Hail to the Chief!

Synopsis

Once, when someone asked JFK what his favorite song might be, the waggish former president responded: “Well, ‘Hail to the Chief’ has a nice ring to it.” As most people know, “Hail to the Chief” is the tune traditionally played to announce presidential arrivals at public events.

What most people don't know is that the composer of the tune was British: one James Sanderson, to be exact. Sanderson was an early 19th century violinist and the conductor of the Surrey Theatre in London. Sanderson wrote incidental music for a stage adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s romantic poem The Lady of the Lake, which was published in 1810. The tune we know as “Hail to the Chief” must have been the hit from that London show, as it even made it way to America in short order.

Sanderson’s original tune "Wreaths for the Chieftain," with a new text and a new title, “Hail to the Chief,” was first sung in Boston in 1815, at a memorial service on Washington’s Birthday.

It was on today’s date in 1828, however, that the U.S. Marine Band first performed the song for a LIVING President. The occasion was the ground-breaking ceremony for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal attended by President John Quincy Adams. Subsequent First Ladies Julia Tyler and Sara Polk continued the tradition, asking the Marine Band to play “Hail to the Chief” to announce the arrival of their Presidential spouses.

By 1954, the Department of Defense established the tune as the official musical salute to their “Commander in Chief.”

Music Played in Today's Program

James Sanderson (17??-18??) Hail to the Chief Manchester Cornet Band Vox Box 5088

James Sanderson (17??-18??) Hail to the Chief Chestnut Brass Company Newport Classics 85548

On This Day

Births

• 1694 - French composer and organist, Louis Claude Daquin, in Paris

• 1826 - American song composer Stephen Collins Foster, in Lawrenceville, Pa.

• 1903 - Belgian composer and organist and teacher Flor Peeters, in Thielen

Deaths

• 1623 - English composer William Byrd, aged c. 80 (the exact date of his birth is not known) in Stondon, Essex

Premieres

• 1831 - The patriot hymn "America" (to the tune of the British patriotic song "God Save the King/Queen" with new words supplied by Samuel Francis Smith) sung by a children's choir at a Fourth of July service at the Park Street Church in Boston; This premiere performance is commonly (but incorrectly) listed as 1832

• 1900 - final version of Sibelius: Symphony No. 1, in Stockholm by the Helsinki Philharmonic on tour, with Robert Kajanus conducting; An earlier version of the symphony had been premiered in Helsinki on April 26, 1899, with the same orchestra conducted by the composer

• 1923 - R. Vaughan Williams: "English Folk Song Suite," in London, by the band of the Royal Military School of Music

• 1964 - Piston: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire

• 1983 - David Amram: "Honor Song for Sitting Bull" for cello and orchestra, by the Long Island Philharmonic, Christopher Keene conducting, and William Da Rosa the soloist

Others

• 1827 - Opening of "Niblo's Gardens," an important 19th century American concert venue, at Broadway and Prince Street in New York City

• 1828 - The U.S. Marine Band first performed "Hail to the Chief" for a living President at the ground-breaking ceremony for the excavation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal attended by President John Quincy Adams

• 1986 - Amid fireworks and celebration, the Marine Band performed in New York City for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, recreating the band's performance under John Philip Sousa for the original dedication ceremonies 100 years earlier