MUSIC AND BOMBS

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20734, 18 February 1939, Page 28 (Supplement)

MUSIC AND BOMBS

CONDITIONS IN WAR-TIME SPAIN ; The extent to which music continues . to temper Spa-in s third year of civil I war is regarded as an encouraging j aspect of the situation, says the Uhristian Science Monitor's Valencia correspondent. Here, recently, the Municipal urelieslra, interrupted by •he air-raid siren, bowed to demands from the audience and concluded the last movement of Beethoven's Fourth j Symphony while bombs exploded less than two k lometres from the theatre. 1 An ovation to the conductor, Jose Manuel Izquiordo, and his 80 instru- : menialists was led personally by General Jose Miaja. Commander of the Central Zone's Republican forces. This orchestra's winter season of ; weekly concerts started on October 2, i and similar activity, is maintained by | Perez Casa’s National Orchestra in Barcelona, and the Madrid Municipal j Orchestra. Catalonia's noted choirs : are still appreciated in their home province, and around Valencia, the celebrated village bands, one of which recently took an international prize, are in regular demand. Several bands have been distributed along the various fronts where they are acclaimed by the soldiers. In Valencia, the Council of Music of the Ministry of Education is the organisation in which both composers I and publishers are centralised, and ; the council's de luxe editions of i patriotic song books and general musij cal scores arc a paradoxical reflection !on war-ridden conditions. At the I city's Conservatory, too, though the i majority of students are away at the | front, the professors still retain their | employment at a minimum monthly salary of 5000 pesetas about £SO at the official exchange rate). Music In the Schools In the schools of Central Spain a plan is beiii: to make the sol-fa system of note-reading an ob- ; ligatory study; the development of a i sense of music in children from school ! age, it is argued, is an educational : essential. It is natural that the patriotic j mood should mark much of contem- ; j porary Spanish composition. Ex- i temporisation is a favourite pastime I of the soldier, and folk-lore melodies ; particularly come in for a broad de- j gree of individual adaptation. Many young composers are bending their \ talents to the nurturing of s new 1 patriotic idiom, among them Rodolfo Halffter and Carlos Palacio, whose j “Companies of Steel" is spoken of as ; 1 Spanish "Tipperary.” But mostly 1m ! provisation on established tunes is the j familiar course. | The typically national “Flaminco" I music finds wide expression among the masses of the people. In tlv streets, cafes and hotels, trains, tram and workshops of the towns and villages, individual exponents of this al most Arabic-flavoured music are al ways to be heard. Radios and prramo phones are rarely available for pub! '■ entertainment, so that these unselfconscious skills of isolated person are the main source on which th Spaniard must rely for his amusemcn