LIBERTIES WITH SCORE

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 27 February 1935, Page 10

LIBERTIES WITH SCORE

ADMIRER’S INDIGNATION

ANECDOTE FROM EERLOIS Lovers of a composer’s work would suffer no liberties to be takpn with his score in the ISoO’s, according to one of many amusing anecdotes told in W. J. Turner’s recently published biography of Hector Berlioz, "The Great Romantic.”

~ Berlioz and his friends were great admirers of Gluck and used to attend in a body ail performances of Gluck’s operas. If a member of the audience talked during the overture near them, one would say aloud this pre-arranged phrase: "Heaven blast those musicians who prevent me from hearing this gentleman.” They were on the look-out for any wilful alteratious in the score, and Berlioz did not wait to protest in writing, but would accuse the performers in a loud and indignant voice in. face of the public. Once, having noticed in a performance of the Scythian Dance from "Iphigenia in Tauris’’ that cymbals had been added, whereas Gluck used only strings, lie cried out in a short pause with all the power of his lungs: "There are no cymbals here; who has dared to improve Gluck?” A later mutilation was also similarly noticed. The astonishment of the public was noth?ng to the rage of flic orchestra and the conductor, yet at later performances- everything was put right. Mr Turner, who is nothing if not ardent in his support of Berlioz, adds in his new bio graph}', referring to a proposed production of Berlioz’s opera "Les Trozcns”: "I hope that if there is any attempt to present a mutilated version at Covent Garden, there will be young artists in the auditorium who will tear the house to pieces in tlieit spontaneous and righteous rage.”