REMEMBERING HANDEL

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 28, 18 January 1935, Page 5

REMEMBERING HANDEL

HE 250th anniversary of the birth of Handel, which falls next month, promises to be an event of unusual interest.’ The British Broadcasting Corporation is preparing a seriés of festivals, while in America and on the Continent music lovers are poring over Handel] manuscripts for presentation during the celebrations. The New Zealand Broadcasting Board is already drawing up special programmes for the occasion-an occasion which will not only .mark an anniversary but a spirited revival in interest in the great composer's works. In the past few months the interest in Handel has grown to such a remarkable extent-a growth of interest that is shared, too, by Bach-that the Broadcasting Board has considerably augmented ‘the stocks . of recordings of the master’s works, and the YA stations are, therefore, in a good position to do justice to the anniversary. In other parts of the world a determined effort is to be made to approach certain of the works of Handel in a new way which may lead to the fullest rediscovery of the great composer. This searching is typical of the contemporary attitude toward classical works of art. We have seen Shakespeare presented in almost every possible formthe latest example being a Russian amalgam of "‘Anthony and Cleopatra," Shaw’s "Caesar and Cleopatra" and Pushkin’s "Egyptian Nights." We saw tradition ‘tossed aside to a minor degree when the last Gilbert and Sullivan company toured New Zealand. Ivan Menzies’ handling of the roles of the Duke of Plaza Toro and Ko-Ko may have scandalised the nineteenth century Savoyards, but it gave Gilbert and Sullivan life and vigour for those "‘youngers’’ who had come to regard the operas as back numbers. It will be generally. admitted that Handel is a peculiarly suitable subject for such experiments. His dramatic oratorios (not the ‘‘Messiah’’) were really written for an ideal theatre whose practical realization was denied him. The dramatic presentation which he himself was unable to get, the Londen Handel Society proposes to give him. Experiments in Cambridge and Munster have indicated that this method of approach leads to rich cultural rewards, and the Handel Society’s proceedings will be watched with interest by musicians all over the world.