'EXPURGATING' THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS'

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2143, 8 May 1914, Page 8

'EXPURGATING' THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS'

THE DEAN OF PETERBOROUGH IN DEFENCE. With regard to the omissions-from the "Dream of Gerontius" required by the Dean, and Chanter of Peterborough Cathedral and the consequent refusal of Mr. Gervaso Elnr.cs (a Roman Catliolk') to sing, tlio Dean wroto to the "Times" that no "new Bowdlcrising atrocity" was being perpetrated.. He cnid:—"When in September last we "accepted tho 'Dream'" for a festival service in this Cathedral, wo took it : for granted that weiwbro giving our general consent to nothing moro than had been improved at other Erifiliah cathedrals. In November wo stipulated that tho version used should bo the same as had been ,printed, for,, the., Gloucester Cathedral Festival Inst ..voar. "There is milch to lie said for tho inviolability of any classic, and everybody will respect, while some mav applaud, the scruple , oj the very distinguished tenor who had undertaken the part of Gerontins. _ But that there is room for two opinions is evidenced by the fact (as I know it,to he), that he has already acquiesced'in'and sung a modified wording on more than one occasion, and at Gloucester Cathedral the same wording as has been adopted here. We ore bound to remember that the service must ho not only a performance, but an net "of worship'; and wo-know that re'fehtioii of "the-exact wor(]s which Car'din'fil Newman wrote would he a sourcn of pain and misgiving to many whoso feelings and whose beliefs arc entitled to our consideration."