot

omac

"; a

gallo

p, "T

he C

ucko

o" (b

oth

in 1

869)

; the

ora

torio

"Mes

siah

of

the

Nat

ions

" (19

14);

and

scor

es fo

r Bro

adw

ay m

usic

als

The

Sm

uggl

ers

(187

9), D

esire

e (1

884)

, The

G

lass

Blo

wer

s (1

893)

, El C

apita

n (1

896;

whi

ch w

as h

is fi

rst r

eal s

corin

g su

cces

s), A

mer

ican

Mai

d (1

913)

, and

mor

e.

Sou

sa fo

rmed

his

ste

rnly

org

aniz

ed m

arch

ing

band

in 1

892,

lead

ing

them

thro

ugh

num

erou

s U

.S. a

nd

Eur

opea

n to

urs,

a w

orld

tour

, and

an

appe

aran

ce in

the

1915

Bro

adw

ay s

how

Hip

-Hip

-Hoo

ray.

S

ousa

's B

and

also

reco

rded

man

y si

des

for t

he V

icto

r lab

el u

p th

roug

h th

e ea

rly '3

0s. H

is m

ost

fam

ous

mar

ches

incl

ude

"The

Sta

rs a

nd S

tripe

s Fo

reve

r" (1

897)

, "U

.S. F

ield

Arti

llery

Mar

ch,"

"Sem

per F

idel

is" (

writ

ten

in 1

888,

it b

ecam

e th

e M

arin

e C

orps

ant

hem

), "W

ashi

ngto

n P

ost M

arch

" (1

889)

, "K

ing

Cot

ton"

(189

5), "

El C

apita

n" (1

896)

, and

man

y m

ore.

In a

dditi

on to

writ

ing

mus

ic, S

ousa

al

so w

rote

boo

ks, i

nclu

ding

the

best

-sel

ler F

ifth

Stri

ng a

nd h

is a

utob

iogr

aphy

, Mar

chin

g A

long

. Act

or

Clif

ton

Web

b po

rtray

ed S

ousa

in th

e m

ovie

abo

ut h

is li

fe e

ntitl

ed S

tars

and

Stri

pes

Fore

ver.

The

inst

rum

ent t

he s

ousa

phon

e w

as n

amed

afte

r thi

s fa

mou

s co

mpo

ser a

nd b

andl

eade

r. ~

Josl

yn L

ayne

, A

ll M

usic

Gui

de

Was

hing

ton

Post

(mar

ch).

Dur

ing

the

1880

’s, s

ever

al W

ashi

ngto

n, D

C, n

ewsp

aper

s co

mpe

ted

vigo

rous

ly fo

r pub

lic fa

vor.

One

of t

hose

, the

Was

hing

ton

Pos

t, or

gani

zed

wha

t was

kno

wn

as th

e W

ashi

ngto

n P

ost A

mat

eur A

utho

rs’ A

ssoc

iatio

n an

d sp

onso

red

an e

ssay

con

test

for s

choo

l chi

ldre

n.

Fran

k H

atto

n an

d B

eria

h W

ilkin

s, o

wne

rs o

f the

new

spap

er, a

sked

Sou

sa, t

hen

lead

er o

f the

Mar

ine

Ban

d, to

com

pose

a m

arch

for t

he a

war

d ce

rem

ony.

The

cere

mon

y w

as h

eld

on th

e S

mith

soni

an g

roun

ds o

n Ju

ne 1

5, 1

889.

Pre

side

nt H

arris

on a

nd o

ther

di

gnita

ries

wer

e am

ong

the

huge

cro

wd.

Whe

n th

e ne

w m

arch

was

pla

yed

by S

ousa

and

the

Mar

ine

Ban

d, it

was

ent

husi

astic

ally

rece

ived

, and

with

in d

ays

it be

cam

e ex

cept

iona

lly p

opul

ar in

W

ashi

ngto

n.

The

mar

ch h

appe

ned

to b

e ad

mira

bly

suite

d to

the

two-

step

dan

ce, w

hich

was

just

bei

ng in

trodu

ced.

A

dan

cem

aste

r’s o

rgan

izat

ion

adop

ted

it at

thei

r yea

rly c

onve

ntio

n, a

nd s

oon

the

mar

ch w

as v

aulte

d in

to in

tern

atio

nal f

ame.

The

two-

step

gra

dual

ly re

plac

ed th

e w

altz

as

a po

pula

r dan

ce, a

nd v

aria

tions

of

the

basi

c tw

o-st

ep in

sure

d th

e m

arch

’s p

opul

arity

all

thro

ugh

the

1890

s, a

nd in

to th

e 20

th c

entu

ry.

Sou

sa’s

mar

ch b

ecam

e id

entif

ied

with

the

two-

step

, and

it w

as a

s fa

mou

s ab

road

as

it w

as in

The

U

nite

d S

tate

s. I

n so

me

Eur

opea

n co

untri

es, a

ll tw

o-st

eps

wer

e ca

lled

“Was

hing

ton

post

s.” P

irate

d ed

ition

s of

the

mus

ic a

ppea

red

in m

any

fore

ign

coun

tries

. In

Brit

ain,

for e

xam

ple,

it w

as k

now

n by

su

ch n

ames

as

“No

Sur

rend

er” a

nd “W

ashi

ngto

n G

rays

.”

Nex

t to

“The

Sta

rs a

nd S

tripe

s Fo

reve

r,” “

The

Was

hing

ton

Pos

t” ha

s be

en S

ousa

’s m

ost w

idel

y kn

own

mar

ch.

He

delig

hted

in te

lling

how

he

had

hear

d it

in s

o m

any

diffe

rent

cou

ntrie

s, p

laye

d in

so

man

y di

ffere

nt w

ays

-- a

nd o

ften

accr

edite

d to

nat

ive

com

pose

rs.

It w

as a

sta

ndar

d at

Sou

sa B

and

perfo

rman

ces

and

was

ofte

n op

enly

dem

ande

d w

hen

not s

ched

uled

for a

pro

gram

. It

was

pai

nful

for

Sou

sa to

rela

te th

at, l

ike

“Sem

per F

idel

is” a

nd o

ther

mar

ches

of t

hat p

erio

d, h

e re

ceiv

ed o

nly

$35

for

it, w

hile

the

publ

ishe

r mad

e a

fortu

ne. O

f tha

t sum

, $25

was

for a

pia

no a

rran

gem

ent,

$5 fo

r a b

and

arra

ngem

ent,

and

$5 fo

r an

orch

estra

arr

ange

men

t.

Toda

y, a

t a c

omm

unity

room

in W

ashi

ngto

n, a

spo

tligh

t illu

min

ates

a li

fe-s

ize

colo

r por

trait

of th

e bl

ack-

bear

ded

Sou

sa, r

espl

ende

nt in

his

sca

rlet M

arin

e B

and

unifo

rm.

This

is th

e Jo

hn P

hilip

Sou

sa

Com

mun

ity R

oom

in th

e W

ashi

ngto

n P

ost B

uild

ing.

It i

s th

e ne

wsp

aper

’s tr

ibut

e to

the

man

who

firs

t ga

ve it

wor

ldw

ide

fam

e.1

P

rogr

am n

ote

rese

arch

ed b

y M

arcu

s L.

Nei

man

M

edin

a, O

hio

A

dditi

onal

info

rmat

ion

on e

ither

the

com

pose

r or c

ompo

sitio

n w

ould

be

wel

com

ed.

Ple

ase

send

in

form

atio

n to

m

arcu

snei

man

@zo

omin

tern

et.n

et

1 B

ierle

y, P

aul.

Joh

n Ph

ilip

Sous

a: A

Des

crip

tive

Cat

alog

of H

is W

orks

, (U

nive

rsity

of I

llino

is

Pre

ss, 1

973)

, p. 7

8