MUSICAL TOUR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9221, 25 May 1910, Page 2

MUSICAL TOUR.

SHEFFIELD CHOIR'S VISIT TO THE OVERSEA STATES:-

DR. HARRISS'S PLANS

Everything is now arranged for Di Harriss's great musical festiva throughout the Empire which is t< take place next year. Dr Harms ha, now returned from his tour of -th< Oversea States, and in conversatioi .vitli a representative of a JJ°mt japer gave details of this remarkabu nusical enterprise. He said:— Ml Jie time we sail from England, u L9ll it will have taken me just tei /ears to get round the world wit! iiv project and to settle the details But, mind you, this coming tour is iot the end for which all these yeai. [ have been working. It is only tin nitial step, the ' foundation-stone leremony' of musical reciprocity witn n the Empire." . When first announced the idea 01 ;aking a chorus of 200 voices roiinc he world seemed like a scheme of z nadman. But during the last si> nonths reports have come fiom th( Oversea Dominions testifying to tn< leartiness and enthusiasm with whicl 3r Charles Harriss's project has beei •eceived. Everywhere the Canadiai —he might be called Imperial—-musi-jian has met with whole-hearted sup )ort not only from professional ant imateur music-lovers, but from pro nincnt civic and administrative au-

thorities. Not content' with any written or cabled assurances of good will, uv Harriss, with his accustomed eneigy and thoroughness, has visited the various countries of the Empire himself to ascertain the true feeling towards his idea and to sow the seed of artistic union. On every side he found not only a passive, but an astonishingly active interest m Dr Harriss intends to sail about the last week of March, 1911, with 200 members of the Sheffield. Chon tor Canada. With them rfl go th® well-known choirmaster, Di Hen y Coward, -who, together with JJr Harriss, will conduct jointly the festivals to he given. EMPIRE ITINERARY.

All being well, the tour will take about six months, the choir r®t u rnmg at the end of September. 'The Oversea Dominions will be visited .in the following order-.—Canada, New Zealand Tasmania, Australia, and bouth Africa, and from Cape Colony home, disembarking at Southampton. In London, before the chorus is dispersed, a concert will Jbe given by the travel-stained choristers. Roughly speaking, a month will be spent in each country, though a longer stay will be made m Canada and Australasia, in the continent the visit extending to 6b days. With the choir will go some orchestral players, several prominent soloists, and a double vocal quartet party. But both the choralists and the instrumentalists will be augmented m many places by local forces; for certain works, such as _ Messiah and "Eliiah," thus bringing about that artistic intercourse between British music-lovers which is the basis of Dr Harris's reciprocity scheme. Not a note of music will be necessary in the hands of the members ot the visiting chorus during the tour, for the whole of the repertory is to be sung from memory. It has been said that the Sheffield Chorus could give a week's festival from the works already stored in their mmds. Certainly the programme of the Projected tour points to the truth of this. The repertory will include The Messiah," "Elijah," "Golden Legend, El car's "Dream of Gerontius, and "The Kingdom," Verdi's "Requiem, Berlioz's "Faust," Bach's "B mmor Mass" and "Sing Ye" Parry s Blest 'Pair of Sirens, Stanford s The Revenue," Cliffe's "North-East nd > and°Dr Harriss's "Pan" and Sands of Dee " A selection of madrigals, <dees. and modern part-songs by Mackenzie. Parry, Stanford, Corder, Elcrar, Failing, Bantock, Broughton, Coward, Harriss, and others will also be included in the British choralists "travelling stock. ' Before Dr Harris left England last summer there were 537 applicants for the 200 places in Dr Coward s chorus. The tour will cost over £00,000. not a shilling of which is guaranteed beforehand" to Dr Harriss by Oversea States. ■