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{soo'-zuh}
America's greatest composer of MARCH music was John Philip
Sousa, b. Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 1854, d. Mar. 6, 1932.
The popularity of his 136 marches--headed by "The Stars
and Stripes Forever" (1896)--gained him the title The
March King, but he also composed 15 operettas, 70 songs, 27
fantasies, more than 300 arrangements, and wrote 132 articles
and 7 books, including his autobiography Marching Along (1928)
and 3 novels.
At the age of 13, Sousa enlisted as an apprentice in the U.S.
Marine Band. He left the Marines when he was 18 years of age
and played violin in theater and symphonic orchestras, gaining
valuable experience also as a conductor. He reenlisted in
the Marine Band in 1880--this time as leader--and began composing;
his first hit march was "The Gladiator" (1886),
and his "Washington Post March" (1889) became a
ballroom rage associated with a new dance, the two-step.
He left the Marines in 1892 to form his own band, which quickly
became the most successful in the nation; tours through Europe
in 1900, 1901, 1903, and 1905 and a global circuit in 1910-11
brought him worldwide celebrity. With the entry of the United
States into World War I, Sousa again enlisted, this time to
lead the Navy Band, and he continued an active musical life
until his retirement in 1931.
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