Description
The Stars and Stripes Forever is a patriotic American march by John Philip Sousa (1854-1932). Sousa’s ideas for the march came to him on Christmas Day 1896 whilst on an ocean liner, returning from a holiday in Europe. It was immediately very popular and remains so to this day. Indeed, in 1987 it became the official national march of the USA.
There are three themes in the march’s trio which, Sousa explained, represent the three regions of the United States: the North, the South, and the West. In the finale the three combine, representing the Union itself.
Whilst a number of American marches became very popular as circus music The Stars and Stripes Forever was rarely played in that setting. It was known in show-business as the ‘disaster march’ and was only ever played to warn the venue’s staff of a life-threatening emergency. The idea was that they could then deal with the situation without the chaos and panic that an overt declaration might have caused.
