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Thomas
Jefferson painted by Rembrandt Peale, 1800.
President and Mrs. John Adams were the first occupants
of the White House in the nation’s new capital,
the City of Washington. Shortly after moving into
the mansion in November 1800, the Adams’s invited
the young United States Marine Band, consisting
of only eight or ten musicians, to play at their
first reception on New Years Day, 1801. This event
established the tradition of the Marine Band’s
performances at the White House that exists to the
present day and has earned the organization the
title, "The President’s Own." On
July 4, 1806, the band performed also for President
Thomas Jefferson, a fine amateur violinist and music
lover, rendering the song "To Anacreon in Heaven"
(or "The Anacreontic Song"). Eight years
later this popular tune received new lyrics by Francis
Scott Key, becoming immortalized as "The Star-Spangled
Banner," and in 1931, President Hoover made
the song America’s official national anthem.
Elise
Kirk, Musical Highlights from the White House,
13-14.
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