The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-10
"Wednesday Night.


 Soloists to appear during the festi- val; Miss Virginia Listemann, soprano; Elaine De Sellem, contralto D. Pezzetti, tenor; G. Zara, baritone; Clayton Evarts, basso; H. J. Williams, harp.
 Les Preludes-Symphonic Poem Listz. Unfold Ye Portals-From the Re- demption (Gounod). Festival chorus. Philip Memoli, director.
 The Merry Widow GA Musical Joke). (Innes). (a) As written by Lehar. 0b) Papa Hayden might have left it to us written it this way. (d) If Mendelssohn had written it. (e)This is how Verdi might have written it. CD As some of the so-called ''rag-time' writers would have throttled it (g) With apologies to the immortal Richard Wagner. (Brand new. It's first performance. The transcription is by George Kalbitz.)
 Pazliacci-Prologue. (Leoncavallo.) Zarl.
 The Irish Rhapsody, No. l, op. 78. Stanford.
 Una Voce peso ia. (Rossini.) Virginia Listemann.
 From Tannhauser (Wagner.) Bac- chanale and Festival March-Hail Bright Abode. Festival chorus.
 Thursday Afternoon.
 IA.
 Second Hungarian Rhapsody Liszt). Introducing an original cadenza for harp by H. J. Williams.
 O Don Fatale, aria for contralto.
 (a) Bagatelle (Kalbitz). (b) Spring Song. Mendelsshon.
 (a) The Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin- (Wagner); (b) Blue Danube Waltz, (Strauss); for ladies' voices
 International Suite--Tschaikowsky
 (a) The Smithy Song from Siegfried- (Wagner; (b) The famous quintette from ''The Mastersingers." Listemann, Pezzet- ii, Zara and Evarts
 Festival Overture. triumphal--( (Rubin- stein): in which is described the Crimean war of 1854 between the allied forces of England, France and Turkey and Russia.
 Thursday Night.
 S:30 O'Clock.
 "Americala''-Al allegory Of the Civil War in song Frederick Neil Innes). So- ioists and tho Birmingham festival chorus of 200 voices.
 The military pageant being by Second and Third regiments-Maj c. H. Seals, Second infantry. A. N. G., with Lieut.. Walter Hooper, adjutant: Mai c. l.. Led better Third infantry A. N. G.; Maj. !. Q. Smith, First Battery of Artillery; Lieut.. Col H. B. Kennedy, Third infan- try, A. N. G.; Capt M. D. Smith. B Company Second infantry; Capt Robert l.. Gregory, G Company, Jefferson volun- teers, Third regiment; Capt. Bob Mabry, Company, Birmingham Rifles. Third regiment; Capt. J. B. Sculley, A Com pany Woodlawn Light infantry. Third regiment; Captain Price, commanding Troop D, cavalry; Capt. Leon Dorrance commanding Battery D.
 Marching band, Auxiliary bands, field music, drum and fife corps, etc.
 A Foreword.
 A musical interpretation of the war be- tween the states, and the events that led up to it, and the results which flowed from it, has been undertaken in "Ameri- cana.'
 |. What one of the latest and best Amer ican historians has called the Heroic Decade of American Life" began in 1850 and ended in 1860. Near the beginning of those ten years a woman's novel stirred the conscience of the north. Near the close of the period a mans death on a Virginia scaffold stirred the deep feel ings.
 It was December 2, 1859, that John Brown died. A year later Lincoln was elected President and within little more than month after Lincoln's inaugura- tion Sumter was fired on. The war had begun.
 From out all the passion and chaos of the days of 1861 the figure of John Brown lent itself to music. Not more than two or three years before northern visitors at Charleston, s. C.. had brought back to the north an air they had heard in negro camp meeting. From that air the uuartette of the Webster. Mass, regi- ment had written the words that on March 1. 1862, they first sang in the streets of the little city where John Brown had died less than three years before. They were rude words, but from the very first they appealed to popular imagination. They began thus:
 the grave,
 But his soul is marching; on."
 Two years later Mrs. Julia Ward Howe wrote to the same air the Battle Hymn