CITY ORCHESTRA

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 881, 29 July 1910, Page 6

CITY ORCHESTRA

■ A CHORUS OF PROTEST. SOME INTERESTING CORRESPONDENCE. . .Mr. Maugban Barnett's sohenic for the establishment of a municipal orchestra does not meet with tho approval of certain of Urn 'existing musical societies, and their opposition. found expression in some interesting correspondence, which was read at last night's meeting of the Wellington City Council. Musical Union's Protest. ■ The secretary of , the Wellington Musical Union wrote that at a meeting of his ...committee-the following resolution was adopted:— "That the committee of the . Wellington Musical Union views irith alarm tho proposed formation of umunicipal uixlicsua, as outlined by .Mr. Maughan Harriett: It feels that us there are already five musical so-, eictics in Wellington, which give, in the iiggregate, between 10 and 50 concerts i! 3liar--each of which has great difficulty in raising sufficient funds, to meet its liabililier.-that tho city is more than well snpplicd with music of this character." ' The wriler went on to slate that if the council saw fit to compete with the societies already in existence, the latter would requir) to'cease operations. It would be a grout pity if the old-established "Wellington Orchestral Society, which had the finest librur- in New Zealand, and was just beginning operations under an able conductor, wcio forced to compete against a municipal orchestra. Mr. Barnctt was reported to have said in reply to Councillor Shirloliffe that he hatf the support of musical societies. This statement was misleading, because ncithor the Wellington Orchestral Society nor the Musical Union had been approached upon l.he matter directly'or indirectly. Mr. Barnett was also reported to have said that it would be a great nilvantago to liiivu an orchestra, always trained, and they (the choral societies) would be able to engage individual performers for their own conceits. It would he impossible to expect these orchestral performers to attend choral society rehearsals in addition to practises, for their own fortnightly municipal concerts. It was very hard even now for the. Musical Union to get orchestral players to . attend rehearsals, nnd if tho proposed orchestra were formed it would be impossible for them to liivf ''.oucerls at all.- The union had paid tho council £65 per annum sineu 190-1, toJ.-.lliiJK .C:iso, for t!ie use of the hall. It was'largely due to the. persistent efforts of the Musical Union and Orchestral Society that a Town. Hall .vras decided upon. If_the municipal orchestra scheme wero adopted, these two societies would inevitably become things of thepast. They wero satisfied Hint Uie uentiumen who were willing'to become guarantors would, after viewing the societies' statement of the question, be the last In support the proposal. A similar letter of protest was received from the Wellinirtou Professional Orchestra. Mr. Barnctt in Reply.

At the committee's request, Jlr. Barnett was asked to reply to Mr. Lewis's letter. Ho questioned whether anything like 40 or 50 concerts were giv«n in the year by nnjp five local . musical societies, and pointed out that the number of musical performances would not increased by the operations of the prono.scl municipal orchestra, since they would, when gi.vmi,, take the place of the usual organ recital iu that particular neck. As to the difficulty, stated by the committee of the union, oi the existing socielits raising «ifficiont funds to meet their liabilities,.Mr. Barnett pointed out that so far as tho Wellington Choral Society was concerned the average excess of receipts over expenditure during tho last three ycnre was .£4O. The statement that "the city was already well supplied with musio of this character" was, if it referred to the better class of orchestral music, absurd. Tho fact that Mr. barker, the conductor of tho Musical Union, was in sympathy with the proposal, and was a guarantor, seemed to Mr. Barnett to alford sufficient evidence that lie, .at all events, did not consider the establishment of such a municipal orchestra would bo at all detrimental to his society. \ The Choral Snciety did not 'seem to view a municipal orchestra with alarm since it had guaranteed twenty guineas. As to the Wellington Orchestral Society, during the last three or four years it ha<l, so far as he remembered, given one concert and assisted in two or three more. Mr. Lewis did not state that lie was authorised by: tho committee of hie society to make a protest. Dr. FyiTo, the president of tho Orchestral Society, was an enthusiastic supporter of the municipal orchestra proposal, and n guarantor. . • ■ • ■ The Discussion. InmoTing: "That before tho formal sanction of tho couucil is given to tho establishment of a municipal orchestra tho city organist bo asked to submit full details of the proposal for the consideration of the couucil,", Councillor Shirtcliffo said that in advancing this motion his desire was that the council should not commit itself without due consideration. His doubt still was as it was when tho proposal was advanced as to whether tho establishment of a imuiicipul orchestra would bo to the detriment of existing societies supported by private effort. Now they had protests from two such societies. He did not want the societies at present carried on by tho voluntary subscriptions. of the public squeezed but by the municipal orchestra. This looked to him like an attempt tc get tho hall free. The council gat two or throe hundred pounds in rent from the existing societies," -and if they were squeezed out this revenue would disappear. They could not be reasonably asked to"do.more, especially at the risk of killing some of these other societies. Ho did not see how the town of Wellington was going to support any . more musical organisations than at' present. It was finally decided that the matter bo referred to the Finance Committee for a report, to be considered at tho next meeting of the council.