A Forgotten Legacy

The Italian band led by Gaetano Carusi who was recruited for the United States Marine Corps from Catania Sicily and arrived in Washington D.C. in 1805 left an indelible mark on the development of the American concert band. Since all bands in America (public school university community and professional) are modeled in some fashion on the military bands the influence of Carusi’s group of Italian musicians on the nation’s premiere military band in its earliest years cannot be overstated. Their unique instrumentation and approach to programming formed the early paradigm for the American band; the genre of the Italian march had a significant influence on what became the American march; and the honored place of the band in Italian culture influenced the band movement that would by 1825 become a vital part of American culture. These profoundly important influences have been almost wholly ignored in the existing literature on the history of the wind band.