A MUSICAL RENAISSANCE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19057, 9 July 1924, Page 11

A MUSICAL RENAISSANCE.

Commenting on the fact that three distinct Operatic organisations are to be at work in London during the present season, the Morning Post asks: who dare say in future that the London public is not musical? We admit that the present season is an exceptional one, and that a large number of overseas visitors may be expected in out midst. But they are not coining primarily to listen to Mozart, Wagner, and the other masters, and the ambitious organisations which'are launching these ventures must count, to a considerable extent, on the permanent public of old London. Such, an expectation, we are assured, is not a vain one. Musically, London is looking up. An extraordinary amount of public interest is devoted to music, and in all kinds of indirect ways the musical education of the masses is being pursued. And opera is, after all, one of the most charming, and ought to be one of the most popular, vehicles of mulsi&il expression. There is so much sheer noise in modern life that good music is becoming mote and more a refuge for all sensitive minds and ears. The mote persistent our modern mechanical triumphs the greater reaction, then, thefre ought to be towards music. Perhaps, therefore, we are entitled to look upon this embarrassment of musical riches not as manifestations of internecine competition, but as a serious attempt to meet a demand for music on the part of the British Empire. But is it not a pity that OUr national drama, more particularly Shakespeare, is not able to make as brave a show ?