THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 517, 20 May 1949, Page 4

THINGS TO COME

A Run Through The Programmes

Papa Haydn Vf OZART was the first to call his """ great contemporary Papa Haydn very fittingly, since Haydn was a goodhumoured friendly man, and to countless music lovers Papa Haydn he remained to the end of his days. In a very real sense he is still Papa Haydn, for he is the father of the symphony and of modern chamber music. He is also the founder of the string quartet. The classical symphonic form and orchestration have both been based largely on work he developed. Incidentally, he had one attribute which should appeal strongly to New Zealanders-he was a lover of sport. At one time to be called "as good ‘a shot," or "as good a fisherman as Haydn," was to enjoy praise indeed. Eighteen Haydn symphonies are to be presented from 1YC on Mondays at 8.0 eg the first of the series being on May No Escape TRUE tales of -what happened to people who jettisoned their jobs and homes, escaped from the factory whistle, the office clock and the shop-manager’s eye and took a chance on the future, are told in the BBC series Good-bye to All This, Listeners to 2YC at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25, will hear "Galapagos Adventure," the third and final story in the series, which concerns two people who decided to throw off the ties of everyday life in Europe. Thoroughly disillusioned with European civilisation, Frederick and Dora Ritter left Berlin in 1932 for the Galapagos Islands, seeking a place where they could live far from the complications of modern life. They found what they hoped would be their refuge on Charles Island, which they renamed Floreana. Life seemed full of promises at first, but then civilisation in its worst aspects broke through. What the end of all this was listeners will discover for themselves in the broadcast reconstruction of the Ritters’ story. Literary Moods F one can consider the literature of any one period as being pervaded by certain moods, or expressing a particular temperament more than others, then what is the’ dominating mood of the present? In these days, with their shortages, their hunger and want in many lands, and their, omnipresent atomic threat, reality is surely unpleasant enough to warrant some form of escapism. Some authorities believe there has been an increasing emphasis upon the theological and the mythologicain con- trast with the social reporting and realism of the thirties. In a series of five talks under the general heading The Literature of the Forties to be broadcast from 1YA at 7.15 p.m. on) Thursdays, speakers from the English Department at Auckland Uniyersity College will discuss changing nds within the past ten years. Professor S. Musgrove will introduce the series on May 26, speaking on The Theological Mood, and briefly mentioning Existentialism, which he says is "theology without a god-a sort of backfire from the theological trend." Other speakers and their sub- | sects are: M. K. Joseph, Poetry of the

Forties and Dylan Thomas; and E. H. McCormick, Maturing of an Existentialist and The Return of Henry James. Atom 1970 HE year is 1970. Britain’s Prime Minister places Frederic Benton, the brilliant young scientist, in control] of the nation’s largest atomic utilisation and development scheme. He finds the plant in a chaotic condition, and shortly after he takes over an atcident occurs;

although Benton prevents a chain reaction from setting in, he inadvertently exposes himself to the dread gamma rays, whose effects are known and feared by his fellow workers. Later, the young stratosphere pilot, Allan Henderson, takes off for the moon on? the first atomic-rocket flight to be attempted from. the earth. . . . So develop the first few episodes of the latest serial to be heard from 2YD, starting at 9.20 p.m. on Friday, May 27. What will be the course of atomic development during the next 20 years? Will the atom become a force for good or evil? Atom 1970 puts forward (in 52 episodes)* an imaginary story of what might happen. The serial ends, needless to say, with Britain ‘in possession of an absolute defence against atomic aggression and able to dictate the terms of a new world peace.

Duties of a Critic JHEN Bernard Shaw was a professional music critic, he maintained that "a critic should constantly keep his reader in mind of the fact that he is reading only one man’s opinion and should take it for what it is worth." A good many years later Percy A. Scholes laid it down that, without any suggestion derogatory to the value of the work of professional critics, the true principle of music criticism is "Every man his own critic." In other words, the public should be encouraged while carefully reading the reviews of experts, to form their own, and to be ready to change them on cause being shown, This, he says, is a necessary condition of a healthy artistic life, and the best service the professional critic can render is to stimulate the amateur to think for himself. Listeners to 4YA at 2.1 p.m. on Thursday, May 26, will hear more about this controversial subject from a New Zealander, Mary Martin, in the Arts Digest session, conducted by Con‘stance Sheen. South African Story OUTH AFRICA is very much in the news these days (or it will be as from next week, when the All Blacks play

their first match at Capetown), so that any programme about the country should be of particular interest. The BBC documentary This is South Africa was originally designed for British listeners as an introduction to the Royal Tour in 1947, and aims at presenting a comprehensive picture of the historical development of the Union, combined with a panorama of life in the country to-day. It was produced by Geoffrey Bridson, senior features producer for the BBC, and the story is unfolded through the discoveries of an Englishman (played by Philip Wade) visting South Africa for the first time. This is South Africa will be heard from 3XC Timaru at 9.30 p.m. on Sunday, May 29. (For other background programmes on South Africa, see page 6.) These United States | ISTENERS to 4YA on Sunday, May 29, at 2 o'clock will be able to hear a talk by E. M. Forster on his impressions of America. That meticulous observation and that ability to progress lovically towards conclusions rather than

leap to them makes E. M. Forster’s talk somewhat different from the vivid and slap-happy impressions of other literary travellers bemused by their glimpse of the American scene. E.

M. Forster has concerned himself more with the American country than the American city, with the vast landscapes of the Middle West rather than Chicago, and with the peaceful farmlands of New England rather than the life lived in her industrial cities. He is one of the few travellers who have been able to take their eyes off the American Man or the American Woman long enough to take a Wordsworthian interest in the American landscape.