The morning call., 1894-03-19

back should be filled in with glass, to act
like shell. Those heavy posts break the
volume of sound, too but it viii not be
much trouble to remedy all that At the
/ Worlds Fair they were awfully nice :;
They gave us our own stand: in fact, we
had our own audience too"
From bandstands to music was very
natural transition, and MIR. Sousa was
perfectly willing to talk about that of his
own military organization, which he con-
siders the best in the world.
1T ls all hnmbug for q man to turn up
bis nose at popular music.
''All music is good when treated well.
There is piece of music we play-the
Critics Dream | should like any one 10
hear that before condemning popular
music"
SIS 1t such beautiful example of the
po pular slyle9" was asked
1T IS common little melody of the
kind that you hear on handorgans. i"
replied Mr.. Sousa, laughing. But the
man who wrote The Critics Dream has
got it up just as Wagner and Beethoven
would have treated it orchestrally. He has
treated thu little theme classically, and
though it Is popular melody, it would be
absurd for critics TO turn up their musical
noses at it,"
The bandmasfer did not wait 10 give a
definition of a musical nose, for he was
evidently started on a pet subject, and
went on Without pause. saying: Look
at the 'Meistersinger' No one would ae-
cuse Wagner of being unclassical when he
wrote it. and yet one of the leading melo-
dies of the opera is Where did you get
that hat? i mean what / say, and if any
one doubts il let him look through the
score; he will find IL. There Is theme
in 'LoheDgrin' that 'Ohl what a difference
in the morning is almost identical with.
and though people do not accuse Gounod
of being especially popular the Soldiers
Chorus from Faust has caught or i'm
mensely 10 the words, oh. my, we'll never
get drunk any more
Now you can take catchy little tune
like Daisy Beli' and treat 1t as you would
child of the slnms-wash its face, put on
1t new frock. and it Is found to have lost
It's Identity, just as the catchy air, IL you
treat II clasically, loses its Identity"
And the-new opera which you are ex-
pected to be writing" asked the reporter.
rs 1t treated classically?"
No; it is very, very comic" replied
Mr.. Sousa. cat least my librettist ana l
think so, though we do not know whether
long suffering public will agree with US.
1t is called 'El Captain, and will be pro-
duced ia New York. Beyond that can
say nothing, except that hope to finish 1t
here"
Sousa's band opened its engagement at
the fair yesterday afternoon, and in spite
Of the threatening weather large crowd
| assembled 10 hear the well-known organ
| zation.
The overture to 'Tannhauser," which
began the concert, served as we'll as any
other number to show the strength of the
band. Perfect precision was at once
evident, every instrument being so abso-
lutely in time that the whole band might
have been one player. The reed instru-
ments were so strong as to give the effect
of strings, particularly in the Wagner
overture.
1t is impossible TO mention every num-
Der IN detail. Everything was encored
once, some of the more popular pieces two
or three times. The "Washington POST
march received an ovation as an encore to
the Rubinstein ballet suite "Feramors."
and the band responded with the whist
ling Coon" In Arthur Pryor's trombone
I solo. Rocked In the Cradle OF the Deep.
7, the excessive vibrato of the andante pas
sage scarcely prepared the audience for
the beautifully clean and brilliant execu-
ton he afterward displayed.
:. The first movement of LISTS second
hungarian rhapsody was taken at slow
tempo and lack of emphasis in the rhythm
was something of a disappointment. All
the other numbers. however. at the after
noon and evening concerts were every
thing that could be desired.
4