CHESTNUT TREE GOES CLASSICAL
The Czech composer, Jaromir Weinberger, has written a Fugue and Variations on "Under the Spreading Chestnit Tree." It was presented recently in Australia, by Antal Dorati and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and listeners in New Zealand will probably hear it in due time- Here, in the words of its composer, is how it came to be written: "A newsreel," says Weinberger, "was my inspiration. In the summer of 1938 I went to a movie. In the newsreels nowadays you usually see dictators and very few honest people, so I was surprised to see something agreeable. I saw a Boys’ Camp in England, many young people, and among them, in democratic simplicity, His Majesty the King. He was dressed in the same kind of sweater as his young subjects and he joined them in the singing and laughing. They sang a wonderful old folk tune. The song had not only very thrilling words, but an amazing, wonderful tune; it is a so-called Gesture Song. At several points the music suddenly stopped, and His British Majesty, with his loyal subjects, clapped his hands, jumped to his feet, and started a pantomime — finally joining again in singing the tune to ‘its end. I liked this whole scene very much and I said to myself: ‘This is the theme on which you, Jaromir, shall write Variations and a Fugue.’"
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 55, 12 July 1940, Page 38
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229CHESTNUT TREE GOES CLASSICAL New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 55, 12 July 1940, Page 38
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