The Press: Sour Notes in St. Louis

St. Louis Globe-Democrat Publisher Richard Amberg is always dreaming up ways to get the jump on the rival Post-Dispatch. Recently, he commissioned the Globe-Democrat March. "The Globe-Democrat is a strong, militant, patriotic paper," he explained, "and I thought a march would be in character." At its premiere in a park concert performed by the Laclede Gas Co. band, Composer Alfonso D'Artega likened the "smooth and elegant theme" to the "editorial, society and Sunday-magazine sections of the newspaper." The paper pronounced the piece a hit: "When it was over—all too quickly, it seemed—Mr. D'Artega turned to face applause that left no doubt as to the acceptance of his creation."

Neither paper's music critic reviewed the creation, which band members called "a nice high school march." But the Post-Dispatch could not resist an editorial comment. The Globe-Democrat March, it said, "is reported to have three themes, one spirited, one elegant, and one blues—the blues expressing, no doubt, the melancholy of running second in a two-horse race." Besides, said the PD, it had scooped the Globe by 76 years—Composer Louis Stockigt's Post-Dispatch March was first played at the St. Louis Exposition in 1891. Gushed the P-D at the time: "The members of the band overwhelmed the composer with congratulations. They pronounced his music as bright and catchy as the newspaper in whose honor it was composed."