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.
The title for Fairest of the Fair (1908) is something of a pun: over many years playing regularly at the annual Boston Food Fair, Sousa repeatedly noticed, but never met, an especially attractive young woman at one of the displays. Needing a new march for his band’s usual appearance there, he used this stranger as inspiration, composing an ode to the fairest lady at Boston Food Fair. The US Marine Band gives a more detailed version of the story at their website dedicated to the piece (where you can get the audio, score, and parts for free), including a near-disaster with the first set of parts!
The US Marine Band plays Fairest of the Fair: