Music alum Andrew Kosinski (BM’20) recently received the mission of a lifetime: composing a funeral march for former President Jimmy Carter.
Carter died last month at age 100.
Army Staff Sgt. Kosinski, the staff arranger and composer for The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” composed a funeral march that military bands have performed at least four times this week—when Carter’s remains arrived at Joint Base Andrews; in a horse-drawn procession bearing Carter’s flag-draped casket; at the U.S. Capitol, and on the way to the National Cathedral—as the nation has honored the 39th president.
Kosinski says he received the honor for a decidedly practical reason: plummeting temperatures in the nation’s capital. In November 2023, when the president entered hospice care, the Carter family selected a variety of standard hymns for the services. However, as Kosinski explains it, The U.S. Army Band, keenly aware that colder temperatures cause brass instrument valves to freeze, crafted a backup plan. Another consideration: woodwind players struggling to play while wearing thick gloves to ward off the cold. The requirements were clear: Kosinski had to create a reverent piece of music using a limited selection of “open notes,” i.e., notes that don’t require musicians to press any valves on the brass instruments, and that avoids fast runs on the woodwind instruments.
“The blizzard this week caused exactly those conditions,” he says—and inspired the title of the march: “Frigidus Est Foras (Funeral March for President Carter),” Latin for “It’s cold outside.” He completed the final version of the march at 2 a.m. January 6, just a day before the president’s body arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
“President Carter was known for his characteristically unpretentious leadership style,” Kosinski says, explaining the vaguely cheeky title. “One image that remains in my head is video of him running off of Air Force One in the rain carrying his own luggage. I wanted a title that would tell the band, ‘Play this if it snows,’ but also be fitting for a funeral (hence the Latin), and give a playful laugh when translated. The Carter family directly approved the composition, and I’d like to think President Carter would have enjoyed the laugh.”
Kosinski says he believes the sound should encompass the full spectrum of emotions that might swirl around a moment of collective grief for a public servant such as Carter.
“While it is a period of mourning, I personally feel there is cause for celebration,” Kosinski says. “President Carter lived a remarkably full life and accomplished so much on the humanitarian front.
“I don’t want to attract too much attention to myself,” he adds, “but it certainly was a profound honor to be able to compose this piece in memory of President Carter. This was inarguably the most important event of my career thus far.”
Watch The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” perform “Frigidus Est Foras (Funeral March for President Carter)”:
Image credit: Staff Sgt. Rachel Minto