Stars and Stripes Forever
by John Philip Sousa
Study Score - Sheet Music

Band

SKU: SA.41229

Composed by John Philip Sousa. Edited by Richard Sargeant. Original Works, Marches. Reprint Source: Edwardsville: Serenissima Music, Inc., 2013. Plate 41229. Romantic, National Anth/Patriotic American. Study score. Composed 1896. 32 pages. Duration 4 minutes. Serenissima #41229. Published by Serenissima (SA.41229).

ISBN 9781608741229. 9.5 x 12.5 inches.

Probably the most famous march in history, Stars and Stripes Forever was composed on Christmas Day 1896 while Sousa was traveling aboard the SS Teutonic bound for New York. In his autobiography, Sousa writes that he imagined the music while at sea and set it down on paper shortly after his return home. The manuscript full score is dated April 26, 1897. The march was first performed by the composer conducting the Sousa Band on May 14, 1897 in Willow Grove Park, near Philadelphia, though this date is disputed by the city of Augusta, Maine - who claim the premiere took place at a Sousa Band concert given there on May 1. With the Spanish-American War in view, the new march became immensely popular from the very start and has remained a favorite ever since. The piece was first published on the very day of the premiere in the composer's piano reduction. With many reissues, reprints and the expansion of band instrumentation - some added after the composer's death in 1932 - the scoring became bloated over the years. This new edition by Richard Sargeant goes back to the composer's original source material and to the actual performing practice of the Sousa Band itself to present a masterpiece of band writing as the composer himself used it. As with all of the Serenissima band offerings, it is presented in an easy-to-read format for use as either a study score or a performance score.