George Drumm (1874 – December 16, 1959) was a German-American composer, musician, and conductor known for composing "

Hail, America "Hail, America" is a regal concert march composed by George Drumm. It is known for its fanfare and trio (music), trio sections performed during the presidential entrance at state dinners, but is not to be confused with ''Hail to the Chief'', the p ...

", reportedly a favorite march of

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, which has been regularly performed at official United States government ceremonies since the 1950s.

Life and career

Born in

Erdesbach Erdesbach is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kusel-Altenglan, whose ...

, Germany, Drumm learned

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

at an early age and, by 14, had become a noted solo virtuoso. In about 1898 he married his wife, Caroline, and later moved to Ireland, working at the Empire Theater in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and taking the role of musical director at

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the se ...

. In 1904 he came to the United States as director of Ireland's Own Band, which had been booked to perform at the

St. Louis World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 milli ...

. Among the performers in that group was the noted Irish tenor John McCormack. At the end of the engagement, Drumm elected to remain in the United States. He settled in New York City where he worked as the bandmaster at a theater in the Bronx and guest conducted at several Broadway venues. Drumm was naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1911. In 1917 Drumm composed "Hail, America" as part of an apparent effort to rebut questions as to his national loyalty following the

1917 United States declaration of war on Germany On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked a special joint session of the United States Congress for a declaration of war against the German Empire. Congress responded with the declaration on April 6. President Wilson's speech to Congres ...

. According to Drumm, he wrote the march while riding the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

. Its first public performance was the following year during a park concert in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1935, Drumm was named the best bandmaster in the United States by the ''

New York Evening Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

''. In later years Drumm lived in

Irvington, New York Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson,Staff (ndg"The Irvington Gazette (Irvington-On-Hudson, N.Y.) 1907-1969"Library of Congress is a suburban village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is loca ...

. He died in 1959 in nearby

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...

, seven months after his wife, Caroline. He had two children. During his lifetime, Drumm held membership in the Royal Irish Academy of Music and in the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

(ASCAP).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drumm, George Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States Light music composers ASCAP composers and authors 1959 deaths 1874 births American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) People from Kusel (district)