LCDR Anthony A. Mitchell USN

LCDR Anthony A. Mitchell (1918-2009) was a composer and band leader who led the United States Navy Band throughout the 1960's. He is best known as the composer of numerous marches, including the march Our Nation's Capital, the official anthem of Washington D.C.
History
Anthony A. Mitchell was born Antonio Alberto Miceli on 26 August 1917, in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. His father, a Sicilian immigrant, changed the family name to Mitchell a year later and Antonio became Anthony.
Cmdr. Mitchell's father worked as a house painter and decorator, but his true calling was music. He led the town band and introduced each of his 12 children, of which Anthony was the oldest, to musical instruments by age 6. The Mitchell house had two pianos and was filled with clarinets, saxophones, violins, mandolins, trombones, trumpets and drums.
The United States Navy Band
Anthony Mitchell moved to Washington D.C. in 1936 to study at the Navy School of Music. By then he already had a thorough musical education, learned at his father's side. He graduated from Catholic University in 1946. For many years Cmdr. Mitchell was the Navy Band's clarinet soloist and dance-band leader. He modeled his playing after Artie Shaw, the swing era clarinet star, and was equally adept at jazz, marches, patriotic songs, classical concertos and dance tunes, all of which the band had to be prepared to play. (Another brother, Russell, was the longtime clarinet soloist with the United States Air Force Band.)
When he turned to conducting in the 1950s he followed the example of another of his musical idols, modeling his conducting on Arturo Toscanini, conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Cmdr. Mitchell prided himself on being able to conduct the thousands of tunes in his band's repertoire entirely from memory, without using a musical score.
Crash
On 25 February 1960 then-Lt. Mitchell was told at the last minute he would not have to fly from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro to join the band's string section at a reception for President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek. He was the third-highest-ranking member of the Navy Band at the time. As the Navy transport plane approached Rio de Janeiro in a dense fog, it collided in midair with a Brazilian airliner above the city's harbor, not far from the landmark Sugarloaf Mountain. Among the 61 people killed were 19 members of the Navy Band, including the assistant leader, J. Harold Fultz, and most of the string section. Three U.S. sailors playing cards at the back of the airplane were the only survivors. Lt. Mitchell and Mr. Fultz had been out to dinner that night, and as they came up the gangplank to the ship where they were staying Mr. Fultz said "Mitch, I don't need you tomorrow. Why don't you stay here?", saving Mitchell's life. The crash was the single worst event in the band's history, and devastated the remaining members of the band. Navy officials ordered the musicians to continue with their South American tour as if nothing had happened. Many musicians left the band, and its longtime leader was eased out. By 1962 Anthony Mitchell was in charge. He reached the rank of lieutenant commander as the band's third leader since the Navy Band was formed in 1924.
Band Leader
Having risen to the rank of warrant officer Lt. Mitchell served as the band's leader from 1962 to 1968. He made several recordings with the Navy Band, including the 1963 recording The National Cultural Center Presents the United States Navy Band. The album was the Navy's contribution to a unique Department of Defense organized four album set featuring each military branch band. The albums were released to raise funds for the National Cultural Center in Washington D.C. The Center was renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1964 to honor the fallen President. Lt. Mitchell directed the band's weekly performances on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, founded the Washington Area Soloist's Festival, introduced a series of children's concerts, and led the band's first appearance at New York City's Carnegie Hall. He also composed Our Nation's Capital, the official anthem of the District of Columbia, as well as marches to honor national parks and the National Cultural Center March (later renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts March) for the opening of the Kennedy Center. At the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Lt. Mitchell strode alongside his bandsmen during their slow march from the Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery, playing dirgelike music all the way.
Retirement
Anthony Mitchell retired from the Navy Band in 1968, having attained the rank of Lt. Commander. He received an honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Saint Francis College. Following his retirement he taught at a Prince George's County junior high school and worked as a guest clinician and music contest judge. His wife of 63 years, Helen Rittenhouse Mitchell, died in 2005. Cmdr. Mitchell last led the Navy Band in 2006, when he was 89. He conducted without using a score.
Cmdr. Mitchell died on 20 January 2009 of complications from lupus at age 91.

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