San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-10-07

fcderate reunion in San Antonio which
has brought the soldiers and songs OF
the Southland before us with renewed
appeal, particular interest attaches to
an article in Musical America for Sep
B. ,tember 20, telling the story of how
the world famous Southern song of
isDixie" came to be written, and q
little OF the history of the man who
wrote it, Daniel Decatur Emmett.
The authors manuscript copy of
the beloved SONG shat never fails to
bring "a smile to the lips but q tear
20 the eye" whenever and however II
IS heard, has recently become the prop
erty of Cornell University through its
gift from the author to cousin of
Charles w. Curtis, by whom the be-
quest was made.
The story of Emmett's life is a ro-
mance of the most unexpected type.
1t is hard at first to realize that the
man who wrote one of the three or
four most stirring songs of all time,
gpent the best part of his life as
clown in a circus and a black-tace
comedian with a minstrel show. He
was born on October 20, 1915, in
Mount Vernon, Ohio, and in his early
boyhood was apprenticed to a printer.
firing of that he jGned Sam Stick
aey's circus at Cincinnati, and for %
years his life vas spent in the tents
as musician, burnt-cork artist and
composer of popular airs. In 1912 he
played his own music in a number of
New York theaters.
His "Nigger Minstrels," organized
IN 1913 was the first entertainment of
the kind the world had ever seen. He
appeared with his group of black-face
comedians. not only in all the leading
Eastern cities, but made very sue
cessful four of the British Isles. In
1859, Emmett Joined Bryants Minis
trel who were playing on Broadway,
| New York. and remained with them
for q number of years, as musician,
kcomposing comic songs, negro melodies
Ennd plantation "walk-arounds."
\ The following story was told by the
EFeteran minstrel himself as to how he
tcame to write his immortal song.
Il remembered when boy with the
circus, that the performers always
{ spoke Of Dixie Land when winter ap-
| preached and the season for tour i'll
the South drew near. This came to
be a part of the circus vernacular,
/ and grew from the conflict which was
L
| slavery question. "A man named Dixie
| owned a great plantation on Manhat-
tan Island. When he was compelled
| to abandon slavery, he moved to Mary
land and thereafter whenever slave
owner was compelled to leave the
| North, it was said that he was going
} TO Dixie's Land.
/ 81 was playing with Bryant's Min
strels in the spring of 1853. had
written a number of 'walk-arounds' |
and choruses, among them old Dan
Tucker SO that when Neil Bryant
came to me after the performance one |
Saturday night and asked me to write !
q new 'walk-around,' / thought the re- |
quest nothing unusual.
Uncle Dan,' he said, L want you |
to compose a new walk-around. one |
that the boys will whistle and the |
bands play in the street, something |
with lots of melody in it.
i"On Sunday it rained necessarily, |
and with my wife 1 was compelled to
remain indoors. l thought over the
waly-around all day, but could get no
suitable inspiration. l was standing
by the window, gazing out at the
drizzly, raw day, and the old circus
feeling came over me. i hummed the !
old refrain, L Wish / Was in Dixie, |
and the inspiration struck me. took |
my pen and in ten minutes had writ |
ten the first verses with music. The |
remaining verses were easy.
81, Becomes War Song.
1.-THE old circus refrain was given |
~ a pitch which suggested melancholy |
yearning. When / began to write, Il |
voluntarily increased the time until it |
developed the stirring rhythm Of the |
march. then took my old fiddle and |
arranged the orchestra parts. The |
next Monday evening j sang the song |
and it was received with such favor |
that l sang no other song during the |
seven remaining years l was with
Bryant. The bands took up the air, |
and the South adopted it as it own. |
When the war broke out, Southern |
bands played it as a rallying air on
muster day, and just before Pickett |
esmade his famous charge at Gettys- |
burg, he ordered the bands to play
ksDiIie.'
4 Emmett sold the copyright CT |
1880, which is all the money he ever |
kfeceived from his composition.
r When Bryant's Minstrels disbanded |
KSu lopps just at TIC NluEt VI lut Citb
E.War. Emmett went to Chicago where |
khe played in various theaters, and for
Ia, while in a concert hall. In 1883,
k~Uncle Dan" as he wCs affection
lately called by all who knew him, re-
I turned to Mount Vernon, Ohio, to
kspend the remaining years Of his life.
He was provided for by an actors
Eiassociation of New York, added to
from time to time by the sale of his
f-signed photographs as the composer
tpf "Dixie."
When he was very old man. in
1896. he toured the country with Al e.
/ Fields Minstrels, and was given
/ great ovation wherever he appeared.
I particularly in the South. He died
in Mount Vernon in 1904, at the age
of 50. The inscription on his monu-
ment in Mount Vernon. reads:
\ S-To the Memory of Daniel Decatur
Emmett, born. 1915, died, 1904,
whose song. Dixie Land inspired the
courage and devotion of the Southern
people, and now thrills the hearts of
united people"