L’instrument de recherche de la John Philip Sousa Collection, 1849-2004 (Library of Congress) est maintenant disponible en ligne.

« This collection documents the life and work of one of the most popular and often-performed American composers.

The 9,000 items held in the collection include sketches, fair copies, and orchestrations for many of Sousa’s works for both the concert hall and for the stage. Sousa was the author of several novels, and his literary ambitions are documented with holograph drafts, corrected typescripts and publisher galleys. Over the years, several members of the Music Division have sorted and identified hundreds of sketches, individual pages, and heretofore unknown compositions and orchestrations. These newly identified materials can enable a scientific investigation of Sousa’s remarkable organic compositional technique. Rich in holograph materials for his works for the stage, the collection invites serious appraisal of his efforts to create an American operetta genre. His first stage work, Katherine (1879), and his pioneering orchestrations of Sir Arthur Sullivan and others, have yet to be seriously examined.

The business papers portion of the collection document the family corporation – “John Philip Sousa, Inc.” – as well as the extensive negotiations with several Hollywood studios regarding a feature biographical film of Sousa’s life. Sousa’s music remains a national treasure. The archive stands ready for deeper exploration and a reappraisal of the composer of our national march – “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” »

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