John Philip Sousa

The Washington Post

In the company history of the 'Washington Post', one of the great American newspapers, under the year '1889' is the following brief entry: 'At the prize-giving of an essay contest on June 15, John Philip Sousa, head of the United States Marine Corps Music Corps, presented the march 'The Washington Post', which he had written especially for the paper. The march became a popular success and is still one of the most popular marches today.' Behind this note is the rise of John Philip Sousa as one of the preeminent military bandmasters and composers in the United States. When Sousa was on tour in St. Louis with the vaudeville 'Our Flirtations,' he learned that he was being considered to head the Marine Corps of Music in Washington. His father Antonio accepted the appointment in place of his son, as the latter was having difficulty getting out of his contract. Sousa was eventually appointed 14th Chief of the U.S. Marine Corps Music Corps on Oct. 1, 1880, and the first, moreover, to be born in the United States. His predecessor, Louis Schneider, had been discharged due to incapacity. For Sousa, taking on this task meant that he was at the head of a military music corps for the first time, and he consequently dealt with musical issues in a different way than his predecessors had done. He expanded and improved the music corps' score, from which, however, many editions were also removed. He also changed the instrumental composition of his music corps. In the coming years, Sousa made great efforts to improve the musical performance of the music corps. Under him, rehearsals were conducted strictly and with the necessary seriousness, so that musically weaker members of the music corps gradually left it. As a reformer, Sousa was also very successful in another important area, as he increasingly attracted concertgoers with critical judgment instead of the simple attendees who had been predominantly encountered at such events in the past. The Marine Band's reputation as a military unit that knew how to march also spread quickly, so the music corps was in high demand. Those years also saw the creation of Sousa's first operettas. However, the first of these early productions, 'The Smugglers', was on the repertoire for only a short time. As director of the Marine Corps Music Corps, John Philip Sousa added a number of dashing marches to its repertoire. The march that really cemented Sousa's reputation in military music, however, was 'The Gladiator', written in 1886. Eventually, he became the 'March King' between 1889 and 1891 - presumably shortly after the event that took place in Washington in 1889 at which 'The Washington Post' was first performed. In addition, 'The Washington Post' quickly became widely known as the march was particularly suited to the 'Two Step', a very popular fashion dance at the time. Sousa's march was thus used as a dance all over the world and even released in various countries as an illegal edition under fantasy titles.