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THE STARS AND STRIPESFriday, Sept. 17, 1943-i—- ..— • ■ - jNegroare i i heiltca-eredhadren tticer. shesedF achni* aIsheofrablevv iih*ttheAongfiertiedStars and Stripes Photo by Richard Koenigthe fthetedFirst ChorusRaceMcDaniel, of Kansas Citv, Mo., assistantthehisTo Sing in Albert200 aviation engineersRolandNegroAlbert Hall, London, on Sept. 28 andsul!Hall in 72 Yearsmore, who led a symphony orchestraplaying one of his own compositions in July at Royal Albert Hall, and Cpl. MarcBlitzstein, of New York, composer-author of “The Cradle Will Rock.” a musicald.•»:eerth.By Richard WilburStars ands in pedLt n dStripesStaff WriterBATTALION HQ, Sept. 16—Two hundred Negroone had missed the cue to come in with, “Yeah, Paul Revere had a horse race“Who's Paul Revere?”manded.SomeoneWeisgall deraised his handplay produced Welles.“Thehe soldiers, members of four,iveunion engineers battalions, sat on benches together andsang:cue, soldier-chorusBlitzstein shouted to thesheepishly.Weisgall said.fromtheMister Tom Jefferson. a mighty fine man,He wrote it down in a mighty fine han'eetlevAnd the rest all signed with a mighty finehan'stage, is ‘Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ Then—loud—‘Shallnot perish from the earth.’Some of the soldiers, restless fromgo.They came to the words, “Let my peopleWeisgall wasn't satisfied with the* *“Ibesteady sitting, shifted around in their seatsand murmured, “I need complete silence, Blitzstein said.. *And they crossed their T's and dottedtheir IsA bran' new country did arise.'Let's Hear ItAn airplane roared overhead. “I meanIn a bare Nissen hut here the aviation*“Balladfor. ., *, *engineers were rehearsing Americans, one of the songs they will sing before Allied audiences in Royal Albert Hall, where they will give a concert w ith the London Symphony Orchestrayou,1 up at* *too. the roof.Blitzstein shouted, grinningway they sang it. mysterious,” he said. “I want it to be religious. It's a plea. You've got to feelit deeply, but with restraint.”Sgt. Jimmy Daniels, of New York, hadthe line, “Abraham Lincoln said that onNov. 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.” The line was a lot different from lyrics that Daniels usedtoand Roland Hayes, AmericanNegrogood humor, the aviation engineers took up their cue again—“Let’s hear it,” Blitzstein said. “Blast it out!” andsing as an entertainer in New York and Harlem nightclubs. Most of the other chorus members used to sine in Methodist choirssingamateur quartets back homeornationThe people found the going rough.sang the stretch right. Then they startedontenor, on Sept. 28 and 29.“The machine age came with a great bigroarAn all-Americanprogram, including ten Negro spirituals, has been planned for the concert. The opening^ight will mark the first appearance of a chorus in the 72-year-oM history of Royal Albert Hall, officials of the hail blt;As Americans grew in peace and war And a million wheels went around andNegro“That among these rights are life,Liberty,The cities reached into the sk\'round.And dug down deep into the ground.A throat-cutting gesture by Blitzstein.“No!”ngheAnd the pursuit of happiness,the chorus sang. A soloist put in his line:sound mighty tine, saidhe shouted from the stage. “Too heavy. In that part, you've got to travel like an airplane.“Thereenough— So they started to expandInto the western lands the chorus sang.44Weisgall was satisfied. All right, that’s damn good, he said. Chuckles at his frankthrough the chorus, very, very well,”sounds swell.”opinion swept“You guys are doing Weisgall added. “ItMcDaniel tookchoruson Negro spirituals, Weisgall, full ofsteeredandtty Sgt. Cecil Jefferson, of Kansas City, Mo.The battalion men who built this Glchorusup from scratch- ChaplainWilliam M. Perkins. Philadelphia; l/Sgt. Alexander B. Jordan, St. Paul, Minn., and T 5 James McDaniel, Kansas City, Mo.— watched from the . sidelines. AtatofVtbehe professional rehearsal of “Ballad forare two hundred of us, we've got to sound like one voice.”Sgt. Jordan, who used to sing with and help direct the famed Tuskogee Collegechoir“I honestly think they could .be the bestchorusof firm direction.” he said.Opening Performance Sept. 28ofAmericans was under way, led by two GIs up from London—T/Sgt. HugoWeisgall, composer-conductor from Balti-in Alabama, explained aside-how the chorus idea started. A group of 18in his battalion went around singing Christmas Carols in nearby villages. After Christmas, the carolers broke up into quartets, then the quartets gradually grewto choir size.We're in a place where there's notJordanThe chorus was on the spiritual, “Over My Head.” These aviation engineers,Headfull knowledge of its timeliness:“Over my head, there's trouble in the air,There must be a God somewhere m uch're in a placeamusement nearby,”Sgt.said.“At nights some of the singers usedthe huts and say, ‘WhyHigh-ranking officials of the UnitedfE BREGERto stop by in the huts and say, don't you come out to choir rehearsals?’ and more came along each time.”One of the battalions formed singing groups as far back as a U.S. staging area, where it stayed for three months, accord-1/Lt. William Work, of Pitts-Nations are expected to attend the opening-night performapce Sept. 28, from which the proceeds will go to British war charities. On the 29th, the performance will be given free for all service men andmg toburgh. “The boys used to get together there and-harmonize to relieve the monotony of training films,” he recalled.Rehearsals—Good FunThe 200 GIs have rehearsed as a choruswomen.The 200 aviation engineers will leave this backwoods region for a week in London before the concert. They'll spend the week in intensive rehearsals withexpectedfrom the United States this week, andSpringfield•tformer member of the St. Louis Municipaltwo nights weekly during the past month.On the other nights, the've rehearsed inBlitzstein, who hastwo separate groups, been living up here with one companyrecently, has alternated leading the twoand coordinated them at fullOpera Co., who, as special soloist, has“Ballad forvirtually the final say in Americans.” At the end of the ballad,Am I an AmerLwhen Pfc Cantril asks,*can?” he answers himself affirmatively:“Fm just an Irish, Negro, Jewish, Italian,mgroups,i chorus rehearsals.In a PX hut, Blitzstein has also been composing a symphonic poem, based on Negro spirituals, which will be playedFrench and English, Spanish. Russian,nC hinese,■mPolish, Scotch, Hungarian, Litvak,Greek andi*Swedish, Finnish, Canadian,‘•V.during the concert.“It’s been wondcWeisgall took over, the rehearsal, ‘tryingcompose ’ ' ’ ’singing several other songs at the same time, and some of them leaning over myOne guy didn’tfittedshoulder, correcting me. think some oart Iand Czech and double CzechT urk,So there isn’t much left to be said afterthat, except, as the script directs:”CHORUS (Whistle, in amazement),■Arjsome part with Negro spirituals Russian. So I had t«wrote said itinsoundedThe chorus, still rehearsing “Ballad for Americans” under Weisgall’s direction,about“But he hated oppression, he hated wrong,And hewent down to his grave to freethe slave.IKMan in white skin can never be free While his black brother is in slaverybeerWeisgallBerlin is burning, the Ruhr is on fire,SL$troops retirej*Sicilian straits seethed like hot lard,**Hamburg liessmoking and Naplescha -see SAILORS carry in’ packsduct both chorus and oi Albert Hall, waved hisdrawingarms,music out of the 200 GIs. Army cement-mixers, bricklayers, and carpenters during the day, some of them were^getting sleepy during the four-hour night rehearsal. Weisgali’s arms flopped suddenly. Some-Viking torches theDanish blazed*,In smoke near Vienna a factory’s•'*- * r -iAn old proverb proves Hitler’s- O - NT*good slave, but flameSgt* .£*• ?■.■Si!ith*... ■■it■
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New York Stars and Stripes
New York, New York, US
Fri, Sep 17, 1943
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