Scientist of the Day - John Philip Sousa
Sheet music, “Transit of Venus March,” by John Philip Sousa, 1896 (written 1883), Library of Congress (Wikimedia commons)
John Philip Sousa, an American composer and band conductor, died Mar. 6, 1932, at the age of 77. Sousa is well known for the many stirring marches he wrote and performed, including "Washington Post" (1889), "El Capitan" (1896), and "Stars and Stripes Forever" (1896-97). He would not fit under the rubric, Scientist of the Day, were it not for two exceptions: he wrote a march about a scientific event to commemorate a scientist, and he invented, or helped invent, a new musical instrument.
Caricature of John Philip Sousa, watercolor and ink on board, by George Frederick Scotson-Clark, ca 1895, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (npg.si.edu)
First, the march. It was called the "Transit of Venus March," and it was written by Sousa in 1883 on commission from the Smithsonian Institution. Transits of Venus, where Venus crosses the face of the Sun, occur in pairs, nine years apart, every hundred years. This had happened most recently on Dec. 6, 1882, and many photographs recorded the event (third image).
The 1882 transit of Venus across the Sun, photograph, 1882 (hubblesite.org)
The march was commissioned to celebrate the unveiling of a statue celebrating Joseph Henry, who had been the first secretary of the Smithsonian. The statue was unveiled on Apr. 19, 1883, Sousa and the U.S. Marine Band played the march, and then it pretty much disappeared from band repertoire, until a copy of the sheet music resurfaced just in time for the 2004 transit (first image). You can hear the brief march at this YouTube link, and you can see the unveiled statue at our post on Henry.
The first Sousaphone, built to Sousa’s specifications by J.W. Pepper of Philadelphia in 1895, recent photograph, from “Strictly Oompah,” blog of Dave Detwiler (tubapastor.blogspot.com)
Sousa's other venture into the realm of science and technology came with his call for a new band instrument that could play parts written for a tuba, but could be "worn" on the shoulders rather than having to be held with the arms. J.W. Pepper of Philadelphia obliged with the Sousaphone in 1895, which he named after his best client. The recent photo (fourth image) shows that very first instrument. Common wisdom (i.e., Wikipedia) holds that the Sousaphone was invented so that it could be more easily carried by a marching band, and that it had a bell turned forward, to project the sound better. In fact, Sousa commissioned the instrument for his concert band, not his marching band, and he wanted the bell to point up. The first Sousaphone did just that. Only later did the bell tilt forward, as it does in all modern Sousaphones.
Marine band with two tubas flanking a Sousaphone, undated photograph, from “Strictly Oompah,” blog of Dave Detwiler (tubapastor.blogspot.com)
A man I do not know (but would like to), Dave Detwiler, is the author of a blog on Sousaphones (and other giant tubas) that should be a model for bloggers everywhere. He knows his subject thoroughly, his posts are well-indexed, and his photos, of which there are many, are properly documented. We used two of them in this post. He also has created YouTube videos and provided links to those. You can even learn about the first Sousaphonist, Herman Conrad, a member of Sousa's band. Here is the link to the homepage of Detwiler's blog, "Strictly Oompah."
U.S. postage stamp with a portrait of John Philip Sousa, 1940, National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution (posalmuseum.si.edu)
Sousa has a bridge named after him, the John Philip Sousa Bridge in Washington, D.C., which carries Pennsylvania Avenue across the Anacostia River. I considered including a photo, but then I thought, we really should not encourage that kind of thing. Bridges should be named after civil engineers, architects, and, if necessary, politicians; musicians should be honored with concert halls, musical instruments, and musical compositions. So I show instead a commemorative U.S. postage stamp honoring Sousa, issued in 1940, which would have cost you two cents to purchase and put in your stamp album (sixth image). It is a much more appropriate monument than a bridge.
William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
