Probably the most famous march in history, Stars and Stripes Forever was composed on Christmas Day 1896 while Sousa was traveling aboard the SS Teutonic bound for New York. In his autobiography, Sousa wites that he imagined the music while at sea and set it down on paper shortly after his return home. The manuscript full score is dated April 26, 1897. The march was first performed by the composer conducting the Sousa Band on May 14, 1897 in Willow Grove Park, near Philadelphia, though this date is dusputed by the city of Augusta, Maine - who claim the premiere took place at a Sousa Band...

The American bandmaster, composer and publisher Roland Forrest Seitz was born in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania, a township of Glen Rock, PA. One of eight children, his father died while Roland was still a boy, and he went to work as a printers apprentice at a young age. Passionate about music, he studied on his own, learning the flute, then euphonium and cornet, and performed in his family band, as well as in the Glen Rock Band. He was only able to start formal music training at age 27 when he enrolled at the Danas Musical Institute in Warren, OH, graduating from there in 1898. He returned to Glen...