.ig uNIVERSPY 0MICHIGAN DAILY.
, M 1i-t r l.n mre siarked degree than my forms
_ >.
JOHN PHILLIP SOUSA
In University Hall on Saturday
Night.
Undoubtedly the most notable and
most popular engagement of the year
in Ann Arbor will be that ofSousa and
His Band, on the Students' Lecture As-
siociation course, Saturday evening,
Feb. 26. Mr. Sousa's organization is
known throughout the entire country
and wherever it appears standing room
is at a premium. The band is compos-
ed of fifty members, every one of whom
is a soloist under the personal direc-
tion of John Philipp Sousa and is un-
doubtedly the leading organization of
its kind in the country. Miss Maud
Reese Davis, soprano, is the vocalist of
the tour and Miss Jennie Hoyle the
violiniste.
The record of Sousa and His Band
during the five years of the career of
that famous organization is really re-
markable. During that time the band
has given over 3,000 concerts in every
state and territory of the United States
and nearly every province of the Do-
minion of Canada. These concerts
were all personally directed by John
Philip Sousa, except three from which
he was absent through illness. Over
$100,000 has been paid to railroads dur-
ing those five years and the total num-
ber of miles traveled equals four times
the circumference of the earth. The
management pay out every year over
$100,000 in salaries to musicians, and
give the longest continuous engage-
ments of any organization in the United
States. Among the notable achieve-
ments in concert giving by the band
have been six weeks at the World's
Fair, six weeks at the Madison Square
Garden, New York; eighteen weeks at
the St. Louis Exposition in three sea-
sons; fifty-four weeks at Manhattan
Beach, New York, in five seasons. The
band has played to nearly 200,000 peo-
ple in a single week at the Food Fair
in Boston, and to ever 150,000 people at
the Pittsburgh Exposition.-
For the present tour by Sousa and
His Band the famous director and com-
poser has prepared much that is news
and gives out the most spirited and in-
spiring program h" 1.:s 'yet offered.
That sele.ed for the Sousa concert
here is, posibly, the best of all, owing
to the scope it covers and the sterling
character of every number.
The overture is Berlioz' "Carneval
tomain," a vividly descriptive master-
piece by that prolific and fanciful com-
poser, embodying the most brilliant
features of a carnival in progress, a
rare work. There is a new ballet suite
by Lassen, "Love Above Magic," and
a new fantasia on three Russiap themes
by Balakireff. Also, other works alto-
gether new are, a "Cossack Dance" by
Tschakoff, and an Intermezzo, "Love
in Idleness," by Macbeth. The greater
works are " Lszt's "Rhapsodie Hon-
grois" No. 2, and Wagner's "Ride of
the Valkyrisa." These present the big
band in itsa loftiest efforts. Sousa is
represented by two numbers, his new
"Stars and Stripes Forever" and his
most ambitious march, and the very
latest from his pen, "Ovr the Foot-
lights in New York," a brilliantly exe-
cuted mosaic of the best music heard Stripes Forever," was first played in,
in New York at certain of the great Philadelphia at the time of the dedica-
haIls and theatres. The incidents tion of ;the Washington monument,
treated are Paderewski at Carnegie
and created such enthusiasm that even
,Hall, "El Capitan" at the Broadway
comydsitions."
One of the most fantastic and capti-
vating things John Philip Sousa has
yet presehted in his concerts is a brand
new arrangement of his own, "Over
the Footlights in New York," a bril-
liant conceit, most happily wrought.
It Is unique, one of the most original
and characteristic conceptions Sousa
has given to the public for a long tine,
from the fact that the composer preo
sents a choice melange of she music
in vogue in a remarkably prolific per-
iod In New York, which filled the chief
sals and theatres, from Carnegie Hall
on the north, where Paderewski play-
ed, to Manhattan Beach, where Sousa
himsself directed his ' famous band.
Sousa in this bright work has ladelled
out the cream of the entire field from
grand opera to vaudeville, in his best
humor and inimitable style.
Perhaps an outlie of Sousa's career
would be interesting In connection with
his visit here;
"I knew Sousa," said a personal
friend recently, "when he was a boy
playing first violin in an orchestra and
fiddling hard to earn the little money
that the position yielded: He wore no
golden slippers then with which to
glide Into fame and fortune. I knew
him later when he had written an
opera; this was in the seventies, and
he was staggering under a heavy load
than he could carry to make It a suc-
cess by conducting it through the West.
In those days be had just the'same
chances of making name and fame that
thousands of other young men had,
and no more. But he had purpose and
design, and pushed on, studying and
writing, hammering away, until, sud-
denly a flood of light burst in upon his
mental vision and he saw in the light
an inscription: 'Set the people march-
ing to your martial strains.' With the
vision came an inspiration to do it.
He did it. The first success inspired
another, and these inspired others, and
successes multiplied in rapid progress-
icn. He wrote the glorious martial
strains and then played them as glor-
tously, and the nation at length kept
step to the measures of his time. And
these same thrilling strains rolled on
through other nations and set them
marching too. And now the whole
world seems marching to Sousa's mu-
sic, and lightning presses can barely
throw off the millions of sheets that are
demanded."
"How came it that that black-haired
boy 'Violinist in an orchestra pit I
Washington so quickly became the
'March King' of the world? It was
not by accident. That young musician
had something in his brain, his heart
and soul that the world was glad and
quick to buy the instant it recognized
its merit, and the little fiddler at $15 a
week and the young Marine Bandmas-
ter at $1,800 a year became the most
famous composer of the day who was
drawing $50,000 a year before he was
forty.
"But this is cot all. He then wrote
for reeds and brasses. 'Now he is writ-
ing for the human voice, and voices are
singing his operas and the people are
hurrying to hear them as before they
did and still do to hear his martial
strains and his magnificent concerts.
Theatre, Lucia di Lammermoor" at the
Metropolitan Opera House, "The Belle
of New York" at the Casino, "The Girl
from Paris" at the Herald Square
Theatre, Anvil Chorus from "Il Trava-
tore" at the Academy A Music, and
Sousa's Band at Manhattan Beach.
The set program in full follows. The
popular marches written by Sousa will
be given as extra -numbers if desired
by the audience:
I. Overture, "11 Guarnay.....Gomez
2. Trombone Solo, "Valse Caprice"
(new) ....................... Pryor
3. Pilgrims Chorus and "Evening
.Star," Romance from "Tann-,
hauser" .... Wagner
4. Soprano Solo, "Linda di Cha-
mounix" ................Donizetti
5. Scenes Historical, "Sheridan's
Ride," .......... Sousa
a. Waiting for the Bugle.
b. The Attack,
c. The Death of Thoburn.
d. The Coming of Sheridan.
e. The Apotheosis.
Intermission of ten minutes,
6. Second Hungarian Rhapsody. .Liszt
7. a. Intermezzo, "Love in Idle-
ness" (new) ............Macbeth
b. "The Stars and Stripes For-
ever" ....,,.............. Sousa
8. Violin Solo, "Gypsy Dances"....
........... . Nachez
9. Sketch, "Over the Footlights in
New York (new) .,......Sousa
Paderewski at Carnegie Hall; "El
Capitan," at the Broadway Theatre;
"Lucia" at the Metropolitan Opera
House; "The Belle of New York," at
the Casino; "The Girl from Paris,"
at the 'Herald Square Theatre; "An-
vil Chorus," at the Academy of Mu-
sic; and Sousa's Band at Manhattan
Beach.
Sousa's new march "The Stars and
the musical critic of the staid and dig-
nified Public Ledger was moved to
write in this strain: "The march is
patriotic in sentiment throughout and
is stirring enough to rouse the Ameri-
can Eagle from his crag and set him to
shriek exultantly while he hurls his
arrows at the aurora borealis."
Speaking of his new march "The
Stars and Stripes Forever," John Phil-
ip Sousa recently said to a reporter:
"The march was written when I was
in Europe a year ago and finished on
board ship coming home. I have often
heard people say that when in a for-
eign country the sight of the stars and
stripes seems the most glorious in the
world. My idea was to climax the
march with- three themes---one repre-
senting the North, a broad sweeping
theme; the South with its languorous
beauty and romance, and the West, a
strong pushing melody carrying every-
thing before it. These themes were to
blend harmoniously but were to be
used independently if necessary.' I am
of the opinion that military music, that
which has the drum and the military
swagger in it, is the kind that wakes
patriotism in the soul. Patriotism is
not in the music,. but in the feeling it
conveys. The military spirit is neces-
sary. I have lived all my life in the
atmosphere of the army. I might say
that even while I was a baby I was
near camp, and I understood just the
effect of ali the pomp and splendor of
war when it is introduced in a musical
composition. 'The Stars and Stripes
Forever' has this quality, pe."oaps, in a