THINGS TO COME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 538, 14 October 1949, Page 26

THINGS TO COME

The Spectre’s Bride \V HEN his. dramatic cantata Thé Spectre’s Bride was first performed in England, at the Birmingham Festival of 1885, Antonin Dvorak had under his baton, in his own words, "100 sopranos, 100 altos, 100. tenors, 100 basses, 40 violins, 16 double basses, 16 ‘cellos and four of every wind instrument." The critics were almost lyrical in their praise, one even going so far as to write "The year 1885 will be accounted glorious because it has brought forth such a masterpiece." Though the performance could hardly be expected to be on quite such a grand scale, listeners should nevertheless welcome the opportunity for hearing The Spectre’s Bride" broadcast, from 1YA-this Saturday, October 15, at 8.0 p.m., when it will be presented by the Atickland Choral Society, conducted by Georg -Tintner. The soloists will be Bette Spiro (soprano), Irene Rich (cofitralto),. Roger Errington (tenor); and Stewart Harvey (bass). The Society will also’ present Mozart’s ‘Requiem, a work which the composer began on his death-bed and which was completed by Sussmayer. ‘Boys and Music HE annual music festival of Nelson _ College, which consists of works by massed choirs and an orchestra, will be broadcast by Station 2XN from 8.15 p.m. this Saturday, October 15. Mych of the music for these choral activities has been arranged by Dr. T. Vernon Griffiths, who has ‘also made it possible, by preparing works specially arranged and graded for inexperienced players, for boys to have valuable orche§tral experience. Among the choral works to be heard will be items by the College Chapel Choir, which leads the singing in the chapel seryices held in Nelson Cathedral, Dr. Griffiths’s four-part setting of "Cantate Domino," and Dr. V. -E. Galway’s "Psalm of the Seafarers." The orchestra's contributions will include Alex Rowley’s Miniature Concerto for Piano, with Donald Millard, a pupil of the school, in the solo part, and a movement from Hulbert Clifford’s ‘Kentish suite. Both choir and orchestra will be conducted by Ralph Lilly, music master at the school. Chopin Centenary | \V HEN Chopin died in Paris on October 17, 1849, there was a service in the Church "of the Madeleine, where the choir, and orchestra of the Paris Conservatory performed Mozart's Requiem before a congregation of 4900 people. He was buried in the spot he had chosen-jn Pére-Lachaise, next to his friend, Bellini. As\ hé was lowered into the grave, there was opene.l a silvei

box of Polish earth, given to him nearly 20 years before, on the day he left Poland never to return, and at the words, ""earth to earth" it was sprinkled on his coffin. The legacy Chopin left the’ world included many singlemovement composi-

tions, 27 etudes, 24 preludes, 19 nocturnes, 52 mazurkas, three impromptus, a barcarolle, a berceuse, and so on. Some ‘of these remain today the most played

and the most popular of all recital items. Next Monday, October 17, four NZBS stations will broadcast commemorative programmes of Chopin’s music to mark the centenary of his death. At 9.30 p.m. 3YA will present the Sonata in B Minor, played in the studio by the pianist Ernest Jenner. At 8.5 p.m. 4YA will broadcast from the studio A Chopin Centenary, narrated by Maurice Leech, with Chopin works played by Koa Nees. Recordings of the Concerto No. 2 in F Minor and other compositions will be heard at 9.20 p.m., from 3YZ -Greymouth, and at 8.31 p.m., 2XN Nelson will play four recordings by the English pianist Solomon. Slings and Arrows \S any Freudian will tell you, of all the complexes that afflict the human mind, a persecution complex is one of the most common. The study of its development can be as fascinating for the layman as it is for the expert. In The Lite History of a Delusion, a 60-minute feature programme originally broadcast

to the BBC’s Home listeners, Nesta Pain (well-known for » her previous programmes on _ scientific subjects) and Kenneth Alexander have traced the development of a persecution complex from a fantasy in childhood to a fixed idea ir’ manhood. At the end of the programme Professor Alexander Kennedy, Professor of Psychological Medicine at Durham University, comments on this common form of mental disorder. The Life History of a Delusion will be broadcast from 1YA at 1.45 p.m. on Sunday, October 23. Thoughts on Crusoe HE first volume of Daniel Defoe’s most famous work, The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, was published on April 25, 1719, and ran through four editions in as many months; then, in August, appeared the second volume. The tale was founded in. part on Dampier’s Voyage Round the World (1697) and still more on Alexander Selkirk’s adventures as cémmunicated by Selkirk himself at a meeting with Defoe at the house of Mrs. Damaris Daniel at Bristél. Robinson Crusoe is one of the world’s classics in fiction. Crusoe’s shipwreck and adventures, his finding the footprint in the sand, his man "Friday," are all inimitably told, but it is the conception of civilised man alone face to face with* nature which has made Defoe’s egréat work an imperishable part of world literature. At 8.40 p.m., on. Tuesday, October 18, Station will broadcast a programme. from the new BBC series, In My Library, in which wellknown literary personalities discuss some of their favourite books. The author and critic, Desmond MacCarthy,

chose Robinson Crusoe, which he describes as a book "which one need not finish, but which one can never be finished with." In his talk MacCarthy will explain the kind of pleasure Robinson Crusoe gives him and the thoughts it suggests. New Friends of Music NEw YORK City has a body known as the New Friends of Music (Inc.), founded in 1936 by I. A. Hirschmann, as a non-profit enterprise "to give the best in the literature. of chamber: music and lieder." In its first season of 16 concerts at the City Hall on Sundays at 5.30 p.m., music by Brahms and Beethoven was presented by leading chamber music groups and solo artists, The second season, also of 16 concerts, was devoted to the works of Mozart, Schubert, and Schumann, and included four complete song cycles as well as chamber music. Later seasons were given up to music by Bach, Haydn and Beethoven, the latter’s 16 string quartets and the Grosse Fugue. There are no patrons and the concerts are self-supporting. Listeners to 3YZ ‘on Tuesday, October 18, at 3.11'p.m., will hear the Orchestra of the New Friends of Music playing Haydn’s Symphony No, 67 in F Major. Curtain Up OSINA RAISBECK, Australian mezzo-soprano, who has made a high reputation for herself since she joined the ‘Royal Opera Company~at Covent Garden early in 1948, and Walter Midgley (English tenor) who visited New Zealand this year, will be heard in a BBC programme, Ring Up The Curtain at 8.0 p.m., on Friday, October 21, from 4YZ. Others who will be heard in this item are Ruth Packer (soprano) and Douglas Craig (baritone) and among the items will be excerpts from Verdi's ppera, 1 Il Trovatore.