Verdi Band Home   Verdi Band History   Verdi Band Bios   Verdi Band Gallery

Our History

Established in 1920

"Music is the Gospel of the Human Heart, the Soul of Humanity." These deeply moving words were often spoken by Professor Loreto Marsella, the man who founded the Verdi Band in 1920 at the peak of the immigration phenomenon. Professor Marsella's fellow countrymen came to America expecting to find the streets "paved with gold." Instead, they quickly learned that life was difficult and they spent long hours laboring in the mines, foundries, and sweatshops of America. They loved America, but they missed their hometown, too. When the "feast day" in their respective towns rolled around each year, they felt the pangs of nostalgia more intensely. Prof. Marsella knew this and wanted to give the people something that would allow them to keep their heritage, their traditions and most of all, their faith. These then, were the driving forces which caused him to seek out men who felt as passionately about music as he did, and who shared the same desire to establish in their new country, the traditions of their motherland. And so, with about 30 men, he began the "Verdi Band of Norristown".

© The Verdi Band 2008