THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 77, 13 December 1940, Page 6

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

HEN Maurice Clare has done with his two appear- . ances in next week’s programmes, South Island listeners may expect to hear him at close range. He conducts the NBS String Orchestra in the concert which features Max Pirani on Tuesday, December 17, and will lead the combined NBS String and 2YA Concert orchestras under Andersen Tyrer in the public concert on December 21. Although final details are still to be announced, it is expected that this fine violinist will be in Christchurch to broadcast from 3YA on December 29, January 1, and January 8; and in Dunedin for broadcasts from 4YA studio on January 5 and 6. National Service The National Service talks continue to bring a succession of interesting New Zealanders to the microphone, and during the next fortnight variety will be added by a series of talks about war savings. One to be heard shortly will be given by J. Doogan, Insurance Employees’ Secretary, who will treat war savings from the point of view of an insurance against

the double risk of failing to provide soldiers with adequate armament ard neglecting to provide for reconstruction after the war. The morning sessions at 11.30 will feature leading personalities in the Women’s War Service Auxiliary. Mrs. Knox Gilmer, Mrs. Harry Jowett, Mrs. W. H. Cocker, and Miss Mabel Howard, have already spoken over the air, Mrs. Robert Semple and Mrs. Mackay Begg will be heard in the near future. Arrangements are also being made for a number of women workers in the movement to relate their experiences. Second Resting Place Thirty or forty years ago there was no serious recitation more popular than the one which began: "A little while ago I stood by the grave of the great Napoleon, a marvellous structure of gilt and gold...." and ended " And I said, I would rather have been a poor French peasant, with my wife by my side and knitting as the day dies out of the sky. I would rather have been that man, and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust, than to have been that

ae dy "Ste a, -_-= -- 7 --- se * Imperial personation of force and murder, known as-WNapoleon the Great." The grave referred to is Napoleon’s second tomb, and he was re-buried there, in Paris, a hundred years ago this month. The story of the removal of Napoleon’s ‘body from St. Helena, and its re-inter-ment in Paris with great ceremony, will be told in a talk prepared by L. D. Austin, to be given at 1YA on Sunday afternoon next, December 15. Brains Here, Brains There While we are holding our end up in the programmes with Bernard Magee’s series "New Zealand Brains Abroad," the rest of the world is making it clear that there is at least a fair exchange of talent. Friedman has been and gone. Heddle Nash is back from Australia. Andersen Tyrer and his wife are by now fixtures in the local scene. And visiting musical examiners, made available by permission for use in NBS broadcasts, are keeping up the tally. Clive Carey, whose singing of English songs was so much appreciated during the all too brief visits he was able to make to the studios, and Max Pirani, are among those who remind us of Friedman’s advice that we should import as much musical talent as we can while the fortunes of war make it so readily available. Pirani’s next broadcast comes from 2YA at 8.18 p.m.

on Sunday, December 15. On the Tuesday he will play with the NBS String Orchestra. Festive Season? The season of plum puddings, mince pies and indigestion is once more close at hand, and once again we can expect such seasonal disturbances as _ carol singers and jokes about the girl who still thought there was a Santa Claus. Entertainment is also inclined to assume a seasonal atmosphere, and already radio

sets throughout the land are beginning to announce that Good King Wesceslas Looked Out. In tune with this mood, the ZB stations are releasing a programme entitled, "Songs of the Seasons," which will be starting from 1ZB, 2ZB and 3ZB on Tuesday, December 17, at 10.30 am. and will be on the air every morning from Mondays to Fridays during the Christmas and New Year seasons. Besides the familiar old carols and songs which are sung every year at Christmas in every country of the world, the programme will introduce listeners to many little known carols. Super " Sing "

Audience participation in concerts featuring such artists as Heddle Nash is certainly no common thing. A Wellington audience will have that rare privilege at a charity concert which 2YA will broadcast on Saturday, December 21, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (with a break for the news, as usual, from 8.57 to 9.25). Under Andersen Tyrer’s baton, Heddle Nash and Mrs. Tyrer (violin) will be featured with a mixed choir and the combined 2YA and NBS String Orchestras. Most of the programme will be filled with items by these, but before the end the choir and orchestra and principals will lead the audience in the mass singing of patriotic songs and Christmas Carols. Bohemians It would be interesting to speculate as to the number of small choirs on this planet which call themselves "The Bohemians." The number would surely be extraordinarily large. And why do they call themselves Bohemians? Because the first small musical organisations of this type were formed in Bohemia? Or because Bohemians are usually Bohemian sort of people, fond of cakes and ale? Whatever the reason, and however many there are in the world, it is good to know that Wellington has its Bohemians too, ‘and additionally welcome news is that "The Bohemians" will play a prominent

part in Station 2ZB’s "Feature Halfhour" next Sunday at, 7.15 p.m. "The Bohemians " who have been heard before from 2ZB, will sing "The Blue Danube," "The Woodpecker’s Song," and " Freedom’s Army," of which the words were written by J. Findlay Campbell and H. Temple White, both of Wellington. The soloists will be Ena Rapley and Rex Walden, with John Davis playing violin solos. Lucky People! Who are "The People Without Worries" that Michael Terry is to talk about at 4YA on Friday, December 20? In these days a good many folks would like to know them. They are the remainder of the once continent roaming Australian aboriginals. The white man has treated these people pretty badly, largely because he regarded them as so inferior to himself. There is a growing realisation that there is a good deal to be said for the aboriginal’s way of life — at any rate for the aboriginal — and that he is entitled to better protection. Michael Terry, who talks about these people, is a leading authority on Australia, and Kas written several books about the country. On a recent visit to New Zealand he recorded a series of talks for the NBS about life among blacks and whites in the back country.