Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIV, no. 2 (Spring 1998)
Anatomy of a Preservation Project: The Sousa and Clarke Archives at UIUC
Phyllis Danner, with David Peter Coppen and Ann Marie Werner, UIUC
The international influence and acclaim of John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) was
recognized as early as 1900 by Rupert L. Hughes who wrote, "[Sousa's] music is
conceived in a spirit of high martial zest. It is proud and gay and fierce, thrilled
and thrilling with triumph. Like all great music it is made up of simple elements,
woven together by a strong personality. . . . The glory of Sousa is that he was the first
to write in this style; that he has made himself a style; that he has so stirred the
musical world that countless imitations have sprung up after him."1 Sousa and
his band toured for thirty-nine seasons, presenting music to transcontinental and
international audiences. His popularity and success stemmed from his congnizance of the
musical taste of his listeners, his ability to program music that would entertain
and educate, and his talent as a conductor, composer, arranger, and violinist. Herbert
L. Clarke (1867-1945), Sousa Band cornet soloist, assistant conductor, arranger, and
music copyist, who appears on the first impression to have been Sousa's quintessential
factorum, built a distinct and distinguished career apart from his lenthy and loyal
association with Sousa. As cornet soloist and/or conductor of bands on the East and
West coasts of the United States and in Canada, Clarke developed a unique style
while adhering to the same high standards and goals held by his friend and colleague.
The varied repertoire of the Sousa Band is reflected in the John Philip Sousa and the
Herbert L. Clarke collections held at the Sousa Archives for Band Research (SABRE) at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) composed of marches, overtures,
suites, vocal and violin solos, and solo works for other instruments, novelty selections,
and fantasies, many of which were composed or arranged by Sousa. As a research resource
of the music itself bears information regarding personnel, itinerary, and
instrumentation; as a source of insight to life on the road, personal opinion
regarding musicianship, physical characteristics, and salary, or articstic abilities of
Sousa Band members, the music is replete with running dialog and caricatures. The
Clarke Collection music, photographs, artifacts, and related materials include many
original works for solo cornet and band, ensembles, and selections for band by Clarke
and his contemporaries. Holograph scores and parts by Clarke appear frequently in the
Sousa Collection as well. Clarke's precise and legible manuscript can be immediately
attributed, even in abscence of his signature or initial block (HLC) at the end
of a part or a score.
The Sousa and Clarke collections have been in residence at UIUC since 1932 and 1946
respectively. The rigors of multiple Sousa Band concert seasons and post-Sousa use of
collections for rehearsal, performance, and rsearch, as well as having been the
subject to the vagaries of Illinois climate for nearly six decades, have contributed
to deterioration of the archival manuscript music materials. Eighty percent of the
collection fails the standard four fold test. The works that experienced the
greated level of use are in advanced stages of decay with important marginalia and even
the music itself at risk.
On 31 March 1997 the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Commission on
Preservation and Access announced approval of funding for a fifteen-month preservation
microfilming project on behalf of the collections. NEH funding is sponsoring two-thirds
of the project costs; UIUC is contributing the remaining one-third of the budget
through cost-sharing initiatives (purchase of supplies, salaries, and benefits for
permanent staff, and project space and related budget). Project-related activities
include creating machine readalbe cataloging (MARC) records and finding aids for
nine-six cubic feet of archival manuscript music materials, concert programs,
and correspondence; reformating the music and related materials thorugh preservation
microfilming; and creating archival quality negatives and positive use copies for
120 photographs. At the completion of the project, copies of the microfilm
reformatted materials will be available to institutions and individuals for purchase.
During the course of the project, members of the staff have been presented with
opportunities to add to the body of knowledge regarding the content and historical
aspects of the two collections through presentations at professional meetings and through
the media. Difficult technical issues related to preservation microfilming have been
encountered and solved through cooperative efforts with UIUC technical services
specialists, as well as other librarians and archivists. The end results of the
NEH-sponsored preservation project will be preservation of the intellectual content of the
materials, generation of bibliographic control, and access enhancement.
Establishing intellectual control requires devising a logical and coherent order of
document prior to filming. Project methodology has included appraisal of the scope
of the collection, selection of materials for filming, establishment of a standard
synthetic order, collocation of information, and accomplishing minor conservation
procedures according to accepted archival practice. Sousa's original works are being
filmed chronologically, with his arrangements of works of other composers following
alphabetically by composer's surname; filming of manuscript works by other composers
completes the sequence for the Sousa materials. The manuscripts in the Herbert L. Clarke
collection are being filmed similarly. A further component of intellectual control
entails cataloging of finished product as a holding of the home institution, and the
subsequent uploading of MARC records of all titles filmed to OCLC. The completion of the
SABRE Preservation Project will guarantee enhanced access to this important chapter of
American musical life and history.
Women in White
A unique and thus far unnoted segment of the Illinois Sousa materials includes
vocal solos that were presented by the women to whom Sousa referred individually as
"The Lady in White."2 These vocalists met all his criteria for a Sousa Band
soloist; they possessed talent, beauty, and stage presence. More than forty female
vocalists sang with the Sousa Band throughout the thirty-nine seasons, many making concert
appearances at Willow Grove Park in Philadelphia or at the New York Hippodrome, in
addition to participating in special events, the annual transcontinental tours, and for
some, the World Tour or one of the four European tours. Among the coloratura or lyric
sopranos were Belle Storey, Mary Baker, Nora Fauchald, and Marcella Lindh, who soloed
with the Band prior to achieving operatic stardom in Europe. Virginia Root, the
soprano whom Sousa chose as vocal soloist for the Sousa Band world tour (1910-1911),
had a long and noteworthy career with the group from 1909-1916. Marjorie Moody
captivated audiences in over 2,700 concerts with the Band between 1917 and 1931.
Sousa held her in such high esteem as an artist and friend that he dedicated two
songs to her: "There's a Merry Brown Thrush" (1926) and "Love's Radiant Hour" (1928);
both selections are held in the SABRE vocal collection. The coloratura soprano
Estelle Liebling was Sousa's most renowned vocal soloist; her extensive range and vocal
agility pleased listeners during nearly 2,000 concerts. These voices of great carrying
power combined with Sousa sensitive accompaniments, in which he used reduced instrumentation,
enabling the soloists to be heard from any seat in the theatre.3
As Sousa's marches reflected his military experience and masculine exuberance, his
songs reveal his passion and appreciation for the beautiful. Inspired by the tragic and the
comedic, he set both to music. Sousa composed music and lyrics, set the poems of
others to music, or collaborated with another artist to creat his vocal works. The
SABRE collection includes over twenty original Sousa works for voice and band, as well
as 150 songs by other composers for which he created accompaniments for the lovely and talented
Sousa Band soloists. A perusal of song titles in the Sousa vocal collection reveals his
diverse interests and experiences. "Will You Love Me When the Lilacs Are Dead?" (1898),
"Blue Ridge, I'm Coming Back To You" (1917), and "In Flanders's Fields the Poppies Grow"
(1918) represent love, nostalgia, and patriotism for a far-away country and home.
Sousa's hand appears in the majority of the 150 vocal solos and in the accompaniments
from the Sousa family piano bench. One of the most frequented of the solos is
"Maid of the Meadow," a song that he composed for his 1897 operetta, The
Bride-Elect. The collection also holds the Sousa holograph score entitled
"My Own, My Geraldine" (1887) set to the Francis C. Long poem. Sousa noted that this
song reflects the highest standard of his musical ability, adding that it was of a
"better class of English ballads and in the vein with those of Sullivan." 4
Sousa's varied scope is exemplified in comical tunes such as "You'll Miss Lots of Fun
When You're Married" (1890) or more stirring selections like "Kelly, Burke, and
Shea" (1919), a song about three Irishmen who sacrifice their lives for
country.
Sousa not only composed songs, but in his mission to bring the classics to the masses, he
arranged Verdi's "Ave Maria" from Othello, sections of Puccini's La Boheme,
"The Russian Nightingale" by Alabiev, and other works including "Danny Boy" and "Drink To
Me Only With Thine Eyes" -- both as vocal solos and as selections for the band medium.
He recognized the importance of contemporary artists; thus his library included songs and
other works by American composers Edward MacDowell, Stephen Foster, George Whitefield Chadwick,
Amy Beach, and Liza Lehmann. Evan a collaboration titled "Indian Love Song" by
Mrs. Sousa and Estelle Liebling is among the works in the vocal collection.
Popular titles reflect the social, political, and economic situations of the United States
during four decades of Sousa Band performances. "Oh My Country" (1874), "We Are
Coming Home" (1918), and "Our Boys are Home Again" (1928) remind listeners of the volatile
struggles of young Americans who defended their homeland during the Spanish American War
and World War I. Through music, Sousa identified himself with national, regional,
and local events and composed memorable melodies and prose inspired by love, death,
courage, and patriotism. John Philip Sousa was indeed, as Rupert Hughes once
wrote, "The Pulse Of a Nation."5
NOTES
1. Rupert Hughes, Famous American Composers. (Boston: L.C. Page and Co., 1900),
116; 118-119.
2. Paul E. Bierley, John Philip Sousa: An American Phenomenon, (Columbus, Ohio:
Integrity Press, 1973), 179.
3. A general survey of the UIUC Sousa Collection during SABREPP has revealed that
instrumentation for vocal accompaniments includes harp, pars of woodwinds with an
expanded clarinet section, horn, bass, and timpani. Variations occur in selections of
other arrangers, but Sousa's accompaniments rarely include parts for full band.
4. Bierley, 114.
5. Gilbert Chase, America's Music, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992), 327.
Updated 8/31/98