Another reviewer wasn't so restrained. He wrote in the usually staid PhiladelphiaPublic Ledger:"'The Stars and Stripes Forever' was stirring enough to rouse the American eagle from his crag and set him to shriek exultantly, while he hurls his arrows at the aurora borealis."
From the first, the march provoked emotional responses in audiences, with listeners rising to their feet when it was played. After its premiere Sousa included it in every concert. On many occasions the band repeated it several times.
A century later Americans still thrill to Sousa's march. Harold C. Schonberg, a music critic for the New York Times, said in 1978, There are those who will say, not cracking a smile, that "The Stars and Stripes Forever" is the greatest piece of music ever written by an American composer."
John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C. He was a gifted classical violinist before becoming, 1880 at the age of 25, the conductor of the United States Marine Band, which he developed into one of the best military bands in the world. In 1892 he formed his own touring band. Wearing new white gloves for every performance and a uniform sporting 35 yards of braid, Sousa and his wildly successful band entertained in America and abroad for almost 40 years. Along the way he composed songs, operettas and his famous marches, invented the sousaphone, and penned musical-instruction books, an autobiography and three novels. His profession, he said, was "salesman of Americanism."
The inspiration for "Stars,"as Sousa called it, came to him while he was vacationing in Europe. Homesick, he thought wistfully of Washington, D.C., and pictured the flag flying from its staff on the White House grounds. "To my imagination it seemed to be the grandest flag in the world, and I could not get back under it quick enough."
The vacation ended when news of his manager's death reached Sousa. Sailing home, Sousa had an experience that he described in his autobiography, Marching Along:
"As the vessel steamed out of the harbor, I was pacing the deck, absorbed in thought. Suddenly I began to sense the rhythmic beat of a band playing within my brain. Throughout the voyage, that imaginary band continued to unfold the same themes, echoing and re-echoing the most distinct melody. When we reached shore, I set down the measures, and not a note of it has ever changed."
Sousa intended the three themes in the march to represent different parts of the United States. The main melody, full of contrasts, is the North. The South is symbolized by the lilting piccolo obbligato, and the bold West by the soaring trombone countermelody. When Sousa's band performed the march, his piccolo and brass sections typically lined up across the front of the stage for the grand finale, playing directly to the audience for a rousing finish. Such music, he once quipped, "could make a man with a wooden leg step out."
Americans aren't the only ones who love "The Stars and Stripes Forever." When Arthur Fiedler directed the World Symphony Orchestra in 1972, he ended each concert with Sousa's famous march. It brought standing ovations every time.
The march is such a part of the American experience that, in November 1987, Congress easily passed a bill making "The Stars and Stripes Forever" America's National March. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill and stated in a letter afterward, Americans everywhere recognize this stirring march as a tribute to America's great patriotic spirit."
That Sousa himself loved the march was no secret. When asked in 1931 what musical composition he'd choose to hear if he were told he had but 24 hours to live, he answered, "'The Stars and Stripes Forever' --- I would meet my Maker face to face with the inspiration that grows out of the melody and the patriotism that gives it being." Fittingly, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" was the last composition played under Sousa's baton before he died in 1932, and a fragment of the march is inscribed on his tombstone.
Though (over) 100 years have passed since this most American of tunes was introduced, its melody continues to inspire us. May John Philip Sousa's famous "Stars" shine brightly forever.
Words To "Stars and Stripes Forever"