The times., 1897-07-18


play which 1 have contracted TO do in
Chicago at the opening of the season;
thirdly-well, what's the use? / know
you cid not credit this preposterous state
nient. just thought / would put stop
TO any wonder you might have. Sin
cerely, OTIS SKINNER
John Philip sousa told Dramatic
Mirror interviewer a few things last week
which viii interest his followers in Wash
ington. He said:
Il was born and had the collie and alb
soIbed the lactealfluid and experienced the
other excitements and dissipations of my
young life in the shadow of the Capitol at
, Washington. Yes. it is tue that people
often take NE for foreigner, on account
| Of my name. suppose, and ii is also true
that my parents We're foreign. My father
was SpaBi ;handmym ymotherGerman. When
| acquaintance hear Of that they exclaim.
An, Your Snanish-German extraction ex-
| plains your musical bent, MIR. Sousa.
Your father and mother were both musical,
| Of course
But they weren't My father had very
| slight musical tendencies, and my mother
| absolutely none. But, in spite of this, |
| don't remember when / didn't fiddle.
| played in public for the first time in Wash
| ington when / was eleven years old. 1t
was in a lunatc asylum, and got so rat
| tied that forgot my solo and began TO i'm
provise, 1t is lucky my audience were
| lunatics They didn't know the difference,
| so my first appearance unsuccessful after
| all. After that became sort Of musical
| free lance, and ran gamut Of dancing
| schools, balls, and variety theaters. When
| J was fourteen was leading an orchestra.
| The year 1880 was an important one to
me. because then l received and accepted
an offer of the leadership Of the Washing
ton Marine Band. with which / remai lined
| for twelve years.
My present band has been in existence
| since 1892" continued Mr. Sousa. ut
| is too young to have history. All /
| can say of it is that we have played in
| every State and Territory in this country,
| besides touring Canada, and have every
where met with favorable receptions 1
| have found that there is no difference in
| musical taste in the various sections OF
I the Country. Give the people ludcious
mixture of the classical and popular not
| forgetting Il march with swing and spiIIJ
| TO it, and they will be sure to like your
music wherever they may live +"
OF your successes, Mr.. Sousa, don't yoI
derive most qualification from that of
your marches?"
Yes, / do. 1 am very fond OF the
marches, just as a mother is fond OF her
Children, even if Trey are not so very
good. Ny first born, TO continue the ma
| tcutal metaphor, first saw the light in
1873. The theme CT 1T was not at all
| sentimental. 1t celebrated the resumption
Of specie payments by the Government,
and was called The Resumption March,
| 1t created Just Z ripple On the musical sea
| being gust successful enough to encourage
me to try my hand at more marches.
| About year afterward / published Tie
| Filtration March, the ripple became n
| little wave. Ii was about this time that
! became leader Of the Marine Pand, and
was 50 busy that l didn't write ans more
until 1884, when brought out The Glad
iator's March, Following it came The
Fencibles,' The Corcoran Cadets, The
High School Cadets and The Washington
Tost.
"As walked along in the evening the
quiet streets Of towns in the erfete East
and Wild West, and Sunny South ard
far North. and heard these airs floating
out Of parlor windows, l could not help
feeling that / had arrived to use the
| French idiom, as a matchmaker
II next wrDue The Beaux Ideal then
| The Belle or Chicago The Liberty Bell, :
The Manhattan Beach, The Directory
| and lastly, The Stars and Stripes, which
I am now playing and consider one Of the
best marches / have written And, then,
OF course, there's the march in El Captain,
which has caught the popular fancy
The keynote in all of them is military,
and the inspiration for all of them has
Come to me from some military source
When | want to write new march
the first thing l do is to yet into the
proper atmosphere; l look for surround
ing which, in some way, suggests martial
| glory or heroism. ! find that the tramu
tramp OF soldiers and other things are
inspiring It's only under some such Lon-
dition that the inspiration comes Then
try TO write an air that has aS mucn
spirit as one which young woman TOLD
me would make man with u wooden
leg keep step. The popping OF fTecruckers
aud general Fourth OF July celebration also
puts me in the right mood for march
writing
| ION this last Fourth I wrote an air
which 1 am pretty well satisfied with
for the new opera, 1.-The Bride Elect, ;
which have nearly finished I am writ
ing both the music and the book, by the
way. Is it 10 be comic opera? Well, 1
hope so. l haven't had as much expert.
ence as some of my friends in writing
nbretios, but l wrote some OF the lyrics
of Ell Captain, including The Typical Tune
| OF Zanzibar, and ooncocted the story, he
sides; so | don't feel that am altogether r
| colt In a strange pasture. The opera
has been sold to a syndicate Ii it sue
ceeds, I'll probably compose more If not
| well, nave the marches and the band. u