The Stars and Stripes Forever

As the composer of no fewer than 136 marches – many of them among the most successful of their kind – John Philip Sousa clearly found it very easy to write such things. Or so you might think. In fact, as he said, “The whole process is an exacting one… A march stimulates every centre of vitality, wakens the imagination. But it must be good. It must be as free from padding as a marble statue. Every line must be carved with unerring skill. Once padded it ceases to be a march. There is no form of musical composition wherein the harmonic structure must be more clear-cut. There must be a melody which appeals to the musical and the unmusical alike. There must be no confusion in counterpoint."

There is no better example of Sousa’s mastery in this exacting art than The Stars and Stripes Forever which he wrote in a fit of homesickness when he was away in Europe in 1897 and which appealed so directly to the American sense of patriotism that it was adopted as the national march of the USA. It is characteristic Sousa in that – in contrast to the best-known British marches with the big tune set in the middle, like “Land of hope and glory” in Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 – the big tune (“Hurrah for the flag of the free”) is reserved until the end where it appears three times, attracting counter-melodies that enhance the excitement without in the least confusing the issue.