John Philip Sousa and Musical Americanism in Continental Europe, 1893-1917

• Applicant: Dr. Tobias Faßhauer
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 387748861

Based on research funded under the same title from 2017 to 2020, this phase of the project aims to complete a book manuscript on the reception of the American composer and conductor John Philip Sousa on the European continent and its significance for the constitution of a European musical “Americanism.” Americanism is understood as a tendency that regarded particular musical forms of expression as typically American, reflecting then-prevalent stereotypes about the United States. The first of two main parts of the book deals with the two European tours of the Sousa Band in 1900 and 1903. It draws mainly on the very extensive press clippings collection of this ensemble, a rich source reflecting the gamut of European ideas about America, but until now largely ignored by cultural historians. Topics in this section include the progress of Sousa’s tours; the cult of Sousa as an exponent of early American mass culture akin to P. T. Barnum and Buffalo Bill (with whom he was repeatedly compared in Europe); aspects of sonic and scenic performance; as well as the musical literature performed and its reception by critics and audiences in various countries.Part two is a corpus analysis of the musical genres imported to Europe through Sousa’s activities: especially the American march type and its cousin, the twostep, on the one hand; and on the other hand, the cakewalk with its African-American connotations. On the basis of a collection of mainly German, and to a lesser extent French and Austrian Americanist compositions, initiated in 2018 as part of the present project, the musical correlates of European Americanism are analyzed, differentiating between Euro- and Afro-Americanism while at the same time highlighting their convergence. Particular use is made of the descriptive categories that the composer and music critic Max Chop developed between 1906 and 1914, mainly in the “Phonographische Zeitschrift.” Chop’s reviews of new recordings, with their constant reference to Sousa’s music, provide a kind of aesthetic of musical Americanism.In a broader historical perspective, this study highlights how the European reception of John Philip Sousa anticipated features of the more well-studied Americanist and modernist discourse of the “Jazz Age” from about 1920 onwards.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants