THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 477, 13 August 1948, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A kun Through The Programmes

_Forsytes on the Air [N CHANCERY, the second book in John Galsworthy’s Forsyte Saga, has | been issued as a twelve-part serial by | the BBC Transcription Service in re- | cordings made from the original broad- | casts in the BBC Home Service. The production is by the same teag that presented the successful BBC ‘Version | of The Man of Property, heardin NZBS programmes last year. Muriel Levy _made the adaptation and the production _was by Val Gielgud. Many of the players in The Man of Property are repeating their characters in In Chancery, one of them being Ronald Simpson, who made a memorable impression as Soames Forsyte. Simpson considers Soames to be one of the most difficult parts he has played in his 20 years’ experience on the London stage and in radio. To convey the strong passion below the frigid surface, and with only ene’s voice to do it, needs the most delicate treatment if the scene is not to be ruined. Three other leading mem‘bers of the cast of The Man of Property were out of England when In Chancery was produced. They were Leo Glenn (young Jolyon), Grizelda Hervey (Irene), and Rita Vale (Winifred). The parts are taken by Andrew Cruickshank, Margaret Vines and Micheline Patton (who, it is said, is equally happy as one of Galsworthy’s characters or as Louisa Goodbody in Much Binding in the Marsh). In Chancery will start at 4YA this Sunday, August 15, at 3.40 p.m., and be heard weekly thereafter. Yeomen of England HE composer of Merrie England was born Edward German Jones, but for some reason that one can only guess: at he preferred to be called Edward German. Nevertheless he left us with two of the most essentially English musical comedies in the language--Tom Jones (from Fielding’s novel) and his more celebrated Merrie England. He also wrote symphonies, suites and rhapsodies, and was knighted for his services to English music in 1929, His theatrical experience and gift for charming. melody and light orchestration made him* one of London’s leading providers of incidental music-such as his Three Dances from Henry VIII, which became known in almost every place of entertainment and every British home. There is much of a similarly patriotic vein in ‘Merrie England, which is set in the spacious days of Good Queen Bess, and contains that fine rousing chorus "The Yeomen of England." Merrie England will be heard from 2YA at 3.0 p.m. this Sunday, August 15. British Prime Ministers IX distinguished historians recently spoke in the BBC Third Programme about British Prime Minist&rs of the i9th Century, and the series was recorded for listeners outside Britain by the BBC Transcription Service. Each talk was complete in itself and the speakers concerned themselves not so much with the personal lives of their subjects as with. their influence on

policy, domestic and foreign, and the part they played during the formative years of . the Commonwealth and Empire. In the first talk A. J. P. Taylor gave an appraisal of Lord John Russell, who was Prime Minister from 1846 to 1852 and in 1865-6. Taylor is a fellow of Magdelen College, Oxford, and tutor in Modern History, and was formerly lecturer in Modern History at the University of Manchester. He has specialised on the history of modern Germany, his books on the subject including Germany’s First Bid for Colonies, and The Course of German History. Listeners to 1YA at 8.36 p.m. on Monday, August 16, will hear the first talk in this series, In Forest Cool HE BBC advises us that listeners should not assume, from the ‘title of one of its Third Programme productions, The Natural History of Salcey Forest, that it is one purely for botan-

ists, bird watchers and silviculturistsfar from it. As James Fisher, the author of the programme, says, "A forest is a community;. and its life consists not only of the trees and plants, of its birds and insects, but of people as well-the people who study it, who love to walk in it

ana whose iife is to work in it." From Fisher’s script and Stephen Potter’s production, listeners to 3YA at 9.53 p.m. on Sunday, August 22, will be given a glimpse imto a corner of England where life has changed hardly at all through the centuries. Musical Panorama PERATIC Ramblings Down the Years is the title of a new series from 2YD which should be of more than passing interest to opera lovers. The series is intended to present a panoramic picture of the development of opera from its earliest times, and will contain musical excerpts from famous works, with interspersed narrative explaining the facts of the original production, the opera’s importance in the development of the form, and a few details about the composer’s life. Several unusual and little-heard recordings will be used in these programmes, including recordings from operas not broadcast before in this country. One of these will be a German version of The Beggar's Opera, which was composed by Kurt Weill in 1928 with a translation of the original lyrics by E. Hauptmann. Operatic Ramblings Down the Years starts from 2YD at 9.0 p.m. on Monday, August 16. Holst Opera USTAV HOLST was one of those musical curiosities who composed as soon as he could hold a pen and played various instruments as fast as

they came his way. He began professional life as a village organist and later, to earn his living, enlisted as a trombonist, at first in theatre orchestras and then in the Scottish Orchestra. When he was approaching 30 he laid down his trombone and taught, as a music-master, in schools in and around London. In view of the occasional question about his origin it may be mentioned that his paternal great-grand-father, of Swedish descent, was born at Riga and went to London, Assuming that the corpuscles in one’s veins are strictly proportioned according to ancestry, only one in seven or eight of Holst’s was anything but British. There was a "von" to the name, but it was dropped during the first World War. Holst’s compositions include an opera The Perfect Fool, which has a type of humour all its own. Listeners to 2YN at 8.32 p.m. on Tuesday, August 17, will hear some of its ballet _music, played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent. Dusty Death (CHARLES VENABLES has had a motor accident and killed a man. He rings for the police, and after being questioned by Inspector. Buchan, who discovers that the dead man was named Dr. Marshall, is allowed to return home. His wife asks why he looks so strained, but he is evasive. At this moment Mrs, Marshall, the dead man’s wife, arrives at their house-before she could have heard of the accident. What was the reason for her unexpected visit? What connection had it with her husband’s recent death? Listeners to 2YA will be able to find out if they tune in at 8,20 p.m. on Wednesday, August 18, to the mystery drama Dust in the Air. There are two important clues in the case, a scarf and a revolver, and the play’s startling climax is capped with the words of T. S. Eliot: "Dust in the air suspended, Marks the place where the story’ ended." The script is by John Gundry, and the production by the NZBS.