THANKSGIVING FOR VICTORY
Sir,-I listened with great pleasure to the interesting presentation of Vaughan Williams’ "Thanksgiving for Victory." I may be wrong, but here are some criticisms: 1. The version of the Old Testament from which the passages are taken is poorer, less majestic and less clear. in this instance than a readily available older translation. I speak solely from the aesthetic point of view. ; For instance:"And they shall build the places that have been waste from of old, and shall raise up ancient ruins, and shall repair the desolate cities, that were destroyed for gener&tion and generation," is to be preferred to "And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations. And they shall repair the waste cities, the desolation of many generations." It may be merely a matter of taste, but among other things it seems to me that the repetition in the latter of "waste" and "desolation" lacks both majesty and artistry and implies considerable poverty of synonyms on the part of the ,translator. Yet repetition may add enormously. to the majesty of a line as in "Go -through, go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people." 2, But I am also captious enough tv object to the remainder of this verse also. "Cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones," is I suggest obscure, and the second repetition is too much of a good thing. I prefer "Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people, make the road plain, pick out the stones, and lift up the standard to the people." 3. The inclusion in the work of Kipling’s "Teach us delight in simple things, The mirth that has no bitter strings; Forgiveness free of evil done, : And love to all men ’neath. the sun." is a pity, for it’s doggerel. The sentiments are worthy of course. _ Now as to the execution. 1, It was just beyond the soprano. 2. "Heritage" has no long, "a" and is accented on the first not the last syllable. The music I leave to others; for all I know it is very good.
VINCENT COUNTY
(Wellington).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 332, 2 November 1945, Page 5
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360THANKSGIVING FOR VICTORY New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 332, 2 November 1945, Page 5
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