A Note from President Lincoln

The following is a guest post by Jay Stringer-Vaught, MLS Candidate, University of Kentucky. Stringer-Vaught spent a week learning about the work of the Music Division through University of Kentucky’s Alternative Spring Break Program.

There are over twenty-eight million materials available to the public for research in the Music Division of the Library of Congress. From choral manuscripts predating the printing press to handwritten music manuscripts written by “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz, the collections here aim to preserve melodies and memories, allowing patrons the chance to explore living, breathing history.  

Among these items is a small piece of paper that looks deceivingly ordinary at first glance but, upon closer inspection, reveals itself to be a national treasure. Inside a secure, temperature and humidity-controlled vault lives a handwritten message from President Abraham Lincoln requesting an audience for Mrs. Lincoln with the leader of The “President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Francis Maria Scala. It has been well documented that our nation’s sixteenth president had a deep admiration for music, though he was not musical himself. In fact, one of President Lincoln’s first acts as president was signing an act of Congress that reorganized the Marine Band’s leadership on July 1, 1861. President Lincoln was a regular attendee at the weekly concerts on the White House grounds, which is where, presumably, he had the idea to reach out to the band leader with a request.

While the exact dialogue of the conversation between the parties following the dispatch of this message has been lost to history, we do know that the band’s leader, Francis Maria Scala, and his newly expanded unit were playing music in the corridors of the Executive Mansion on the following night.  It was a small but significant moment—one that highlights the crucial role music played during the Civil War years. 

Scala, an Italian immigrant and virtuoso clarinetist, was instrumental in establishing the Marine Band as we know it today. Scala served as leader between 1855 and 1871, serving under presidents Lincoln, Johnson and Grant.

The divide between the hearts and minds of the country during the Civil War was reflected in the state of American music. At that time, brash, triumphant sounds of brass-driven military marches had become the rigid standard as they were thought to be an audible symbol of the strength and power of the Union. However, the people also wanted joyous, danceable tunes such as the rhythms of Polka and the sweet music of Italian opera to provide contrast to the emotional weight of the violence of wartime. Lincoln himself sought reprieve from personal and presidential grief by attending the opera more than thirty times during his presidency (the president was especially fond of Charles-François Gounod’s “Faust”). Scala was left with the seemingly impossible task of being the sonic mediator of music at the White House in his role with the Marine Band. After all, the band was there for more than mere entertainment but to promote unity and boost morale. Therefore, the tone had to be just right. 

Scala rose to the challenge of curating music for Lincoln’s White House and left us with lasting contributions such as his foresight in maintaining a balance between brass and woodwind instruments in the Marine Band’s instrumentation. His musical direction ensured that both ceremonial musical aspects and expressive fluidity were present. It was under Scala’s leadership that the Marine Band is believed to have first performed “Geneviève de Brabant,” an Offenbach opera melody that was adapted as “The Marines’ Hymn,” the official service song of the U.S. Marine Corps to this day. Under Scala’s baton, the band excelled beyond just providing military pomp—instead, Scala’s arrangements became the soundtrack for the complexities of the nation facing a pivotal juncture in its early history.

The centennial anniversary of Concerts from the Library of Congress invites us to listen for the echoes of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, which has appeared at the Library several times in recent decades. The series honored Scala’s impact in 2013 with the Music in the Lincoln White House: US Marine Band event. This concert performed by the Marine Band included a blend of Scala arrangements and contemporary compositions that honored Lincoln’s personal musical tastes. In 2014, “The President’s Own” performed as part of the Oliver Knussen Residency and as part of the Irving Fine Centennial Festival, performing Fine’s Partita and Romanza woodwind quintets.

This would not be the last time the Marine Band would take the stage at the Library. In 2020, the Marine Band recorded a virtual event, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band Concert, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with the tradition of raising the nation’s spirits, the Marine Band’s performance activities emphasize how music can unite us during times of uncertainty.