Sir Henry Wood's Record

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23181, 29 October 1938, Page 20 (Supplement)

Sir Henry Wood's Record

JUBILEE AS CONDUCTOR [FBOM OUB OWN COBBESPONDENT] LONDON, October 15 Sir Henry Wood's jubilee as a conductor was marked by the unveiling of a" bust, at the Queen's Hall, by Mr. Donald Gilbert. Sir Walford Davies, performing tho ceremony, remarked that Sir Henry took up his abode at Queen's Hall in 18,.'5 "as a kind of. benignant musical monarch, who mobilised his orchestra! battalions in the service of tho public." Since then, no fewer than 3000 promenade, nearly 600 symphony and 1000 Sunday concerts had been given by him. This was a terrific record. With tho outstanding gift of punctual preparedness, Sir Henry was punctilious about detail, and was a man of foreground as well as of horizon. His influence upon tho younger musicians would bo undying. Through him hundreds of first performances had been given in England,' and his work for young musicians was amazing. In the provinces, too, his influence was great. Only a man of tho greatest self-dis-ciplino could have done all this. "Humble Gratitude" Sir Henry quoted the Poet Laureate, who, unveiling a plaque to William Henry Davies, said that too often poets were not regarded until they had been 50 years in their graves. They brought their gifts of joy and askfed for bread for the world, and the world, too late, gave them a memorial stone. "In his reply," Sir Henry continued, "Davies said, 'That I have dared to stand as a living witness of my own glorification has made me feel so uncomfortable that I have been trying to persuade myself that I am nothing but a spirit I» To-day, when I quote these men of letters who can say in words what I can only hope to express through the medium of music, I have not an orchestra with me. To be present at my own glorification fills me with humble gratitude too deep to express. Early Wish to Sing The British Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra has handed to Sir Henry Wood a cheque for 100 guineas for his jubilee fund, to be used to endow hospital beds for orchestral musicians Of Sir Henry it is written: His earliest desire was to sing until his music teacher said to him: "You would make a much better conductor. You have tho real conductor's voice; the kind that will go through a brick wall!" But at 12 he was already earning money as an organist, and with his spare cash began collecting scores for a private music library which, containing several thousand works, is now one of the finest collections in the world. In his leisure he paints landscapes.