John Philip Sousa---Paragon of American patriotism!

In the historiography of American patriotic marching band music, no single question has fomented such spilling of scholarly ink as that of to what we may attribute the greatness of "The March King": the composer, conductor, author and public figure of great renown whose singular legacy of achievement and merit encompasses the topic of our present excursis. This paragon of industriousness and virtue is of course none other than John Philip Sousa, a man whose legendary status has secured its immortality in the superb form of our beloved Sousaphone! To what may we attribute the extraordinary ascent of this celebrated conjurer of ecstatic collective effervescences of love of country? This deft chronicler of the upright Puritan's prairie imagination? This galvanizer of the steely energies of the common American laborer against the moral-fiber-sapping and resolve-hemorrhaging temptations of his predators, among them the Trade-Unionist, the Onanist, the Jesuit, the Communist, the Anarchist and the French Parlor-Dwelling Aesthete?

There have, as we devotees and scholars of Sousa and his music have come to recognize it, two opposing-yet-overlapping schools of thought that have come to dominate responsible discourses surrounding this historiographical question. To be sure, it rings like the snap of a snare-drummer's rim-shot from the lofty halls of academe to the hallowed journals of collectors, archivists and enthusiasts alike. The first of these might be designated as the functionalist school. This school holds that although Sousa was from the final trimester in his mother's womb recognized as possessing a commanding familiarity with the peculiarities of Western tonality and harmony, it is not this familiarity per se that made possible his accomplishments; that Sousa's swift journey from child prodigy---with unusually robust acumen in the area of composition for symphonic band (particularly composition in the tricky and, yes, singularly patriotic and American meter of 2/4)---, is a testament not primarily to the man's musical proclivities.

Rather, argues the functionalist school, whatever the role of this rarefied and breathtaking natural talent, in any evenhanded scholarly assessment, it should and does play second---as it were---fiddle to that transcendent, sacred and numinous quality that Sousa held in such commanding abundance: an exemplary devotion to the cause securing and defending the exceptional greatness of his country!

For how, the functionalists argue, could the seasoned Master of the March unlock the hidden passions and potentialities lurking within his fellow citizens---contemporaneously and enduring into the future---were not the motivating principle behind his excellence at his craft one that results directly, primarily and finally from a stronger-than-usual patriotic fervor deep within his own (but just) mortal soul? Surely, posit the functionalists, it was this self-starting force within him that---as a matter of no mere coincidence---found its expression in the still-burgeoning form of the march? And furthermore, these scholarly men put it to us, was not Sousa's unprecedented excellence in the composition of music for marching band precisely the elixir upon which our strong but wounded younger generations of patriots pined at that precise moment to sup? Could this possibly, they continue, come down merely to coincidence? Was not Sousa's true accomplishment the re-energizing of the moral fiber of our fine nation? And therefore, was his true guide in so lofty a task not The Creator Himself?

After all, say the functionalists, there had been generations of men before Sousa's day that had been equipped with all of the musical and moral edification that material wealth could provide. And these men had failed where Sousa triumphed. Furthermore, Sousa had been preceded in the fields of brass and woodwind music by men whose intellectual, moral and musical predilections had been fashioned from the very finest and most scientifically rigorous breeding and cross-breeding practices. The sons and daughters of diplomats, choirmasters, composers and bassoonists, reputable men of letters, heroic men of the sword and men of high finance. Are we who stand upon this hallowed ground today the fruits of their considerable compositional labors? No: we honor these men and their worthy efforts. But no man was a match for Sousa. Nor could any man hold a match to Sousa. It is he from whom we derive the patriotic strength of purpose and sturdy faith in The Creator in relation to which we align our moral compass. It was not the stymied efforts of lesser men, even these otherwise exquisite men, that inspired contemporaneous generations and that continues to inspire generations to come. There is but one Sousa!

As we have noted, there has emerged in this decade a second, heterodox school weighing in on the historiography of Sousa, and---with a fanfare reminiscent of the bugle call heralding the marching onslaught of any of this Christian nation's fine and longstanding tradition of separatist para-militias---this school has issued a gentlemanly challenge to the "received wisdom" of the Sousa functionalists. This heterodox school has of late described itself as the Unified Field Of Sousa School, frequently abbreviated as UFOS'S.

These scholars contend that Sousa's extraordinary capacity as regards marching band music was a mere emanation of naturally occurring energies implicit in the alignment of the Celestial Spheres. According to the advanced investigations of the UFOS'S into astrological/cosmological convergences, the vast collected expertise among its members in matters of theosophy, alchemy, occult science, and astral projection theory, as well as in the plethoric multitude of esoteric sciences more generally, and the emanation in Sousa's time of these national energies was a forgone conclusion---willed into being by the Mysteries of Fate---rendering the fact of its having taken the form of a robust talent in composition for symphonic band a matter of peripheral significance at most!

What's more---and here is the claim that has sent many Sousa functionalists in haste back to the archives, in order that they may more aggressively dispute its validity---the UFOS'S would have us believe, that it is in the convergence of this admixture of para-normal forces---and in this convergence alone---in the person of Sousa that we comprehend his rare and revolutionary talents. In other words, that Sousa himself was a mere vessel, chosen more or less arbitrarily, into which unseen forces had placed the shining lights of virtue, wisdom and excellence.

This controversial argument is supported by a multitude of documents, graphs, charts and visions that have been, in the latter case, obtained through the practicings of various of the UFOS'S in the Dark Arts.


This fascinating historiographical debate is unlikely to be resolved in the near future. Be assured that we shall continue to update the reader on developments of all things Sousa. As for now, I remain as always

Your Most Honorable and Celebrated Sirs' Most Obedient Servant,
Addison Waymond "Sycamore" Abbott