THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 193, 5 March 1943, Page 2

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Ss RAVE Galuppi! that was music! good alike at grave and gay!" wrote Robert Browning of an 18th century Venetian composer whose name we seldom hear but whom Ernest Empson will include in the first of an historical series of six keyboard-music broadcasts to be given from 3YA at weekly intervals from Wednesday, March 10. Galuppi will be heard after five other harpsichord pieces which show the development of keyboard technique in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries-Byrd, Bull, Couperin, Rameau and Leonardo Leo. Co-operation in Music To-day the patron of all Russian artists is the Russian State. But in prerevolution days the patron was a man of flesh and blood who had taste and a lot of money. The Maecenas of Russian music at the end of the last century was

Mitrofan Petrovich Belaiev, the son of a wealthy lumber merchant, and we owe it to his munificence that the composers of that period are still available to us, One work that arose directly out of his patronage was the set of Variations on a Popular Russian Melody, written by. 10 Russian composers — Artzibouchev, Scriabin, Glazounov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Liadov, Wintol, Blumenfeld, Enwald, Winkler and Sokolov. Some of these composers used to meet at Belaiev’s house on Friday evenings and perform their compositions, many of which were subsequently published through the firm set up in Leipzig by Belaiev himself. The Variations will be played: by the NBS String Orchestra, conducted by Andersen Tyrer, from 2YA on Tuesday, March 9. "And So To Bed..." A very suitable way to close an entry in a diary and a very jolly diary that made this one of the most familiar quotations in our language. Mr. Sam Pepys, however, didn’t always go to bed: for instance, during the Great Fire, we find him walking in the hot streets, "our feet ready to burn;" getting his gold and valuables removed to safety; . attending iis office papers, "and in the evening ir W. Pen and I did dig another (pit) and put our wine in it; and I my parmesan cheese as well as my wine and some other things; and finding, by Tuesday of that dreadful week that "it is a strange-thing to see how long this time did look since Sunday, having been always full of variety of actions, and little sleep that it looked like a week or more." Extracts from the diary will probably form a great part of the talk to be given on Samuel Pepys, "The Architect of the Navy," from 2YA this Friday evening (March 5). Reluctant Nursery literature, which still cherishes the fierce, seven-headed, princesseating dragon, has also lost its heart to such amiable fellows as the Reluctant Dragon or Dennis, who left his cave to be a social success, only to learn

through bitter experience that his cave was much pleasanter than High Life. Perhaps Miss Rutherfurd will have as good a moral to draw from the dragons of the "Dragon Pool" about which she

is going to talk from 3YA next Tuesday. Our artist has shown how engaging a dragon may be when he emerges fresh from a bathe. But lest listeners are now confused, we must add that the real subject of the talk is life in a Manchurian village — in which case the dragons are probably neither reluctant nor socially inclined.

Goossens Galaxy "The Musical Goossenses" sounds like the name of the first act on a vaudeville programme, but everyone who lis« tens to the radio knows that the Goose sens family holds a very high place in the world of music. Those of the family now actively engaged in music-making are Eugene, composer and conductor, Leon, oboe virtuoso, and Sidonie and Marie, who are both superb harpists. Eugene Goossens is the -third bearer of the name to achieve distinction as a sonductor, and looks as if he may bring greater lustre to the family annals as a composer than did his father and grandfather. From 2YA this Sunday, March 7, the NBS String Orchestra (under Andersen Tyrer) will play "Concertino for String Orchestra" by Eugene Goossens, Feed the Brute Yes, we do know all about the equipment necessary for pig feeding. Spread several thicknesses of newspaper on the floor. Have at hand as much rubber sheeting as Japanese vicissitudes will allow. Prepare overall, mask and head covering-spinach is apt to discolour the hair-a length of string or rope may be needed, and we recommend motoring glasses. A plate of food is also of course desirable, but not essential since most of it will be lost tn route to the mouth. For further tips listen to the talk next Thursday evening from 2YH: "Equipment That Makes Pig Feeding Easy." Or have we lost our way?