Sousa!
The bombastic, military marches of American composer John Philip Sousa are well-known, though the history of his long and extraordinary life is not. This museum booklet showcases the extensive exhibit at National Museum of American History, utilizing bold late-1880’s-inspired typography and sheet music motifs such as time signatures, clefs, and bar lines. A muted palette of aged parchment, rich red, navy blue, and stark white combines with vintage black and white photography to evoke a patriotic, bygone era.
The bombastic, military marches of American composer John Philip Sousa are well-known, though the history of his long and extraordinary life is not. This museum booklet showcases the extensive exhibit at National Museum of American History, utilizing bold late-1880’s-inspired typography and sheet music motifs such as time signatures, clefs, and bar lines. A muted palette of aged parchment, rich red, navy blue, and stark white combines with vintage black and white photography to evoke a patriotic, bygone era.
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Who was this man who
became an American
musical legend during
his own lifetime with such hits
as “The Stars and Stripes Forever”
and “The Liberty Bell”?
John Philip Sousa was
born on November 6,
1854, at 636 G Street,
SE, Washington, D.C.,
near the Marine Barracks
where his father played
the trombone while in
the U.S. Marine Band.
John Philip was the third
of 10 children of John
Antonio Sousa, who
was born in Spain of
Portuguese parents,
and Maria Elisabeth
Trinkhaus, born in
Bavaria. Young John
Philip grew up entirely
surrounded by military
band music, and when
he was just six, he began
studying voice, violin,
piano, flute, cornet,
baritone, trombone
and alto horn. By all
accounts, John Philip was
an adventure-loving boy,
and when at the age of 13
he tried to run away
to join a circus band,
his father instead enlisted
him in the Marine Band
as a band apprentice.
It was during his years
in the Marines that Sousa
wrote his very first
composition, “Moonlight
on the Potomac Waltzes.”
Discharged from the
Marines in 1875, the
21-year-old Sousa began
performing on violin,
touring and then
eventually conducting
theater orchestras,
including Gilbert &
Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore
on Broadway.
In 1879, Sousa met
Jane van Middlesworth
Bellis, and they married
on December 30, 1879.
Just a year later,
the couple returned
to Washington, D.C.,
where Sousa assumed
leadership of the U.S.
Marine Band. Over the
next 12 years, Sousa
conducted the band The
President’s Own, serving
under Presidents Hayes,
Garfield, Cleveland,
Arthur and Harrison.
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