The competing values of highbrow education and popular entertainment were a bone of contention for the Exposition’s Bureau of Music. On the advice of the music directors of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the St. Louis organizers originally decided to focus on light-style music (for example, brass bands performing march tunes) as opposed to elite or popular music. Chicago fairgoers had been treated entirely to highbrow concert repertoire and had not been appreciative. But Bureau member Ernest Kroeger (1862-1934) insisted elite music be included, too – though it usually appeared on mixed programs with light music. Read more about Kroeger's role in the musical life of St. Louis and his archives at Gaylord Music Library here.