Carnegie Hall

The history of Andrew Carnegie’s Music Hall and John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever” have been intertwined almost from the start. Ahead, we’ve rounded up fun facts about the journey of one of the most American of musical works throughout the history of Carnegie Hall!

• The Carnegie Hall premiere of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” was conducted by Frederick Brumm on January 28, 1898—the year after it was published. Proceeds from the concert went to the Fresh-Air Department of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.
• John Philip Sousa conducted “The Stars and Stripes Forever” three times at Carnegie Hall—the first performance in 1905 and two more on October 6, 1917.

• Since its premiere, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” has been performed at Carnegie Hall an average of once per year. This includes six graduation ceremonies, two open rehearsals, two meetings, and one private event.
• To celebrate becoming an American citizen, legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz wrote a transcription of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” for solo piano. He performed its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall on March 28, 1945.

• Famous Bach transcriber Leopold Stokowski conducted the Symphony of the Air in a performance of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” on April 16, 1960. Captain Kangaroo is listed as the narrator of that concert.

• The longest spell between performances of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” at Carnegie Hall was nearly six years—between May 1981 and March 1987.
• John Morris Russell conducted Orchestra of St. Luke’s in six performances of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” over three days at Carnegie Hall—May 27 through May 29, 2008—as part of the Weill Music Institute’s Link Up program.

• The New York Pops founder Skitch Henderson holds the record for conducting “The Stars and Stripes Forever” in front of an audience at Carnegie Hall. Including two open rehearsals, he did so eight times between 1989 and 2005.
• Skitch would have made it nine, but he allowed a guest conductor to step in for “The Stars and Stripes Forever” on October 26, 2001. The guest conductor? Famed CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.
• Star Wars, Jaws, Superman, Indiana Jones, E. T., and Jurassic Park film score composer and conductor John Williams conducted the Boston Pops in “The Stars and Stripes Forever” at Carnegie Hall on April 30, 1988. 

• “The Stars and Stripes Forever” has never been performed at Carnegie Hall on July 4.

Photography: Stokowski by Ben Martin, Orchestra of St. Luke’s by Jennifer Taylor, all other imagery courtesy of the Carnegie Hall Rose Archives.