SPEECHES BY BEECHAM

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27502, 9 November 1954, Page 11

SPEECHES BY BEECHAM

“ART OF RUDENESS MADE POPULAR”

RECENT comments in LONDON (From the London Correspondent of ••The Press?*) LONDON, October 1. People listen when Sir Thomas Beecham says something. He has the art of being rude in a way that everyone likes. And he likes being rude. His eloquence is unabated by time and its style is unchanged. ‘ One shocking generalisation is piled on another. The more outrageous the paradox, the grosser the egotism of the speaker, the ruder he is to the patrons of his art, the greater the fun. There are few today who equal the bubbling good humour of Sir Thomas Beecham and his fellow-Edwardians.

At a luncheon to mark the opening of a series of international celebrity concerts in London, he made a defence of the “star” system in operatic productions. In the old days at Covent Garden it meant securing for each leading role the most famous and accomplished artist of the day, he said. He went on to denounce the “democratic” view of operatic art which lays stress on the chorus, the minor exercises of the orchestra, scenery and costumes. Every single composer he had known wrote opera with characters in mind. “If the people on the stage are not rendering the parts as I know they would be to the satisfaction of the composer, I walk out of the theatre. I don’t care if the orchestra is not* playing welt As long as it is not playing the wrong notes —and most orchestras do—l am happy. “We hear about this brain-washing today, a process whereby you* come out a different person afterwards. Well, we have all had our brains washed. We have no standards whatever. “We are the most ignorant public in the world and we have more music than ever, too much music. The 8.8. C. are plugging away every day with all this awful stuff. “Where are the ears of the present generation? They are absolutely stunned, so there is no nicety of appreciation whatsoever.”

There were not a dozen conductors in Britain who knew the intentions of the great composers. They had never spent weeks and months with them discovering what they wanted. f Newspapers Criticised Sir Thomas Beecham criticised the press for not discriminating between orchestras’ performances. “They had better wake up and realise there are differences among British, German and Austrian orchestras. “I have conducted all these orchestras and I have made gramophone records. The only orchestra I can make perfect gramophone records with is my own, the Royal Philharmonic. One community knows it, and that is the American public, which buys 6ur records in preference to any other.” Criticising the modern producer, who was “miserable unless everybody was rushing about all over the stage,” he said: “The greatest acting on earth is the art of standing still and doing nothing.” Earlier in the week Sir Thomas Beecham had sided publicly with those who want conceTtgoers to wear evening dress. He confessed he had very strong views on the subject. “I believe,” he said, “that on all public occasions every-one should dress up to the ‘nines’.” He talked of visits to little countries like Finland and Denmark where he had seen men and women wearing' national dress. He mentioned the colourful costumes of the South of France and the picturesque garb of Red Indian women in North America. And he added: “But, alas, nowadays in our country the ladies seldom, if ever, dress up. And it is their fault. It is not the fault of the men. If the women would only break the ice and put on their gladdest of glad-rags, with tiaras, .glittering jewels and fans, the men would give in.”

Sir Thomas Beecham quoted a newspaper headline suggesting that concertgoers might wear overalls. “When I read that to my wife I said: ‘Well, why not go in undies? That would be just as effective.’ ”