THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 511, 8 April 1949, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

7 . . Elgar | [-NGLAND’'S Edward Elgar graduated "~~ as a musical performer in ways he could not explain or recall. He played the piano, violin, ’cello and double-bass, the bassoon and the trombone. And in one or other of these capacities he took part in all the local music-makings. From his 22nd to his 27th years he was band_master of the staff_of a mental hospital, which gave him his first experience of conducting. Then he began to come forward as a composer, the English Festival system giving him his opportunity. At the ege of 42 years his Enigma Variations for orchestra placed him at a bound in the front rank. This remarkable collection of musical portraits of his friends is still one of the most-played of all his major works, and is perhaps the only one that has been heard in every musical centre of the world. Listeners to 1YC wall hear Elgar’s Enigma Variations at 8.24 p.m..on Monday, April 11, played by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. For Fathers Only ROM the feminine point of view no doubt the most interesting fact about Kiwi family life is that the male bird takes paternity very seriously indeed. He makes a full time job of it from the moment his spouse presents him with an egg. This splendid example may be a little too hard for the human male to follow, but at all events the modern New Zealand father is becoming, very rightly, expected to take a larger share of, the troubles and sheer hard work of caring fon a young family. In the series Feminine Viewpoint from 1YA_ on Tuesday, April 12, listeners will be treated to some advice on "Being a good Father." Since being a good father is purely fathers’ business it is probably a pity the broadcast will be at 10.15 a.m. But perhaps this will mean that the customary morning tea break in factories, officés’, and wherever men work, will see a concerted rush of young fathers to their nearest receiving set. Europe’s Music Revival [:IGHTEEN months after the end of the war, Vienna was a _half-ruined and underfed city, occupied by the troops of four nations. Yet to a musician its outward signs of distress were as nothing compared with the intense activity of its renewed musical life, says John Gray in the first of two recorded talks which describe what he saw during 1946 of the post-war music revival in Austria and Italy. He describes how operas had been revived in spite of the destruction of many of the great opera houses, and how, in Vienna for instance, three full-sized orchestras were already giving regular concerts in addition to musical attractions put on by the occupying powers in a sort of cultural propaganda effort. He talks too of the singing of Beniamino .Gigli-still a great artist although in his late fifties-of the tremendous outdoor productions of Roman opera in the Baths of Caracalla, and of the opening of the restored La Scala in Milan when a series of concerts was conducted by Toscanini, who travelled from New York to take part. John

Gray’s first talk will be broadcast from 2YA at 7.15 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, under the title Music in Post-War Europe-Vienna. London’s Markets \/ HEN the vegetable growers and retailers in Wellington found they couldn’t agree a few weeks ago, many housewives made their first acquaintance with the markets — large warehouses stacked high with cases and sacks, and crowded with shouting buyers as the auctioneers quickly knock ’em down. os Ja st a

Some of the world’s biggest markets are in London, where goods from all over the globe are bought and sold. Although Cheapside, Eastcheap,. Poultry, and _Vintry are now only street names, wool is still sold at the Wool Exchange in Coleman Street, and grain at the Corn Exchange in Mark Lane. The Commercial Sale Rooms sell tea, rubber, sugar, and wines, and there is still the Coal Exchange, the Hop Exchange, and the Metal Exchange. There are the central markets- Smithfield for meat, poultry and vegetables, Billingsgate for fish, and Covent Garden for vegetables, fruit and flowers-and the great money markets include the Bank of England, the joint stock and merchant banks, the discount houses, and the’ Stock Exchange. London’s Markets is the tifle of a programme in the BBC’s Window on Britain series, which will ,be broadcast from 2XN at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday, April 14. Warp and Woof HE modern emporium with its postwar abundance of goods is likely to prove a gilded trap to the shopper who doesn’t know quite what she’s looking for, and though assistants prove helpful they are still far from omnipresent. One of this week’s Home Science: talks, "Keeping Up To Date With New Fabrics", (from 3YA on Thursday, April 14, at 2.45 p.m., and 1YA the same day at 10.15 a.m.) should prove helpful. There have been so many recent advances in the world of textiles that there is almost as much need for up-to-date knowledge as there is in the world of affairs, and ability to distinguish plastic from oiled silk may soon be as unnecessary as to distinguish between nankeen and nun’s veiling. Cottons are not what they used to be, since they now come crease-proof and water-repellent, but the wise housewife may do well to remember that dresses end as dish-cloths, and perhaps go slow on these modern improvements. However, forewarned is fore-armed, and a quarter of an hour of "Keeping Up to Date With New Fabrics’ may save her hours of repining,

The Children of Europe HERE are some sixty million children living in the war-devastated areas of Europe to-day, and there are hardly any of them not in need of aid of some kind or other, whether it be food, clothing, shelter, or simply love and affection. This is what two BBC commentators, Edward Ward and Marjorie Banks, discovered in a recent journey across 5,000 miles of Europe. They were given the task of finding out just what is happening to the thousands of boys and girls who suffered so terribly when war swept their homes out of existence. Many of them-too many, it was found -have not. yet been accounted for, but thousands are being looked after in homes in the once-occupied ‘countries. Here small broken bodies, and broken minds, are being cared ‘for as far as is possible in face of the conditions in Europe at the present time. Many of the experiences the contmentators went through were heart-breaking, and yet they saw much to warm their hearts, too, in their journey through Germany, Italy and other countries. They found above all that the courage and cheerfulness of the children they met had to be seen tobe believed. They talked to them, heard them singing, and watched then) at their games. When they returned to England they built up the recordings they had made into a one-hour programme which presents. an unembellished but very moving picture of the plight of these children. Many New Zealanders have contributed to the welfare of Europe’s homeless children, and the programme mentions incidentally the work being done for them by the various United . Nations organisations, and by voluntary helpers from all over the world. The Children of Europe will be broadcast from 2YA at 8.3 p.m. on Good Friday (April 15) and will be heard later from the other main National stations.