John Philip Sousa

John Philip Sousa grew up in Washington, D.C., the child of a Bavarian mother and a Spanish father. He was a studious boy who began his musical career as a violinist. According to biographer Paul E. Bierley, it was a common sight in southeastern Washington before the Civil War “to see young Sousa with an armload of books or his violin wherever he went.”

Sousa became known in the years between 1880 and his death in 1932 as the “March King,” composer of a body of American patriotic march pieces including “Semper Fidelis,” (1888) “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” (1896) and “The Washington Post.” (1889). That latter work was composed for an awards ceremony sponsored by the newspaper of that name, and soon became associated in the public mind with a then-fashionable dance known as the “two step.”

Sousa was also the conductor of the Marine Corps bands for twelve years (1880 to 1892). In the eyes of many observers, he made it one of the finest, perhaps the finest, marching band in the world, and his “Semper Fidelis” remains the official march of the USMC.