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    Music and Musical Performances in the White House Timeline

    1790s Before the White House was completed in 1800, President George Washington and his wife Martha lived first in New York City, then Philadelphia. Washington enjoyed the theater and liked to dance, especially the minuet, which he danced with great pleasure at his inaugural ball. Read More 1800s President and Mrs. John Adams were the first occupants of the White House

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    Presidents' Passion for Music

    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 ec

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    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 --

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    The Eisenhowers' Musical White House

    While neither President nor Mrs. Eisenhower was especially knowledgeable in European classical music, they recognized the value of the music of their own nation and placed more emphasis than any of their predecessors on White House programs that reflected its colorful variety. The Eisenhowers were the first to bring Broadway musical theater to the White House in an after-dinner program

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    Music & Dance at the White House

    First Lady Dolley Madison is considered to have introduced social dancing to the White House–notably the Waltz, which critics at that time called "the hugging process set to music."The United States Marine Band played at the first reception on New Year's Day in 1801 and has performed regularly at the White House ever since. From the time of Jefferson, th

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    African American Performers at the White House

    Beginning with James Buchanan’s administration in the 1850s, black entertainers have held a prime spot among White House performers. Their contribution to the musical history of the White House has been a rich and generally little known segment of American cultural life. A performance by Thomas Greene Bethune, "Blind Tom" created a sensation in 1859. Although blind and likely autistic, he

  • Scholarship

    Importance of Music to President George Washington

    Before the White House was completed in 1800, President George Washington and his wife Martha lived first in New York City, then Philadelphia. Washington enjoyed the theater and liked to dance, especially the minuet, which he danced with great pleasure at his inaugural ball. Music in the president’s home was an intimate amusement and young Nelly Custis, the president’s musi

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    The Kennedys and the Arts

    President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s advocacy for the arts endures as a vital part of their White House legacy. From 1961 to 1963, the White House became a focal point for the arts and cultural engagement. The Kennedys hosted numerous concerts and performances and infused the Executive Mansion and the country with the same vitality, youth, and id

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