Philip sousa biography
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John Philip Sousa and “Stars and Stripes Forever”: A Christmas Story
U.S. Marine Corps Veteran John Philip Sousa was crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner on Christmas Day when the tune for “Stars and Stripes Forever” popped into his head. Within months, Sousa had composed what would become the defining song for the American flag and patriotism, a testament to how Veterans love their nation and think of home during the holidays.
Born on November 6, near the Marine Corps Barracks in Washington, DC, Sousa was destined to become a musician and a member of the Marines. His father, Antonio Sousa, was a musician with “The President’s Own” Marine Band stationed in the nation’s capital. John Sousa spent most of his formative years studying piano, orchestra, violin, and music theory under the famed music instructor John Esputa, Jr. Antonio enlisted his son as an apprentice musician in the Marine Band at the age of thirteen, and he remained in that service until the age of twenty.
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John Philip Sousa, Director (), brought world fame to "The President's Own." While the organization was already considered a national institution, Sousa's dynamic leadership transformed the Marine Band's repertoire, emphasized symphonic music, changed the instrumentation, and made rehearsals exceptionally strict. He conducted the band's first sound recordings, initiated its first national concert tour, and began to write the marches that earned him international acclaim and the title "The March King." Sousa continued composing and conducting until his death in He left America a treasured musical legacy of marches that, as columnist Hugh Sidey noted, ". . . say more about liberty than a dozen orators."
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John Philip Sousa
BIOGRAPHY
John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, DC on November 6, He was the third of ten children of John Antonio Sousa, a Portuguese immigrant, and Maria Elizabeth Trinkhaus, a German immigrant. His father played trombone in the U.S. Marine Band, which influenced John to begin studying music when he was six years old. He began studying violin, but eventually learned all the wind instruments. John Philip Sousa was very interested in being in a band, so when he was 13 years old, he tried to join a circus grupp. His attempt was unsuccessful and shortly afterwards, his father enlisted John in the Marine grupp in Washington, D.C., where he stayed for 8 years.
In , Sousa began performing as a violinist, going on tour and eventually landing positions as a theater orchestra conductor. It was in the theater that he met his wife, Jane Van Middlesworth Bellis who was a singer. They had 3 children who were musicians; John, Jane & Hele