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Abraham
Lincoln painted by George P.A. Healy in 1869.
Abraham Lincoln could neither sing nor read music,
but he loved music with a passion. He attended the
opera at least thirty times while he was president,
and when once criticized for these diversions during
the turbulent Civil War years, he said frankly,
"I must have a change or I will die."
Inside the White House, music reflected America’s
eclectic tastes in music: the nine-year-old piano
prodigy, Tereas Carreno; the singing midget, Commodore
Nutt; and the American Indian songstress, Larooqua,
all performed on various occasions. Outside the
White House, far into the night, masses sang George
F. Root’s immortal "Battle Cry of Freedom,"
Dan Emmett’s "Dixie" and other tunes
that revealed the soul of a people, who knew the
powers of both tragedy and joy, defeat and victory.
After the war, when Andrew Johnson took office in
1865, the tone of musical expression in the mansion
changed through the lighthearted interests of the
Johnson children and grandchildren. Described by
some as "an old-fashioned, hospitable, home-like
farm house," the White House under Andrew Johnson
rang with children’s voices, games, good spirits,
music--and especially dancing.
Elise
Kirk, Musical Highlights from the White House,
38-48.
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