Sousa leaves the Marine Band

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1892, The Washington Post’s headlines included one that read: “Sousa’s farewell toot — last appearance of the Marine Band under his baton — admirers of the popular conductor crowd forward for a farewell shake of the hand at the close of his final concert on the White House grounds.”

In his 12-year tenure with the Marine Band, Sousa had made it one of the finest touring ensembles in his day. He was famous coast-to-coast — but not all that well paid. While on tour early in 1892, he had been approached in Chicago by an impresario with a business proposition: “Why not form your own band, Mr. Sousa? I can offer you four times your Marine Corps salary, plus a percentage of the new band’s profits.” He thought it over, and upon his return to Washington, D.C., submitted his resignation effective July 31, 1892. His final concerts with the Marine Band took place on July 29 and 30 that year.

With that, one important chapter of his musical career had ended, but another was just beginning. Over the next four decades, the Sousa Band would go on to become famous worldwide.

Music Played in Today's Program

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932): Manhattan Beach; Dallas Wind Symphony; Jerry Junkin, conductor; Reference 94

On This Day

Deaths

• 1886 - Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt, 74, in Bayreuth

Premieres

• 1922 - Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 1, at Donaueschingen, Germany, with Hermann Scherchen conducting

• 1938 - Morton Gould: Second American Sinfonietta, at a New York Philharmonic concert at Lewisohn Stadium conducted by the composer

• 1982 - Rochberg: opera The Confidence Man (after the novel by Hermann Melville), at the Sante Fe Opera in New Mexico

• 2004 - Jennifer Higdon: Loco, at the Ravinia Festival, by the Chicago Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach conducting

Others

• 1750 - Probable date of J.S. Bach’s burial in Leipzig (see July 28)