005 Sousa, Nationalism, and Masculinity

This episode explores the rise to prominence of brass bands or marching bands after the U.S. Civil War. We discuss the shift in ideals of patriotism that follows the war,  the emergence of the brass bands as an emblem of middlebrow nationalism, and the rejection of highbrow music at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. We then discuss John Phillip Sousa's contributions to the arguments surrounding copyright and his qualms about recorded music. We then examine Sousa's approach to march composition and the way in which it combines images of "barbaric splendor" and elements of the parlor song to give rise to a new vision of masculinity and its role in nationalism.