El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-26
S0USA BRINGS
GOOD S0L0ISTS
''Has Anybody Here Seen
Kelly?" Divides Honors
With March Music


Never did man write military marches
as Sousa writes them; never did any
play them as SOusa plays them. The
military march Is SOusa's strength as a
| composer, and to this form Of musical
composition his band In It's instruments
and training is best adapted.
Yet in its orchestral work, freed from
the blare of much brass and the crash of
drums and cymbals, the band has notes
of singular sweetness and warmth, so
that of all the pieces on the program
Wednesday night, none was sWeeter OF
more skilfully interpreted than the Pre-
lUde of Jahufelt. In many selections,
the band showed the restraint and fine
shading OF a symphony orchestra, and its
demonstration of musical ability in this
direction was all the more notable be-
cause that sort OF work does not seem
to be the particular province of a mill
tary band, even with greatly augmented
WOOdWind section.
SOusa is a wizard of novel instrument
tatiOn. 1T is not so much that he adds
new instruments, as that he makes novel
uses of old Instruments.
S0usa is a lever of the unusual the
musical Joke and fantasy: some of his
surprises would have delighted old Papa
Haydn. Above all things, SOUsa strives
to please; none could be more generous
with encOres, and the merry alienation
Of program music with the lightest,
brightest, danciest marches and quick
steps keeps the audience in humorous
touch with the conductor every moment.
he knows what most people enjoy most,
and he gives It to them fast and gaIlY.
OF the novelties, hOnOrs were even
between a setting of Has Anybody Here
Seen kelly2" with laughable instrument
tai vaudeville, and The Band Came
Back" which was a whole concert and
minstrel program IN itself but would
have been better if the bandsmen had
entered more freely into the spirit of the
Joke.
SOusa always has with him some good
sOlOlSts. This time, besides his own solo
cOrnetist Herbert Clarke, he had with
him Two young women, Miss Virginia
Root, soprano, and Miss Nicotine Zedeler.
vIolinist. Miss Root has the making Of
a voice of much charm, though it now
shows the strain of effort with a band
accompaniment too heavy for her, and of
careless use; besides a song by SOusa,
she sang "Aunie Laurie" very prettily,
and the Goose Girl" with charming Vi
vacity
From a purely artistic standpoint,
nothing surpassed the wonderful violin
work Of Miss Zedeler. in both her num-
bers, she demonstrated herself to be a
real artist, and her handling of the most
responsive, as well as most difficult, in
strUment of the modern orchestra showed
the results OF capable instruction, hard
study, and lndefatlgable exercise. Her
selections We're well chosen, the band
accOmpanimeuts were restrained, and her
performance was thoroughly delightful
Mrs. SOusa and Daughters Here.
daughters arrived this morning from
the Grand canyon to Join Mr.. SOusa-
They LEFT him In Los Angeles for a
trip through Yosemite and to the Grand
canyon. and will complete his world
tour with him.
Mr.. Sousa has just completed a new
march, dedicated to Hon John Wanna
maker. He sent the manuscript from
FL PasO last night Tt is to be called
American Progress March" Bis new
comic opera, THE GlassblOWers, viii
be produced in a short time after his
return to New York.
Discussing his world tour, Mr.. SOusa
said, before leaving for San Antonio to-
day: There IS one thing on which
think the American public ought TO
start a fight against American man
angers, and that is failure to give
proper attention to programs. I have
no complaint to make on the FL PasO
programs, but several times since my
return to America the managers have I
on the programs that they merely gave
the names of the different numbers we
would play and omitted all descriptive l
matter. This did not happen a single I
time in any foreign country, however /
The audience is entitled to everything I
on the program that VIII help 1t to bet /
ter enjoy the entertainment, and de- I
scriptiOns Of musical numbers, where I
they are complicated, are necessary to /
the proper enjoyment Of the music"
Most Popular Music.
Mr.. SOusa, asked what he believed the I
most puplar music written, said: Il .
think the Tannhauser overture, by Wag- (
ner, is the most popular piece Of music I
in the world; second, Suppe's Poet and I
Peasant; next de KOven's Robin Hood ]
and, next I believe, is Strauss Blue J
Danube These are, I believe, the best I
compositions Of these authors. I be- I
ueve my Stars and Stripes Forever is Z
the most popular piece Of music for }
Americans.
People use the word popular music 1
and classical music as general rule I
in entirely the wrong sense. They gen
orally designate as popular some
thing they like. and as classical some
thing they don't like"
While Mr. SOusa and family were
here yesterday afternoon and this morn
ing they saw points Of interest about /
FL Paso and JuareZ, in company with
Mr.. and Mrs. G. A. Martin. Mr.. SOusa
entertained Mr.. and Mrs. Martin and \
Misses -Zedeler and Root, his sOloists,
at dinner last evening at the Sheldon.
The friendship of Mr. Sousa and Mr..
Martin dates back ~ years.