The herald., 1897-02-15
THE SOUSA FAD RAGING
Melodies of the March King asd Their
Popularity
ceptatIon-A Pad That Bears No
Sign Of Dissolution

For long time now fairly over
whelming fad has ragged, which thus
far shows no sign of abatement 1t is
the Sousa fad, the love of marches and
quicksteps and two-steps, which began
it's era with the Washington Post march
about four years ago. and which, de-
spite the ferocity of it's attack and reign,
which correspond exactly to the usual
fads of short life, seems yet to have
long run and strong lease of life to
run. AS there is no question that Mr..
Sousa has written the best and most
inspiriting music of this particular char
acter within this PERIOD there is every
reason to expect that so long as he Ives
and continues to bring forth musical ma
terial of equal attraction. the Sousa fad
will continde to rage with equal ardor,
and the brevity of the life of fads re-
ceive, in this particular case, flat con-
tradiction.
Everywhere you go you hear Sousa.
The minority of the populace who are
not members of the cult cannot escape,
go where they Will they hear the tick
ling strains which have enchained the
majority. Every summer resort rever-
berates Sousa. You hear him on the
seaside pier, in the summer hotel dining
room; likewise and most often in it's
ball room; he blows merrily on the ru-
raj bandstands set up at quiet stop
ping places in the mountains; his strains
are everyday, yet are they favored by
the elite, and the programs of fashion
able casino receptions and dances, of
golf, tennis and archery meetings, where
the most exclusive do congregate, are
thickly punctuated with Sousa
His loud, bold, swinging rhythms ring
out even at the quiet springs and hy-
dropathic cures, where sick folks with
rheumatic backs and still more rheu-
matte feet are set trying to work these
poor aching feet in some sort of response
to the titillating indictments Of his
measures. The few young people who
are about, caring for their helpless eld-
ers listen complacently to the potpour-
| ris from operas, the systematic overture
| and cornet or clarinet solos of the ordi-
| nary middle-class band, but when the
| swing of Sousa sets in, nine times out
| of ten they are sure to bound to their
| feet.
! "Oh. there's Sousa," they say. and
| irnm dia tely there is gathering closer
to the bandstand, with a certain obedi-
ence in step to the march kings exact
measure; tripping response with which
| no other music of the day can possibly
inspirit them. Sousa is inescapable If
you like him it is well; but one cannot
follow out the words of the preacher in
the case of wives and say. if you do not
| like him it Is better Because the choos-
| ing of wife is a deliberate action. and
you can take her or leave her at your
discretion, but in the taking or leaving
or Sousa there Is no discretion, You
nave got to take him whether you like
MIN or not. He is omnpresent and eter.
nally active in the metropolis where you
seek amusement, and by the lake shore
and mountain where you seek rest.
Still. deSnita tho fo or fho l.;
ing. regular, pussating, strains often
loom up, particularly at this period of
rest and holiday, where people would
crave respite from any and every form
OF music for time, he remains without
exception the most genially created of
composers. The summer invalid TAX
ing siesta will fret and groan under the
plquancy and variety of rhythm with
composers of the first rank; but Scusa
plows on with such primitive, steady
simplicity that if his brass be not too
close to the invalid's ear the latter does
not resent him, but instead transforms
his favorite, even measures into a Iul-
laby.
Even musicians of remotely high
genre have good word for Sousa, be-
cause he has done such spirited.
straightforward work of it's kind. and
because he has stuck there without ask
ing to go beyond. He knew how to
write march that made men march
and men and women dance, and unlike
many others who have spoiled some
sturdy medium talent by false ambi-
tion, he has never wasted good time or
undermined his widely acknowledged
special talent by essaying to write in
any complex or extended forms.
His opera, Ell Captain was string of
the marches and melodious rhythms
which have made him famous. In this
he wisely clinched his popularity. The
people went to hear Sousa, and they got
Sousa at greater length than usual, and
also in full dress, but Sousa still. The
influence of Sousa, while of course not
classical-it did not set forth to be-is
yet wholesome and genial. He set out
to write for cadets, and society soon
made his apt and tripping measures
their own for the summer al fresco, and
the ball room. His march music, clean
ly written and spiritedly conceived, fill
ed admirably and continues to fill the
place he had designed for it. Mr. Sousa
has kept this character of music on an
intelligent and melodious plane, and has
witnessed no rival thereon since his de-
but. He has done an immensity for the
popular and necessary march form
and in having managed, by his deserved
popularity, to exclude from perform
tainly deserves the forgiveness of many
who meet him. probably seven places
out of ten where they are not prepared
to greet him with a welcome.
The era of Sousa has had fewl draw
backs; it is now at it's height, and the
end may not yet be even conjectured