MUSICIAN HONOURED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 128, 2 June 1927, Page 15

MUSICIAN HONOURED.

CATHEDRAL ORGANIST.

"BEWITCHING HANDS."' J (B? Telegraph.— Own Correspondent.) i CHRISTCHURCH, this day. j To honour Dr. J. C. Bradshaw upon his i completion of 2o Tears' service as | ] organist and choirmaster at the Christ- i ■ church Cathedral, members of the cathe- J dral chapter entertained him at a com-1 plimentary dinner last evening. I The Bishop, Dr. West-Watson, presided i over an attendance of over a hundred, which included many former choir boys. Dr. Bradshaw's jubilee coincided with j the completion of the new organ, said I the Bishop. The work had been carried j through, mainly by the vigour of Dr. I Bradshaw and Archbishop Julius. j On behalf of the chapter, the president ! asked the guest to accept a cheque, to be spent in providing two comfortable i armchairs. J In proposing the health of the guest.' ! Archbishop Julius said that the choir | i boys had always loved their master, who I I had absorbed the very soul of music and ' j had carried the cathedral service on to an ever higher spiritual plane. It was a fair j wind which bad brought the guest and j his family to these shores. I "The most bewitching thing about Dr. i Bradshaw's conducting is the motion of his hands," said the Dean. '"They are wonderful hands, which express the whole soul of the man. He lives in his music and has no thought for those little characteristics which denote conceit in a musician." A lay member of the chapter. Dr. W. Irving, said that one positiou which Dr. Bradshaw did not hold in the city was that of professor of music at Canterburv College. He believed that the colleg'e authorities would like to see a chair of music instituted, but there was no monev with which to endow it. Dr. Chilton said that Canterbury j College was to some extent responsible j for Dr. Bradshaw's coming to New Zealand, for there had been an arrangement between the college and the cathedral for the offering of an inducement sufficient to ensure his coming. On behalf of the students of the college Dr. Chilton congratulated the doctor upon his jubilee. Efforts had been made several times to establish a chair of music at the college, and it remained only for some generuus donor to provide the wherewithal In reply, Dr. Bradshaw thanked all for their kindness. He had begun his career as an organist and choirmaster when fifteen years of age, and when he and his wife had come to New Zealand thev had had no thoughts of making their permanent home here. Circumstances had changed their view. Much of his success had been due to his wife, and both were deeply appreciative of the honour conferred upon them.