EMPIRE CONCERT

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 241, 8 July 1938, Page 17

EMPIRE CONCERT

Their Majesties At Albert Hall GREAT CHORAL SINGING An account of the great Empire concert held in the Royal Albert Hall, London, on Empire Day, in the presence of Their Majesties and broadcast throughout the kingdom, is given in a letter from Miss Christina Young, the Wellington singer, now in London. For this event a choir composed of-2000 delegates from choirs throughout the United Kingdom was assembled. Speaking of the scene at the final rehearsal, Miss Young writes: “As one passed through the corridors one heard scraps of conversation in every conceivable”dialect, the burr of the Scots, the soft tones of the Irish, the dialects of the north of England, the Cornish, the Welsh, making one realise what a truly representative gathering it was. “The Dominions were represeuted by the available singers who were delegates in the Coronation Choir at Westminster Abbey, and the New Zealanders present were Hubert Carter. Denis Dowling and myself. The arrangements for the seating of so large a body of singers must have taken a great deal of care, but, in the truly English manner, everything was perfectly arranged and we got to our seats with absolutely no fuss, hurry or. bother. The choir was divided into two sections, the platform choir and the arena choir. The former were general representatives and the latter consisted of four groups of singers, i.e., Scottish, frish, Welsh and English. In addition, were the two octets of 8.8. C. singers and boys from the Royal Chapel, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul’s. ’“At 2.15 Dr. Malcolm Sargent arrived and was greeted with a tremendous storm of applause, and we got down to a serious practice. Everyone arrived note perfect, therefore there was only a minimum of difficulty with the rehearsing.

Princesses at Rehearsal. “The Irish delegates had written and asked could not the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose attend the rehearsal, so Their Majesties graciously consented and, at 3 o’clock, these charming little ladies arrived in the Royal box with Sir Walford Davies. They were, hatless and each wore pink coats of a similar style. After three-quarters of an hour,-Sir Walford said the Princesses would have to go.. We had to get on with our work and, from what he gathered, they had to get back to some work, too, so with much cheering they went off. The rehearsal for the platform choirs ended at half-past four and we were dismissed until five to eight, when we had to be in our seats. “The conductors were Dr. Malcolm Sargent (who conducted the major portion of the works). Sir Henry Wood. Dr. Dyson, Sir Hugh Allen, Dr. Bullock, Greenhouse Alft (Scotland), Godfrey Brpwn (Ireland), Bamford Griffith (Wales)', and W. R. Allen. -Major Adkins, - head, of the Military College, conducted the .trumpiets for the fanfares. The

soloists, who excelled themselves, were Isobel Baillie, Elsie S.uddaby, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred, Walter. Widdop, Keith Faulkner, and Robert Easton. From 8 to 8.30, Sir Walter Alcock, of Salisbury Cathedral. Mr. Dykes Bower, of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Dr. Henry Ley, Precentor of Eton College, played organ solos. “At 8.30 Their Majesties arrived and were greeted with faufares composed by Sir Granville Bantock, Dr. Ernest Bullock and Major Adkins, which were sounded by' trumpeters from the Royal Military School of Music, following which we sang “God Save the King.” I do not know how to explain it, but we felt that the thousands of times we must have sung the National An them were but rehearsals for the singing of “God Save the King” actually to him.

Wide Range of Music.

“The music ranged from the thirteenth century, represented by ‘Sumer is icumen in,’ which was sung by the choir boys, to recent compositions of Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax, Herbert Howells, John Ireland, etc. The choral song, ‘England’ (Parry), which was the final item of the first half of the programme, was most impressive. It was sung by the full choir and preceded by trampet fanfare. The exquisite tone, the light and shade in theisinging of the sections in the arena was a.revelation. Never did I think that choral singing could reach such heights. The various sections were equally beautiful, but there was the subtle difference in tone that is natural, I suppose, to the ilrish, Scottish, Welsh and English peoples, which made it all the more enjoyable.

“It would be hard to pick out any special numbers from the programme as being outstanding; all were beautiful in different ways. As for the orchestra, ‘Puck’s Minuet’ (Howells) appealed to me, while, to the left of me, they liked Elgar’s ‘lmperial March,’ and in front of me .‘Paean’ (Bax), specially orchestrated for the concert, was the favourite. The concluding item was ‘Jerusalem,’ the singing of which was led by the King and Queen, and the effect of that enormous choir singing in unison was tremendous. The concert was a revelation, as I had absolutely no conception of the effect which 2000 intensely enthusiastic singers could create.” The Programme. The first part of the concert was, with the exception of one instrumental number, devoted to English and Scots choral music. The numbers were as follows: Air and chorus, “To Heart-easing Mirth” and "Soul of the World” (Purcell) ; the round “Sumer is icumen in” (thirteenth century) ; the Agincourt song, “Our King Went Forth to War” (fifteenth century) ; ■air in four parts, "Never Weather-beaten Sail” (Campion); ballet, “Welcome, Sweet Pleasure” (Weelkes) ; madrigal, “All Creatures Now Are Merry-minded” .(Benet) ; glee, "The Cloud-capt Towers” (Stevens) ; part song, “Over Hill Over Dale” (Hatton); Psalm CL (Dyson) ; three Scottish airs, "Scots Wha Hae,” "Ca’ the Yowes,” and “Wi a Hun'dred Piper and a”’; choral song, "Ehgland.” , “ There were two instrumental numbers in the second part. Otherwise the programme was as follows : —Choral song “In Praise of Neptune” (Ireland) ; Irish airs and part song, “Heraclitus” (Stanford) ; "The Unseen Comrade” (traditional) ; “The Ould Lammas Fair” (J. H. Macauley) ; part song for double choir, “Sir Patrick Spens” (Pearsall) ; three Welsh songs, “Hunting the Hare,” “Y Bore Gias,” and "Llanfair” ; three English folk songs, "The Sailor from Sea,” “The Crystal Spring,” and "Twanky dillo”; finale from cantata “Dona Nobis I’acem” . (Vaughan Williams) ; festival song, “Jerusalem” (Hubert Parry) ; “God Save the King” (final verse). Miss Christina Young writes that she is now receiving tuition from Signora Cappiani, one of the foremost teachers of vocal production and interpretation in England. “She is all I ever dreamed a teacher could be,” writes Miss Young. "Her system is based on absolute ease, and she pointed out that I get hard white tones into my voice through the way I sing, and in the eight lessons I have had a friend tells me it is simply amazing the difference made already.” Miss Young speaks of having met Trevor Fisher, the ex-Wellingtou pianist, and Richard Maunder, also of New Zealand.