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.
Sousa wrote Belle of Chicago in 1892. Sousa scholar Paul Bierley provides some illuminating program notes (from his The Works of John Philip Sousa [Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press, 1984], 43, as quoted on the Marine Band website for the march):
Sousa was soundly criticized for this march, which he composed as a salute to the ladies of Chicago. Among the protests made by Chicago newsmen were these:
“Mr. Sousa evidently regards the Chicago belle as a powerful creature, with the swinging stride of a giant, a voice like a foghorn, and feet like sugar-cured hams.”“The maiden who inspired it would seem to be…a giantess…whose motto…might have been ‘I will make a noise.’” “Mr. Sousa has made his Chicago belle a strappling kitchen wench….”
The march outlived its criticism and is probably more popular overseas than it is in the United States.
Visit the Marine Band to get this, and many other marches, for free! While you do that, listen to them play it: