The San Francisco call., 1908-10-18

self When that band was ready TO
proceed you may wager your home that
/ ii wes in tune.
+, Now for the fun thought L When
he gets these men alone he must be a
/ Demon 1 told myself But there was
no fun Gennaro was emphatic, full
of violent gestures when anything
went wrong; excitable and nervous, but
nothing worse. He drilled his men
carefully and selected patches from
the performance of the day before
which did not please him. These,
some times not more than a single
phrase, he made them go over and
over again. and if they did not
catch his idea he would play the
phrase himself Then he let them go;
but not until an hour and half had
been consumed. He was coatless and
vestless and warm; his men watched
him as closely as the printed scores
/ before them would permit and they
were just about as nearly right as
they could be before he let them de-
part in safety.
He is q musician" I said to myself.
] quietly slipping out, somewhat disap-
pointed, Ike man who runs TO see a
fight and finds neither belligerent will
/ ing-that there had been no carnage
nor excitement He is a musician.
but I'll have to be shown that he is a
| monkey"
] That followed, too. in the afternoon.
when he performed after the manner
described. After which ] met Giovanni
Gennaro in his dressing ROOM He told
me all about himself in excellent Eng
lish; said he'd speak German il pre-
ferred, but IT wasn't necessary, nor
even expedient.
He thinks a great deal of America.
II amuses him that he is here and he
finds us so entertaining that he is go
ing TO join the family. His intentions
20 do so are evidenced in his first nat
uralization papers and he calls himself
! John short for Giovanni, and shortly.
no doubt. TO become plain Jack" I
hated 70 hear him say that. Think of
/ IL, Jack Gennaro.''
Gennaro is a trained philosopher;
ergo he is a we'll educated man.
Gennaro is shrewd. and that's why
4 he is going to be Yankee
and stick. He viii take no
money back TO Palermo. he assured
4 me. but will stay here and vote and be
a citizen; perhaps he may run for Of
fee and be an alderman. He doesn't
know about that; but meanwhile he is
Eccentric Gennaro, very much in love
with US. with music and with his band
he was DOfn IN EPa4efnO and at 3
years OF age entered the Santa Stella
conservatory in that city. His father
caught him playing something on a
clarinet and thought he needed lessons,
hence he was entered as a student at
once and prospered. While he studied
the reedy clarinet he also entered the
Jungle of harmony and counterpoint
and cleared away the underbrush until
he could build great harmonic struc-
phony and other strange devices. This
took about 10 years, for they make
haste slowly in Italy, where folk live
4 longer or where il seems longer. When
he was Is years old he entered in COM
/ petition with about 100 other potential
band masters and of the lot was chosen
solo clarinetist IN the city band Now
III know that city band suggests aw-
full things. but in Palermo it's different
The city band is the countrys pride.
II is supported by the municipality the
same as the police force is. and it is a
part of the sights to see the players on
parade and part of the city's sounds
to hear them play. There are So of
them, Gennaro told me. and each one is
I selected from scores Of applicants, for
there is honor in Palermo in belonging
Ito the city's off1cership. Besides there's
$3.50 a day in IT and that sum buys
large quantities of spaghetti and garlic
and other things which Italians, musi-
cal and otherwise, require.
So we have Gennaro installed in the
city band OF Palermo His talent for
directing lay dormant until one day
he substituted for the leader of the
band He was successful and after
that he frequently laid aside his ciari-
net for the baton. Then an agent for
Keith e. Proctor caught him in action.
He saw the latent possibilities in this
energetic leader. he caught the grace
with which he led his players and the
energy with which he tore out great
i hunks OF chords from the brasses. So
this agent talked to Gennaro and told
him about America. He tempted him
with gold and lured him with prom
isex Gennaro fell He organized a
band and showed his ten1pter what he
could do il he let himself go. There
upon the agent wired and then Keith
& Proctor wired: then there were some