WORLD of MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 29 November 1924, Page 16

WORLD of MUSIC

PERSONAL NOTES. ' • - ■ - i Many friends in Hawera and district j will be .pleased to lcncw that Walter Fennell is very fit and is doing good! work at the-Royal Academy in London, j Writing to a friend in Hawera, Walter j says he sang at Plaistow recently at acharity concert arranged by Mr King, ; head of the teaching staff of the j Academy. He sang twice and was double encored each time, and also had to bow acknowledgments. He. added, “it was a real Hawera reception.” Mr] King said on the day 1 after the concert I that Walter was making capital pro- ! gress, and with this he was very well ! satisfied. . ■ An interesting musical event is the annual pupils'- concert given by Misses Reilly. This year it is fixed for Friday, December 12, and a capital programme, including the ladies’ part songs, which are always so popular, is being arranged. Piping measuring five miles in total length and comprising 3714 “speak-, tug” pipes go to make up the huge organ in the Crystal Palace, London. BRASS BAND. The prospects before the Municipal' Band appear very bright in View of the mgh cieuentiais of tne . recently . appointed bandmaster, Lieut. Fox, of Hastings. Hawera has always had a number of capital, enthusiastic instrumentalists on which to build for a conand when the band has been at its best they have done remarkably good work and held their own against me best of the Second division bands, the band contest some years ago comes to mind when casting back to the good years. All who can recall it will remember how great a success it was and what a fillip it gave to band music. It is hoped that ere long a contest will once more be held in Ha.vera. •

string quartet, Op. 18, No. 1, is described in its original form and compared with, the revised work to which Beethoven gave his final sanction. The third number has just been issued. It contains a draft, hitherto entirely unknown, of a second trio to the third part of his trio for strings in G, Op. 9, No. 1, and several musical scraps and sketches which were also for the most part unknown. Some of them were once seen by one of the foremost of Beethoven commentatqrs, G. Notfcebohm, who published, as a fragment only,, the beginnings of Beethoven’s proposed accompaniment to the flea, song from “Faust.” Most of these odd pieces appear to have been" written about the year 1800, and are stated to be of the* deepest interest to students of Beethoven’s methods of composition, as several themes occur which lie made use of much later in his life.

NATIVE AFRICAN CHOIR'. In his very interesting notes about the tour to South Africa, Mr. E. J. Howard, a Labour M.P.. .says: “Today, I heard .a native choir sing. It was like listening to an organ being softly played in a large cathedral. It seemed to vibrate . and reverbrate around and around the College Ha 11..! went oloser to the'choir and I lost .the words. So this trip is like trying to unroll a: filpi of a. moving picture. W here two thousand feet are used to build ;up a. story, fifty feet of the reel will not indicate if it is a tragedy or a cimedy. Twenty complete individual pictures pass the lens in a. second in a bioscope, and whilst each, picture is a complete picture only represents part of a motion. It is possible that I am trying to form an opinion of South Africa by only looking at part of the whole picture.”

PILGRIMS’ HYMN. . *

Writing to the Lyttelton Times &, Christchurch man says:—“When the passengers, by the first four ships were gathered together in London for embarkation, a special service was held, and a hymn composed for the occasion was sung. The music if my recollection is right, composed by Sir G. Martin, and the refrain was,“Canterbury Pilgrims. ”, Both, words and music were reproduced by either - the/Press Company of the Lyttelton, Times proprietary, at the time of Canterbury’s jubilee twenty-four years ago.” He asks if any of your readers lias a copy that they will either lend, give or ceil to the Canterbury Pilgrims’ Association ? It isV hoped to have it’ sung at the service to be held in the Cathedral on Anniversary 'Sunday.

PQET LAUREATE.

A correspondent' of the Waikato | Times forwards some extracts from a ! criticism; by J. Ord Hume on the subject of English and colonial hands. * Speaking in Australia he says: “Since i 1 was out here 22 years ago I find I band music much improved, especially in the B seetioiV, a ■ grade, as you call them out . here (_I don’t know why i 'grade’—it is the • wrong term altogether). The B bands have been remarkable for tone and precision and general ensemble. The class C bands were also very much better than I had expected them to be, though very likely those lojv in the prize list would have been better for ; professional tuition. The first three hands in B grade were equaT to anything we get in England. .They are really A class bands, and should be promoted—not graded— -to that class automatically I want to emphasise this. The only one who ‘grades’ a band is the band itself. If it wins a first or second place in a .8 contest it automatically qualifies for promotion, and on the same principle the two lowest should be reduced to C class, and the centre ones remain in B. The adjudicator's marks disclose the quality of the hand, and there is no need for an advisory board or anyone else to interfere. The promotion and reduction system would, "of course, apply to each section. It was a rnost . enjoyable contest all through,. and on the whole I was'very pleased with the work, • though, of .course, it was not all high class.” “Turning now to the soilowork,” continued Mr Ord Hume. “I would like to reiterate what I said in 1902, viz., that as a general rule the "oloists out here are the finest in the British Empire. My experience this ve'nr has verified that opinion. Australia is providing better* soloists than England is doing at present. I can remember giving 100 points only once in E-ngland, but out here on my previous visit I gave them to three competitors, f> eroy Jones, Percv Code, and. Buckley.”

TRAINING IN CHORAL MUSIC Mr. W. E. Oaldow, secretary of the Royal Wellington Choral Union, has •received from Mr. A. Thomson Wood (.secretary- of the Glasgow Choral Union), some interesting'particulars of 1111 cfvhomA for* vnoMiifiim

singers- for the choir of the union. The scheme takes the form of continuation classes a: the High School' of Glacgow,' held in co-operation with tlio Glasgow Choral l/nion. The session consists of, 2± weeks of two terms. 'the "first, year’ Ciass. is open to all young people of i i and over, and the second year class-, 'to those who have success-' Hilly completed the last year course. An outside examiner tests the efficiency of the students dt the end of ih> session and issues eerttfie.it.as to those who qualify. The course of study includes: —Staff notation, sight reading: Individual practice in reading ft. sight; ear-training exercises; dictation, etc. Voice production : Breathing, vowel production, .simple Solfeggi and scale exercises. Choral singing: The music -selected depends on the' size and formation of the classes, but chiefly consists of part songs, through which good tonal production and musi-r-i:l interpretation may be taught and developed. In the second ve-ar a choral class is aimed at. and the work out’inod above carried to a more advanced stage. Tbio scheme mi'h.t to wdrth a t-iad in Wellington and other centres. o*'ir conductors would welcome the re!icf from anxiety which the practical and shV-c«s«.ful no-era,t-ion of such a scheme would assure them-. I BEETHOVEN RiEL LGS. ( J

t 1 MANUSCRIPTS AND DRAFTS. j .. | i Some interesting publications deal-; nig with Beethoven’s life, his methods of composition, and the chronology of his works ate being issued by the Beethoven house in Bonn—pilgrimage of all true music-lovers travelling in Ger-many—-which contains the well-known B'etlioven relics. manuscripts, and scores.' Under the editorship of Dr. : t'-ohiedermayer, professor of musical j theory at 'the University of Bonn,; those manuscripts are being issued at- ' nig intervals, and a-re awaited with the greatest interest by Beethoven ■■students. The fust of them, published in 1920. contains >a document in which Beethoven drafts about the year 1827 izroipe-sed edition of his collected weeks. It also contains correspond- '• tee with the v nous publishers and the composers’ ideas on musical copymhU and i l ln mi nates, his social and j '.'BLtirnl conv-iotioh-s throughout his ui'o ps Rostrated hv the various j phases of his composition. In the second number, publish-sd in 1922, the

The Poet Laureate, who, celebrates his eightieth birthday recently., has had four octogenarians > among his fifteen predecessors since the days of Ben Jonson—Colley Cibber (86), Sir. William Davenant (82), Tennyson (83), and Wordsworth, who died just a. few days after his eightieth birthday. .Tennyson celebrated his fourscore years in characteristic fashion by planting a- rtelw Colorado pine in his garden at":'Aidworth . and . beginning a new poem, smoking hard, with a great basket of congratulatory letters and telegrams beside him, and on the table a mighty bouquet of eighty perfect l roses sent him by the Prifibess Frederica, A lew days afterwards he wrote. “Crossing the Bar.” It is on record that he assenjteld to hjisi son's exclamation about this .poem, “That is the crown ;of your life’s work,” and ordered that ,ic should be printed at the end of. all editions of his poem si The birthday presentation to Dr. Bridges of a clavichord is a reminder that he is the first of the long line of poet laureates-who, so far as we .can discover, has been an accomplished musician. ■ In this respect he would have had the envy of Tennyson, who, though >a great lover of music, wa.s without 'technical'knowledge or ■ skill! “I can feel the glory, though I cannot follow the music,” he once »said. “I know that I miss a. great deal bv not understanding it. It. often seems to me that music must take up expression at'{he point where poetry leaves ■ off, and express what cannot be ex.j oresried in words.” No technical

knowledge, . however, could hare inspired a more, perfect love than he distoayed in the famous couplet— Music flint gentlier on the spirit lies Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes. | wit iiTxet'ters. - i SNTPS FROM W. £, GILBERT. 1 __ ! Some new letters of great interest hy Sir W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan .fame, are printed m the “Gornihill Magazine” with explanatory notes by H. Rowland Brown and Rowland Grey. '! Here is an amusing note about the marriage of a certain lady: “Did you know ? She was married yesterday to , of the Eighteenth Hussars, with much pomp and ancientry. * 1 can’t understand why so much fuss is made over a partnership, ■ or rather. 1 don’t understand why the process should not be applied to all partnerships. It seems to me that the union, say, of Marshall and SnelI grove might and should have been celebrated in the same fashion. Marshall waiting at the altar for Snelgrove to arrive ■ (dressed in , summer stock I remnants), a oha.fr to walk in front of , ; Snelgrove, a bishop, and a dean (and " ja’.so a solicitor to ratify the deed of i partnership), and a bevy of coryphee i fit-ters-on to strew flowers . in their I path.” J In January, 190','. Gilbert, vrote to |a friend:— | “Now I’ve a ’itt.lo lit of news for

v ou It a profound secret, and .1. haven't told it to anyb-i-v, .my news is that has '<»■■•.missioned lord Knollys to find out whether I would accept a knighthood, and as 1 expressed my willingness to do so, it will. I suppose be conferred next May, when the birthday honours are announced. It is a tin-pot, twopennyhalfpenny sort of distinction, but as no dramatic author as such ever had it tor dramatic authorship alone, I felt T ought, not to refuse it. . .” A “COMMAND” PERFORMANCE. On July 1, 1907, he wrote as Sir William:— s “T went yesterday to the investiture at Buckingham Palace, and was duly tanned, on both shoulders by Edward vir and then kissed hands. I found my.elf politely described in the official list as Mr. William. Gilbert, playwright, suggesting that my work was analogical to that of a wheelwright, or a millwright, or a wainwright. or a shipwright, as , reo-ards the mechanical character of the precess by which cur respective results are achieved. There is an excellent word “dramat-

ist,” which seems to fit the situation, but it is not applied: until we are dead, and then we become dramatists as oxen, sheep, and pigs are transfigured into beef, mutton, and pork after their demise. You : never hear of. a novel-wright; or a: picture-wright, or a poem-w Tigh t; and why a playwright? When the ‘Gondoliers’ was commanded at Windsor' by her late Majesty, the piece was described as ‘by Sir Arthur Sullivan,’ the librettist being too: insignificant an insect to be: worth mentioning on a programme which contained the name of the wigmaker in bold type!” • ; . Gilbert’s mastery of ryme made him a great limerick writer. One guest said that Decima was a difficult name t 111 ""tV Gilbert wrote—“Theie vas a ju u i, LL.s Hi; ima.

Whose conduct was voted quite pessiiua;

But she mended at last, On the eve of the fast Of the Sunday called Septuagesima.’' “Dp vou know how they are going to decide the Shakespeare-Racon dispute?” writes Gilbert, having a tilt at \the late Sir Beerbohm Tree. “They: are going to dig up Shakespeare arid dig up Bacon: they are going to set their coffins side by side, and they are going to iset Tree to recite ‘Hamlet’ to them, and the one who turns in his coffin first will be the author of the play.”