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Rubenstein Center Scholarship

America's Musical Life Escalates

President Ulysses S. Grant was once said to have known "only two tunes. One is ‘Yankee Doodle,’ and the other isn’t." But the great military hero of the Civil War, General Grant did, in fact, enjoy the music of the Marine Band, which gave concerts regularly on the White House grounds every Saturday during summer and early fall. As America’s musical life escalated throughout the nation, Grant’s successor, Rutherford B. Hayes, brought to the White House at least twenty-five different opera singers, instrumentalists, and choral groups that represented the finest in American cultural tastes of the latter part of the century. One of the outstanding programs of the Hayes period was the performance of the brilliant young coloratura soprano, Marie Selika. With such fine programs as this, President and Mrs. Rutherford Hayes inaugurated the musicale tradition that exists in the White House today.

Landmark Era Performance - 1878: One of the most outstanding programs of the era was the performance in the Green Room of the brilliant young African-American coloratura soprano, Marie Selika, who appears to be the earliest black artist to have presented a program at the White House. Selika had toured Europe and had sung for several crowned heads of state. With such fine programs such as this, President and Mrs. Rutherford Hayes inaugurated the musicale tradition that exists in the White House today.

America's Musical Life Escalates

Marie ("Selika") Williams.

Library of Congress

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Footnotes & Resources

Elise Kirk, Musical Highlights from the White House, 52-59.

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