TWO SOUSA CONCERTS.
Convention Hall Filled With Music
Lovers Yesterday.
For two hours yesterday afternoon 10,000 people sat in Convention hall while that master of harmony and technique, John Philip Sousa, the most characteristic band conductor in the world, and his aggregation of musicians, probably the finest reed and brass artists in the country, rendered a programme, which for purity of melody has rarely been equalled in this or any other city.
The programme originally consisted of thirteen numbers and was what might be termed of the heavy order, but the spontaneous appreciation of the music by the vast gathering, was such that before the great conductor had made his final bow, his band and soloist had rendered fourteen encores and the popular dances and marches of the day had won an equal share of applause with the composition of the old masters.
It has been said that Sousa's control over his men is so great that were he to lose his hands he could still keep them in absolute time and accord by the flash of his eyes, a bat of an eyelid or the quiver of a muscle. And he uses all of these in addition to the baton, his arms and his fingers. In fact at times his entire body is in motion. Never once does the musician, no matter how far back he may be seated, lose sight of every movement of Sousa and his splendid control counts no little in the harmony.
Never is there a note that is just the fraction of a beat too long, never is there the roar of a drum or the jingle of a bell that vibrates for the fraction of a second longer than Sousa desires it, and when Sousa is through the entire band is through, or he knows the reason.
The band, every member of which is an artist, makes the music, it is true, but Sousa makes the band and so considerable honor should go to him, but the players deserve equally as much.
The programme yesterday afternoon opened with Liszt's Second Polonaise, and the applause continued until "El Capitan," one of Sousa's early compositions, was given. Again, an ovation greeted the music and continued until Mr. Clark made his bow for his coronet solo, "Sounds From the Hudson," one of his own compositions. As the first encore he gave the "Carnival of Venice," and as a second the "Sextet from Lucia Di Lammermoor," with three coronets and three trombones.
Liszt's "Fourteenth Rhapsody" brought the programme to a close, after the band master had been on the stage playing almost continuously for three hours, not including a ten-minute intermission. In fact, so constant was the applause that Sousa had hardly stepped from his platform before he had to step back again with an encore and this kept up the entire afternoon.
Another large audience and one equally as enthusiastic greeted the band last night.
It seems a pity that people will insist on taking children from two months to four years old to concerts, but they do it not only in Kansas City but everywhere else. Several of these were in attendance at Convention hall yesterday afternoon and Sousa, who is sensitive to disturbance, was visibly irritated by the cries of children while much of the low music was lost on the audience.
