The Star. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7,1906. THE EXHIBITION ORCHESTRA

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8797, 7 December 1906, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1906. THE EXHIBITION ORCHESTRA

s The scant patronage offered to the Exhibition orchestra continues to form the subject for general comment. At the Exhibition progresses, the attend* ances at the orchestral concerts in. the Concert Hall, if anything, show a fur* ther depreciation. Once or twioeduring the present week, for instancej the con? certs have been attended by not morf than seventy persons. Naturally, th»" position is causing the Exhibition authorities the gravest concern. Not only is the orchestra, failing to fulfil the ©b> ject for which it was assembled, but, | from a financial point 'of view> it is an unexpected drain on the exchequer. Nobody anticipated that the orchestra would be profit-earning, but it waft generally expected that, even if it did not pay it 6 way, the jdeficit would be slight. Instead of a 6mall deficit, however, the authorities are called upon to face a very large weekly loss. In view of this fact, they are casting about for means, to render the orchestra more popular. Among .the remedies suggested is that of splitting it up into detachment* and stationing the groups in^ different" corridors to give free promenade concerts. As far as making the concerts free is concerned, the proposal has our. heartiest support ; but we sincerely hope that the division of the orchestra will not be carried out. If the authorities desire to increase the number of free concerts, by all means let them do co. As a matter of fact, we advocated this step before the opening of the Exhibition, and' we still think that it w«6 a mistake to attempt to make the concerts self-supporting. The chief function of the orchestra is educational, and it should be the aim of the authorities to attract to the concerts as large audiences as possible, irrespective of whether they pay an entrance fee or. not. But if . the orchestra is to fulfil this function, it must be maintained as a whole. To scatter it throughout the corridors would be to practically put and end to its existence as a grand orchestra, and consequently to minimise its educative value. It would be far better to boldly accept the fact that the orchestra will not pay under any. circumstances, and to sacrifice the small revenue derived from it in an honest •endeavour to widen the sphere of its usefulness. Doubtless Mdlle Dolores is right in saying that the concerts would pay better if there were fewer of them, but even then the loss would be very great. On the other hand, the deficit would not be much larger than it is now if the concerts were all thrown open to the public free of charge, while there is ample reason to believe that the audiences would materially increase. Ac a result, the orchestra would" no longer be compelled to suffer the daily ordeal of playing to empty benches, While its value as an educative force would bs considerably enhanced. '