Happy Birthday John Philip Sousa!
Nov 6, 1854:
John Philip Sousa is born
History.Com - John Philip Sousa did not invent the musical genre he came to personify, but even if no other composer had ever written a single piece in the same style, the standard repertoire of the American marching band would be little changed. The instantly recognizable sound of Sousa's timeless pieces—"The Washington Post" (1889), "The Liberty Bell" (1893), and "Stars And Stripes Forever" (1896)—is permanently etched in many Americans' memory banks. One of the most popular, prolific and important American composers of all time, John Philip Sousa—"the March King"—was born in Washington, D.C., on this day in 1854.
