SUNDAY CONCERTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 232, 1 October 1943, Page 4

SUNDAY CONCERTS

THE holding of Sunday concerts is to be commended and the Wanganui City Council has decided aright to allow the use of the Opera House for this purpose. People wish to have entertainment and recreation on Sunday and it is desirable that this sliould.be provided in the city. It is not possible for all to cater for themselves in this respect. The idea that because it is a Sunday concert it should be free is not to be supported by logic, for that which is lightly secured is little valued. A free concert is never a satisfactory effort because the audience doesn’t put a value on the work of those who contribute to the programme. This engenders a wrong attitude from the start. The voluntary contribution is usually an involuntary insult to those who have given of their art. There is no reason at all why the concert should not be provided for those who, by paying for admission, prove their desire to enjoy that which is to be provided. Further, the idea that no one should make a profit out of a Sunday effort is also to be deprecated. An artistic performance requires a long period of preparation and training which, in turn, implies a heavy outlay of money on the part of the artist or, in some fortunate eases, a foregoing of opportunities for self-advance-ment. There is no reason why an artist should immolate himself in order to provide a Roman or a Sunday holiday. But what of the day? Is Sunday to be turned into a working day? It would be a sorry result if this were to come about, and the public would soon be the loser if the character of Sunday were lost. The rule of one day’s rest in seven is not a meaningless taboo but a very sound common-sense proposition, as many people find out only too late in their lives. It is as well, too, if the majority of the people take their day of rest on the same day of the week. The fewer people who are called upon to work on Sunday the better it is for all concerned. True the Sabbath was made for man, net man for the Sabbath; but that is authority for treating the Sabbath as a Sabbath and not as another week dey. The man who does not include in his Sabbath some spiritual exercise misses the chief value of the day. It is well to keep the Sabbath complete, whole, holy. Then only docs the day fall into a proper key. Councillor Broad spoke a true saying when he said that an unsuitable programme put on at the Opera House is a reflection upon the City Council, but it is also a reflection on the city as well. Councillor Searle went direct to the point when he said that “Sacred music is all right at Sunday concerts but not the ordinary ragtime stuff that they have at these concerts.” He could have gone further and said that the employment of the obvious double entendre should not be tolerated at such concerts, and that this quality of humour should be debarred from all programmes on Sunday nights. The City Council, however, might take a positive line in this matter. Instead of taking steps to prevent the repetition of vulgarities which degrade the audience that listens to them, why not. engage in a positive campaign to uplift the standard of public taste in music as it is doing in the realm of pictorial art? There are good choristers, solo vocalists and instrumentalists in the city who could and would provide excellent concerts. If the City Council will encourage them it is reasonable to assume that some fine work could be accomplished at the Opera House on Sunday evenings. Such artistic efforts would harmonise with the atmosphere of a well kept Sunday and would be a source of comfort and inspiration to the members of the audience. A laxity of public morals and a degradation of taste are common phenomena in wartime, but that makes all the more important the employment of the expulsive power of a new affection.