Editorials

Palatine Emigrant Is Composer of US Presidential Hymn - or Is He?

January 9, 2009

As usual, the United States Marine Band will play march music for the new US chief executive on January 20.  As sure as a church "amen," the new American president Barack Obama at is swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday at 12 noon local time on the steps of the capitol in Washington, DC, will be greeted with the presidential hymn "Hail to the Chief," played by the military band of this elite unit. The national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner" and other pieces will also be played during the ceremony.

For 50 years there has been a persistent rumor in the German media landscape that the Palatine itinerant musician from Erdesbach bei Kusel George Drumm (1874-1959) was the composer of the ceremonial march, which is traditionally played at all official appearances of US presidents.  But, according to Paul Engel, the emigrant from the Palatinate did not compose the salute played in honor of the White House Commander in Chief by the highly distinguished "President's Own" Marine Band. "Our friend 'Georg' did not write the song," the retired teacher and musicologist from the West-Palatinate town of Kusel said.

"There is a mix-up," said Engel, who is also the instigator of the Musicians Museum in Kusel, which is devoted to the history of Palatine itinerant musicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries.   Drummer was in fact a successful Broadway conductor, arranger and composer who, moved by the entry of the United into the First World War in 1917, wrote the patriotic march "Hail, America."

For half a century now, this song has been confused with the presidential hymn "Hail to the Chief," which is a permanent fixture at inauguration ceremonies, Engel noted.  This piece was written by the English composer James Sanderson, and the text comes from a narrative poem by the English author Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe).

The spokesperson of the US consulate in Frankfurt Nicole Fries calls Drumm's alleged authorship a charming Palatine myth, an urban legend. "There are absolutely no American sources confirming it." Numerous documents in the Library of Congress in Washington attest, however, to the origin of "Hail to the Chief," she added.

So, how did the lovely, but unfounded emigrant legend get started? Engel identifies the culprit as a reporter of the former Südwestfunk (SWF-Southwest Broadcasting), who in 1957, while on a trip to the United Sates, met George Drumm.  A good friend of Drumm's and director of the Marine Band Major Albert F. Schoepper told the reporter that President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) had decided "from now on" to have the march "Hail, America" played as the official ceremonial march.

Eisenhower liked the snappy 4/4 tempo of the Drummer piece better than "Hail to the Chief."  It was played at his inauguration in 1953 and again when he was reelected in 1957.  All subsequent presidents, however, preferred the traditionally played hymn.

The radio journalist reported back home that the Palatine-American composition had become the US presidential inaugural hymn.  The news was taken up by other media and the genie was out of the bottle.  It is true, Engel concedes, that at least the introductory part of "Hail, America," with its flourishes and trumpet blasts, is played regularly when the president and first lady receive state visits.

George Drumm, who became an American citizen in 1911, also intended his composition as proof of cultural assimilation.  It rankled the Palatine native, who died in 1959, that his musicians during the war with Germany made fun of his accent.  "So, 'Georg,' with his 'Hail, America', wanted to blow the patriotic horn," Engel said.