New March For Lafayette Music for Lafayette's Visit to the United States in 1824 

“OUR NATION’S GUEST”
MUSIC FOR THE VISIT OF MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE TO THE UNITED STATES 1824-25
Arranged by Jari Villanueva for small wind band.
This selection represents but a few of the many dozens of compositions and arrangements written to honor General Lafayette on his visit to the United States in 1824-25. At every stop, in every city, bands welcomed Lafayette, grand balls were held, and ceremony after ceremony commemorated his visit and his service to our new nation. Most of this music is unfortunately lost to us today. What remains is generally in the form of piano sheet music, but it is clearly evident from the inscriptions that these pieces were originally performed by military brass bands. This arrangement was carefully done in the style of the period with no modern harmonization or alteration to the original and represents, as closely as possible, the sound of the bands that Lafayette heard.
NEW MARCH FOR LAFAYETTE
As performed by the Band of the Eighty Ninth Regiment of Albany on General La Fayette's Entrance into Troy, Composed expressly for Captain George R. Hendrickson by [Florent] Meline, Master of said Band (1824)
Florent Meline
The French immigrant composer, Florent Meline, who spent several years in Albany as the resident composer and arranger for the Euterpean Club, a musical association comprised of gentleman amateurs of the town, memorialized Lafayette’s visit to America in his, The Marquis de La Fayette’s Welcome to North America, arranged for piano and flute or violin, and published in Albany by the composer.
General Lafayette visited Troy, NY on September 18, 1824. Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825, written by the General’s traveling companion Auguste Levasseur and published in 1829, contains the following account, “At nine o’clock we embarked [from Albany] amidst the thundering of the cannon, upon the canal which leads to Troy. Five handsome canal boats had been prepared for our voyage. The first carried a band of musicians; general Lafayette was in the second with Governor Yates, ex-governors Lewis and Clinton, the mayor and city council, and some of the principal citizens of Albany. In the three last followed the escort commanded by major Coles, composed of an artillery company and three companies of infantry.”
The Band of the Eighty Ninth Regiment, New York Guard, is still active today.
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