The Fairest of the Fair

March composed by John Philip Sousa

The Fairest of the Fair

John Philip Sousa wrote "The Fairest of the Fair" in 1908. This version is performed by the United States Marine Band

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"The Fairest of the Fair" is a 1908 march by John Philip Sousa. One of Sousa's more melodic, less military marches, it was composed for the annual Boston Food Fair of 1908.^[1][2] It is claimed that the memory of a pretty girl he had seen at an earlier fair inspired the composition.^[3]

History

Sousa composed "The Fairest of the Fair" in 1908, intending the Sousa Band to perform it at the annual Boston Food Fair in the fall of that year. It is the only work of any kind that he composed that year^[1] and one of only a handful of compositions that he wrote between 1906 and 1910.^[4] He apparently completed it in New York during the summer, as the final page of the original score was signed "John Philip Sousa, Camp Comfort, Saranac Lake, Adirondack, New York, July 8, 1908."^[1]

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Fairest of the Fair.

• The Fairest of the Fair, Dallas Wind Symphony

• Includes links to Sousa Band recording, sheet music from the Library of Congress, etc.

• Sousa Band

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John Philip Sousa

• List of compositions
  • List of marches
  • List of operettas

Marches

• "Anchor and Star"
• "The Black Horse Troop"
• "Boy Scouts of America"
• "Columbia's Pride"
• "The Dauntless Battalion"
• "The Fairest of the Fair"
• "The Gallant Seventh"
• "The Gladiator March"
• "Hands Across the Sea"
• "The High School Cadets"
• "Imperial Edward"
• "The Invincible Eagle"
• "Kansas Wildcats"
• "King Cotton"
• "The Liberty Bell"
• "Manhattan Beach"
• "The Minnesota March"
• "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine"
• "The Royal Welch Fusiliers"
• "Semper Fidelis"
• "The Stars and Stripes Forever"
• "The Thunderer"
• "Transit of Venus March"
• "U.S. Field Artillery March"
• "The Washington Post"

Operettas

• Chris and the Wonderful Lamp
• Désirée
• El Capitan
• The Charlatan

Adaptations

• "The Army Goes Rolling Along"
• Stars and Stripes
• Stars and Stripes Forever

Other

• John Philip Sousa House
• John Philip Sousa Baton

Honoraria

• Armed Forces March Competition
• John Philip Sousa Bridge
• John Philip Sousa Foundation
• John Philip Sousa Junior High School (Bronx)
• John Philip Sousa Junior High School

Category

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