Please visit our co-sponsor's Web site:
Altissimo!
Audio excerpts courtesy of Dallas
Wind Symphony
To hear a sound sample, click on hilited title.
Please visit our co-sponsor's Web site:
Altissimo!
Audio excerpts courtesy of Dallas Wind Symphony
To hear a sound sample, click on highlighted title.
“OH MR. SOUSA!”
ACT I
Overture (“The Thunderer,” 1889)
Scene 1
Present Day. Presentation.
(Drum roll; “Dixie,” 1859;
“Solid Men to the Front,” 1918)
Scene 2
1868. Sousa’s father and first music tutor discuss Sousa’s talents.
(“The
Black Horse Troop,” 1924)
Scene 3
1874. Sousa and his father discuss furthering his education.
(Waltz medley: The
Bride Elect, 1897 / El Capitan, 1895)
Scene 4
1879. Sousa’s mother reads a letter from her son, now age 24.
(Nymphalin, 1880)
Scene 5
1879. Sousa is hired by a Philadelphia music publisher.
Scene 6
1879. Sousa’s mother speaks to him for the first time via telephone.
(“We sail the ocean blue,” HMS Pinafore, Gilbert & Sullivan,
1878)
Scene 7
1879. Sousa conducts HMS Pinafore in New York and meets Jennie.
(“Peaches
and Cream,” 1924)
Scene 8
1879. Jennie and two girlfriends discuss her upcoming wedding to Sousa.
(Waltz medley: The Bride
Elect, 1897)
Scene 9
1889. Sousa meets Washington Post proprietor and another Philadelphia publisher.
(“The
Washington Post, ” 1889)
Scene 10
1895. Four singers try out a new tune.
(“Sweetheart, I’m Waiting,” El Capitan, 1895)
Scene 11: Act I Finale
1898. Sousa and Jennie celebrate the success of El Capitan.
(Concert excerpts from El Capitan, 1895: “Behold
El Capitan”;
“I’ve a most decided notion”; “Oh, spare a daughter’s
aching heart”;
“Typical tune of Zanzibar”;
“We beg your kind consideration”)
ACT II
Entr’acte:
(“The
Liberty Bell, ” 1893)
Scene 1
1899. The Sousas celebrate the New Year and their 20th anniversary with
friends.
(“The maid, the youth and the friend,” music, El Capitan, 1895,
lyric, anon.)
(Scott Joplin medley: “The
Ragtime Dance” 1902; “The Easy Winners, ” 1902; “Sunflower
Slow Drag,” 1901)
Scene 2
1905. Two British ladies read of a mishap at a Sousa concert.
(“Nobles
of the Mystic Shrine,” 1923)
Scene 3
1909. Sousa is interviewed by a reporter.
(“Turxie!” medley:
“Turkey in the Straw,” 1921; “Dixie,” 1859)
Scene 4
1919. Sousa rejects an offer to write another operetta.
(“Carrier Pigeon,” The Free Lance, 1905)
(“My eyes are fully open”: music, Desiree, Sousa, 1883; lyric,
Ruddigore, W.S.Gilbert, 1887)
Scene 5
1929. Sousa receives a letter from President-elect Hoover.
Medley: “Presidential
Polonaise,” 1886 / “At a Georgia Campmeeting,” Mills,
1897)
Scene 6
1886 flashback. President Arthur demands a change in music.
(“Semper
Fidelis,” 1888)
Scene 7
1929. Estelle Liebling and Meredith Willson are interviewed on radio.
(“Circus Galop,” The Irish Dragoon, 1915 )
Scene 8; Grand Finale
1931 and Present. Recollections and Accomplishments.
(“The
Stars and Stripes Forever,” 1896)
Curtain calls
(“On Wings of Lightning,” 1876)
Encore
(“King Cotton,”
1895)
