Washington, D.C. native and legendary bandmaster John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) wrote a dozen operettas, six full-length operas, and over 100 marches, earning the title “March King”. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at an early age and went on to become the conductor of the President’s Own United States Marine Band at age 26. In 1892 he formed “Sousa and his Band”, which toured the United States and the world under his directorship for the next forty years to great acclaim. Not only was Sousa’s band hugely popular, but it also exposed audiences all over the world to the latest, cutting-edge music, bringing excerpts of Wagner’s Parsifal to New York a decade before the Metropolitan Opera staged it, and introducing ragtime to Europe, helping to spark many a composer’s interest in American music.
Composer Daniel Dorff reconstructed Foshay Tower Washington Memorial march in 1988, and the program notes in his edition of the score illuminate much of its history, including why a reconstruction was necessary:
FOSHAY TOWER WASHINGTON MEMORIAL March has remained unknown and unpublished for almost sixty years, due to an odd set of extramusical circumstances. It seems clear that Sousa favored this music, as he took it from one commission to fulfill a more important one and made an orchestral version soon after the premiere.
Wilbur Foshay was an extremely rich and powerful utilities magnate in the 1920s, controlling telephone, water, gas, electric, and public transit in twelve states and several countries. In 1929 he completed construction of the tallest building in Minneapolis [Foshay Tower] to be his corporate headquarters and luxurious home. It was inspired by the Washington Monument‘s architecture and bore Foshay’s name at the top in enormous letters. The dedication of the building on Labor Day was an extravaganza including international dignitaries and the U. S. Secretary of War. Foshay engaged Sousa’s Band to play and to premiere a new march commemorating the occasion. Rather than starting a fresh piece on short notice during a busy summer season, Sousa took a recently commissioned (but not yet delivered) march, “Daughters of Texas,” and changed the title to “Foshay Tower Washington Memorial,” later writing a new march for the Texas commission.
When the stock market crashed several weeks later, Foshay’s finances were found to be quite corrupt, causing a nationally-celebrated scandal. Naturally, Sousa didn’t want to be associated with Foshay’s name and stopped performing the march, hiding the music at his home in Sands Point, New York. More detailed explanations of the rather sensational Foshay situation can be found in Paul E. Bierley’s The Works of John Philip Sousa and in Bierley’s article “Sousa’s Mystery March.”
Dorff goes on to describe the difficulties of preparing the march, which was full of inconsistencies and omissions in its manuscript. He thanks Paul Bierley and John Philip Sousa III for their “help and perseverance” in assembling it. But he leaves out an important detail: Foshay, in financial ruin after the crash, never paid for the march. This program note from AllMusic (probably borrowed from a CD liner note) tells the epilogue that did eventually lead to this edition:
Though Foshay himself no longer owned the Foshay Tower, on its own merits the building became a symbol for the city of Minneapolis. The Tower’s distinctive obelisk-shaped design is modeled after the Washington Monument. For four decades, it was the tallest building in Minneapolis, yet its small floorboards and offices make it an ideal location for small businesses. In 1966, a museum dedicated to the Tower’s history was installed on the top floor, and for the opening of the museum, the Foshay management sought permission to have the Sousa composition revived. But Sousa’s heirs again refused; Foshay had not paid the commission for the march, outside of a small advance, nor had he paid for the concerts that had surrounded the opening of the Tower. In 1988, a group of Minneapolis citizens raised the money to pay off Foshay’s debt to Sousa, and the march was finally heard in time for the 60th anniversary of the Foshay Tower. “Mystery” no more, this march, one of Sousa’s last, has finally been recorded, and allowed to take pride of place alongside his other 135 marches.
A Minnesota Public Radio story largely corroborates this account.
Here’s the march in full: