John Quincy Adams and Music

Both John Quincy Adams and his wife, Louisa Catherine, were great devotees of music, and often sang ballads and arias together, while Louisa played the White House American-made Babcock piano, now housed in the Smithsonian Institution. At one of the decade’s most important historic events -- the ground-breaking ceremony for the excavation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in 1828 -- the Marine Band played, among other selections, the lilting boat song, "Hail to the Chief," from the popular musical play, The Lady of the Lake after Sir Walter Scott [see more below]. Because John Quincy Adams was present at the ceremony, the occasion marked the first time "Hail to the Chief" was played for a president. The tune has become an important American ceremonial tradition and regularly heralds the appearance of the president at formal events of state today.

Landmark Era Performance - 1828: Derived from an old Gaelic air, Hail to the Chief was already very popular when the Marine Band played it from a barge for the opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal on July 4 in the presence of President John Quincy Adams.