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John
Philip Sousa. U.S. Marine Band
During the administration of President Chester Arthur,
the first East Room concert for specially invited
guests took place, when the famous Canadian soprano,
Emma Albani, sang in 1883. A great enthusiast of
opera and song, President Arthur was also deeply
moved by the Fisk Jubilee Singers’ colorful
melding of blues, minstrel song and European-like
hymns later during his term. The most famous White
House musical personality of the Hayes through Harrison
era, however, was John Philip Sousa, who served
five presidents as leader of the Marine Band in
the White House from 1880 to 1892. A formidable
showman, Sousa was the first American-born leader
of the Marine Band . He was also a composer of operettas,
songs, suites and more than 100 marches represented
by his immortal "Semper Fidelis" (1888)
and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (1897).
During his White House tenure, John Philip Sousa
not only raised the Marine Band’s level of
musicianship and modernized its instrumentation,
but he developed a concert band repertory of almost
symphonic proportions.
Elise
Kirk, Musical Highlights from the White House,
62-67.
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