The Marine's Hymn—From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli!
The music for "The Marine's Hymn" is from the opera Genevieve De Brabant.
"In a letter to Major Harold F. Wingman, USMC, dated 18 July [1919], John Philip Sousa wrote: 'The melody of the 'Halls of Montezuma' is taken from Offenbach's comic opera, 'Genevieve de Brabant' and is sung by two gendarmes.' Most people believe that the aria of the Marines' Hymn was, in fact, taken from 'Genevieve de Brabant,' an opera-bouffe (a farcical form of opera, generally termed musical comedy) composed by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), and presented at the Theatre de Bouffes Parisiens, Paris, on November 19, 1859." —Marine Corps Logistics Command
The hymn gained wide popularity during World War II.
From the Halls of Montezuma
First to fight for right and freedom
SIDEBAR: "'The Halls of Montezuma' refers to the Battle of Chapultepec which took place in September 1847 during the Mexican-American War, at Chapultepec Castle on Chapultepec Hill, guarding the western approach to Mexico City... 'The shores of Tripopli' refers to the First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States of America and the North African states known collectively as the Barbary States. These were the independent Sultanate of Morocco, and the three Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, which were quasi-independent entities nominally belonging to the Ottoman Empire." —Wikipedia
SIDEBAR: The United States Marine Corps (USMC) was originally organized as the Continental Marines on November 10th, 1775 as naval infantry. The USMC still operates as part of the United States Department of the Navy.
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