A MUSIC EDUCATIONIST.
RETIREMENT OF MR. ROBERT PARKER.
"Treble Clef" writes:— I note that Mr. Robert Parker has intimated that ho will not be available for tho position of conductor of tho Wellington Musical -Union, and that tho Union intend to honour him with a complimentary performance of "The Golden Legend." So much for the union, but if this means Mr. Parker's retirement as a choral conductor in Wellington, something more than what is-proposed should bo <lone. To Robert Parker Wellington owes more than it can ever pay. Without disparaging, tho work of the union, its conductor's work must not be judged on what has been done recently. One must travel back over tho past thirty years and more to tho very beginnings of music in this city. Ho is the man who has "blazed the track" in tho 6phero of oratorio music, and given most of us our first impressions of all the big classical oratorios and cantatas. -One cannot forget, for instance, tho great festival held in tho Opera Houso some 14 or 15 years ago, when Charles Saunders, A. H. Geo, and Madame Bristow.sang in "Tho Spectre's Bride," "Israel in Egypt," "The Golden Legend," and "Elijah." Thai, was a great occasion, and set a new standard in the performance of such works in Wellington. Those were great nights for Robert Parker, and well ho deserved all tho praise he got. As teacher, church organist, choirmaster, conductor of fho Wellington Liedertafel, and an earnest, dignified, and capable devotee of the best music, Mr. Parker valued and loved his art too well to have ever degraded .it ever soilittle. . J think that his retirement should be honoured by a farewell festival at which the members of all.choral societies would bo invited to take part, either as separate societies, or in one body, and at the same time a testimonial of some kind setting forth tho city's appreciation of the man's work might be presented to Mr. Parker. Such is the least the municipal public of Wellington should do in a good worker's honour.
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Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1387, 13 March 1912, Page 6
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344A MUSIC EDUCATIONIST. Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1387, 13 March 1912, Page 6
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