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 concert given there on May 1. With the Spanish-American War in view, the new march became immensely popular from the very start and has remained a favorite ever since. The piece was first published on the very day of the premiere in the composer's piano reduction.

With many reissues and reprintings plus contunous expansion of band instrumentation - some added after the composer's death in 1932 - the scoring became bloated over the years. This new edition by Richard W. Sargeant Jr. goes back to the composer's original source material and to the actual performing practice of the Sousa Band itself to present a masterpiece of band writing as the composer himself used it. As with all of the Serenissima band offerings, it is presented in an easy-to-read format for use as either a study score or a performance score.