John Philip Sousa’s Band and “The Stars And Stripes Forever”: Brass, Breath, and the Sound of a Nation in Motion
“The Stars And Stripes Forever” doesn’t so much begin as it steps forward, crisp and upright, already certain of its purpose. When John Philip Sousa composed the march in 1896 and later performed it with his band, he created a piece that seemed to arrive fully formed, as if it had been waiting in the…