Biographical Notes
John Philip Sousa
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1854 November 6 | Born the third of ten children at 636 G Street SE in Washington, D.C., to Maria Elisabetha Trinkaus Sousa (1826-1908) and John Antonio Sousa (1824-1892), a trombone player in the United States Marine Band |
| 1860-1867 | Studied several instruments, including piano and violin, while enrolled at a conservatory operated by John Esputa Jr. |
| 1868-1875 | Enlisted as an apprentice musician in the U.S. Marine Band Played violin with local theater and chamber orchestras Studied composition and theory with George Felix Benkert |
| 1876-1880 | Lived in Philadelphia Worked as a performer, conductor, composer, and arranger |
| 1879 December 30 | Married Jane van Middlesworth Bellis (died 1944) |
| 1880-1892 | Served as the 17th leader of the U.S. Marine Band |
| 1881 April 1 | Son John Philip Sousa Jr. born (died 1937) |
| 1882 August 7 | Daughter Jane Priscilla Sousa born (died 1958) |
| circa 1882 | His first published operetta The Smugglers appeared |
| 1887 January 21 | Daughter Helen P. Sousa born (died 1975) |
| 1888 | Composed "Semper Fidelis," traditionally known as the official march of the Marine Corps |
| 1891 | President Benjamin Harrison gave Sousa permission to take the Marine Band on its first tour |
| 1892 | Resigned as director of the Marine Band and formed the Sousa Band |
| 1892-1931 | The Sousa Band toured the U.S., Europe, Great Britain, the Canary Islands, and in the South Pacific |
| 1895 | Published his operetta El Capitan |
| 1896 | Composed "The Stars and Stripes Forever" |
| 1901 | Received the Royal Victorian Medal from King Edward VII Receieved the Order of Academic Palms from the French Republic |
| 1914 | Charter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) |
| 1917-1919 | Commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve Served as music director at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois |
| 1923 | Received an honorary doctorate of music from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| 1924-1932 | Vice president of ASCAP |
| 1927-1928 | Testified before Congress on behalf of composers' rights |
| 1932 March 6 | Died at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania, after conducting a rehearsal of the Ringgold Band |
| 1970 | Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame |
| 1987 | "The Stars and Stripes Forever" designated as the U.S. official national march by an act of Congress |
Victor Grabel
Conductor, music educator, arranger, and author Victor Jean Grabel was born in Kauffman County, Texas, in 1886. A cornetist, he attended Texas Christian College and later became student leader of the band. Grabel completed further studies at the Dana School of Music in Warren, Ohio, where he studied composition, arranging, and cornet under B. D. Gilliland. In 1906, Grabel enlisted in the U.S. Army and was made bandmaster of the 7th U.S. Infantry. He and his band were stationed for four years in the Philippine Islands, during which time he began creating his own arrangements and transcriptions and composing original works. In 1914, he married Mary Sinclair of Chicago. During World War I, Grabel enlisted in the U.S. Navy’s band program and was assigned as an assistant to John Philip Sousa at Naval Station Great Lakes near Chicago. Grabel was later assigned to the USS Pennsylvania, which transported President Woodrow Wilson to Europe at the conclusion of hostilities.
After the war, Grabel returned to the Chicago area where he lead various bands and acted as an adjudicator for music contests at both the local and national level. Beginning in 1923, he led the Western Electric Corporation Band in Cicero, Illinois, and organized his first professional band in Chicago. In 1928, while judging a high school band contest in Columbus, Ohio, fellow bandmaster Edwin Franko Goldman first discussed plans to organize the American Bandmasters’ Association with Grabel and then-leader of the U.S. Army Band, William J. Stannard. Grabel was later named secretary of the organization and authored numerous articles about bands and band music for Etude magazine under the auspices of the organization. He formed the Chicago Concert Band, which performed regularly in Grant Park and at Symphony Hall, and was named music director of the Chicagoland Music Festival. During World War II, he was named conductor of the Stetson University Band in Deland, Florida. Suffering from ill health, Grabel retired in the late 1940s and returned home to Texas where he died in a Veterans Hospital in 1965. He was buried in Mineral Wells, Texas. His transcription of the overture to Richard Wagner’s Reinzi was recorded by Frederick Fennell and the Eastman Symphonic Wind Ensemble in 1961.