THOSE FIDDLERS.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 84, 4 July 1928, Page 4

THOSE FIDDLERS.

TO THE EDITOR ' f ‘; Sir—The mystery of, the fiddleijs remains unsolved. I was very pleas- f y ed to read the letter which, appeared-** in the “post” some .weeks ago,, as it entirely express niy views on the subject; and I was waiting with, considerable interest to see, if .any of the fiddlers would come along and, .contribute something, to-jih© Apparently, however, the fiddlers, are inodest, but it would not be right to let the matter rest where it is, mere]y because the fiddlers are not inclined to rush into print. It would be interesting to myself, and, ’no doubt, to a great many more who are interested in the musical progress of the town, to read the views of one of the fiddlers on the blatter. It would be very unfair to say that Stmtford is lacking in persons gifted in performing on strings. ‘ The fact ig that the town could probably produce as many of these’persons as any town of its size in thb ! country.. It does not sound nice to ’that fhe Combined Choirs gave us' an inebnv pleto performance in the Twelfth Mass. But such, in niy humbleopinion, is the bare fact;. ,That> work called for orchestral (as well as .vocal work. lam far ; from saying that the human voice cannot give a„ ..complete performance of a work- There . are works written, which have no orchestral accompaniment. They‘ are written in such a manner that they 'are complete with the human voice oii~ ly. To give them orchestral accompaniment would be to spoil.them- On •the other hand there are works,, with the object of being accompanied by an orchestra, and .if there ,ii§, no,t an adequate orchestral accompaniment they cannot be regarded' as ‘ complete. I seriously put forward " the proposition that certain works have orchestral accompaniment—that ' 'they are written with the volume of-vocal tone designed ag .the finishing, touch on a big volume of orchestral sound. Nobody can deny that the fiddle tone is the ground of the orchestral volume ; and v therefore, if the Twelfth Mass is to be presented in a comr pete form, there must be a full set of fiddles to make up the" volume of .sound which the composer had flb. mind. Further, it is A 'deplorahle thing to give' Mozart’ written for orchestral without such accompaniment. There are probably works of ’ the sorb by other composers which; as prchfegtrat- . ed, may sound better t|ie ’qychestra; but Mozart Was a master of orchestration, and, I think it is safe to say, the fiddle tone waS alwaWs.in Jiis mind in orchestmtioh; The "fiddle and the human voice are complementary, and mutually assistiveand to present a Mozart vocal-' orchestral work without adequate ;■ orchestral .tone is much the same as diking ■* masterpiece of painting, cutting it across from corner to - corner and asking the public to acclaim either 1 half as a complete masterpiece- Let ua give due credit to the human Voice, let us give every possible credit to the members of the Combined Choirs for their sterling workhut lot ns not overlook tile fact that certain works tore vocal-orchestral and not purely vocal, and can only be completely and adequately rendered with the help of an orchestra, of a size prW portioned to the volume of vocal sound. From than positjoni there naturally arises a call for ,fiddles to assist the Combined Choirs, and here, therefore, am I, a second voice calling in the wilderness to know why the fiddles do not show tip. The Combined Choirs are now practising choruses from “The Messiah” and if these are to be properly rendered a full orchestra is required. The orchestration of . “The Messiah” shows plainly, no less tW“- w «i the case with the Twelfth Mass, that.it w written with a full set of fiddles in view, and it is to be hoped that,-before the Combined Choirs give those choruses publicly an endeavour, will made to get together as many fiddles as possible, so that the work may ; be presented in its complete fullness, ot beauty.—X am, etc. W CROCHET. Stratford, July 3rd, 1928.