A MATTER OF SELF-SACRIFICE.

New Zealand Tablet, 19 April 1917, Page 47

A MATTER OF SELF-SACRIFICE.

To the Editor. Sir, — may appear to ‘ Layman ’ that I am ‘ very much ’ perturbed ac the ‘ slight ’ insinuations made. That such is not the case 1 can readily assure him. Let me answer ‘ Layman’s 5 question concerning ‘ . . . Catholic men and women who are connected with our school and church committees asking tlie parish priest, at the end of the year for a fee, not for one night’s work . . . ’by asking another one ! Would ‘ Layman’ ask these men and women to travel from Auckland to Wellington or from Dunedin to Wellington, do the work required of them, and then expect them to return the preferred fee? What is going to keep the home fire burning? Again, many of these paid St. Patrick’s concert performers are among those who work in the obscurity of the parish hall (in their own town), and they have worked for years in the cause of charity without fee. 1 do not wish to say very much on the charity question nor yet on the religious teachers, because 1 am afraid that ‘Layman,’ like Henry VIII. and his coteries Cranmer and Cromwell,’ does not find the truth very palatable.

Again ' Layman ’ says he knows of a parish where a Catholic doctor performs acts of charity. So do I, but ask these doctors to proceed to a surgical operation 200 miles away, and expect them to return their fees ! No thanks, Mr. Layman ! Furthermore our Catholic performers are not usually in such good circumstances as our Catholic doctors.

‘ Layman ’ lets his imagination carry him away when he says ‘ Concert-goer practically confesses that he has no knowledge of the large centres, otherwise he would be loud in his praise of the sports and tableaux,’ etc., etc. In my first letter I said 1 have no intention of dealing with sports or the part the religious take in them. I have had a large experience of St. Patrick’s concerts in both Wellington and Christchurch, but I have not seen the tableaux referred to. I have, however, heard in Dunedin at these concerts a choir of boys excellently trained in choral work, which showed the careful training of a scholarly musician. In Wellington and Christchurch I have heard some fine choral ■work by juvenile choirs which reflects great credit on the work of the teachers. I can assure ‘ Layman ’ that I have spent some 14 or 15 years in organ work and choir conducting without even a thought of remuneration.

What length of time have I led ‘ Layman ’ to believe the * professional accompanist ’ spends ‘ brushing up * the ‘ professional singer ’ ? ‘ Layman ’ uses the ‘professional singer.’ I distinctly w r rote: ‘Very often an accompanist has to spend a considerable time rehearsing the performers.’ This is quite a different matter to a professional accompanist ‘ brushing up ’ a professional singer. Truly ‘ Layman’s ’ desire must bo to insult the professional singer. This ‘ brushing up ’ may take place in the large centres like Wanganui. A rehearsal between singer and accompanist is not only desirable but necessary to secure a good sympathetic understanding. It would take quite three hours for an accompanist (professional) to go through the songs of say six vocalists (allowing that each performer appears twice, i.e. on both parts of the programme, and receives an encore). This would mean 6i- minutes for each song and a slight respite for the accompanist.

With Layman ’ I give the greatest credit to the workers in every parish, but I can assure him that the life of vocalists—unless they be of the Melba, Caruso, or Kirkby Lunn typeis by no means a sinecure, not to mention the life of the teacher of the pianoforte.

they suitable for an Irish concert. ‘ Kxllaruey ’ is a song of sweet memories. In conclusion, wherever I have anything to do with St. Patrick’s concerts, I will try to give Catholic performers a fee to assist them in making up the monetary loss occasioned by their coming a distance to help us augment our school fund. In these small centres we find giving fees to good performers greatly increases the school fund.—l am, etc., Concert-goer.