John Philip Sousa's briefest march, Manhattan Beach, was written in 1893 to honor the California resort of the same name. This was among the first compositions he produced for his new publisher, with royalties providing a more lucrative situation for Sousa from then on. It is among his dozen or so best-known marches.

Sousa once stated that a march must be as free from padding as a marble statue, and Manhattan Beach is a study in conciseness. It is simplistic in its predominantly diatonic mode and is in AABBCCDD form; when in this idiom, Sousa often hearkens back to the Austro-German band tradition and does so here. But the march is far from conventional and pure Sousa. The first theme, frisky and leap-laden, is delightfully quirky. The lyrical third theme has a folk-like melody recalling, curiously, many Southern spirituals. And the closing theme, using a rhythmically insistent phrase, adds to the momentum in bringing this perky little march to a close.

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