The Home Forum

Radio Record, 18 March 1938, Page 40

The Home Forum

Good Night "Disappointed Listener" (Greymouth) : The [YA anuvouneer has the fault of cutting off his good-night melody before the record has finished. For three nights in the last fortnight i have stayed up especially to bear the record and the same has only been played for about one minute. Hoping this can he remedied. Old Folks Session L.B. (Oamaru): It was with the deep est regret I heard last Sunday from 4ZB that the "Old Folks «t Home" session was to be discontinued, Surely the aged people dewerve a session at least once a week. Lam sure a number of old people will miss Don Robinson's kind yoice in future. "Old Ladyhood" A.R.C.M. (Wellington) : As one who is on the way to "old-ladyhood"’ I rather resented the implication in Gordon Mirams’s ‘Are Filmgoers Ilalf-wits?"’ that old ladies are simple-minded. Those who are deprived of the opportunity of stating their views on many vital matters and problems concerning the welfare of man. woman and child will often be found te be storehouses of knowledge, intelligence and experience with a far more rational outlook on life than have so many men who occupy high positions of authority. |

As to "Dead Fiend": Tt was interesting, arresting. The acting wae good, but felt the stage set was too confined to a mere corner, [Gordon meant no harm.-Kd.] In Error B.S.B. (Napier): Your contributor Trevor Lane wants to be just a little more careful when he compiles "Passing Pageant." Awhile since he told ug that Cralsworthy, Shaw and Earrie "live in the Adelphi’ (Strand); Shaw happens to live in a flat in Westminster when in London; Galsworthy,and Barrie-well, I don't think the spirituaiists are quite certain of their present domicile. In your issue of March 4 he gives Miss Klaine llamill a write-up both as & beauty and an actress. The first is of no moment; as to the second, she may have travelled far since she appeared in New Zealand-she'd need to. The following is, shall we eay, extreme exaggeration: ‘". . . she started life in New Zealand as a nurse, came through the Uawke's Bay earthquake with great credit after half the other nurses had been killed.’ There were around 90 nursey and some six were killed! Moonlight Sonata R. TT. Wood (Whangarei): I happened to tune in to a_ certain commercial station on Sunday, February 27, during the "Makers of Melody" seasion, and. heard Paderewski playing the ‘Moonlight Sonata." After absolute enjoyment of its exquisite beauty and the perfect rendition, my complacency and visions were completely destroyed by ihe announcer telling me that Beethoven once found a blind girl playing some of his works by moonlight, and he very kindly improvised for her the ‘Moonlight Sonata.’ This was yet another variation of the story of Beethoven’s "dream maiden" who allegedly ingpired the sonata. Why must a magnificent work be set round with such sickly romanticismsurely the piece is capable of standing by its merits alone: if a composition is to be annotated, let the truth be given. The facts concerning the ‘‘Moonlight Sonata" may be considerably stripped of the fantastic stories and glamour that surround it, if one consulted those who are authorities on Beethoven’s life and works, In 1801, when his deafness was coming hard upon him, the composer dedicated the ‘‘Moonlight Sonata’ to Countess Guicciardi, who was then 17 years of age. She _ herself said, some years later, that Beethoven had originally given her the "Rondo in G." However, he wished later to dedicate this to another particular friend, the Countess Lichnowsky, and rather unromantically asked for the return of the Rondo. He then wrote and dedicated the "Moonlight Sonata" to Countess Guieciardi. The possible explanation of the many fantasies that have gathered round this beautiful work, may be found in the fact that its origin is thought to have sprung from a poem by Seume, called "Prayer," This is descriptive of a maiden praying for her sick father-the Adagio movement of the Sonata. Angels come to her nid-Allegretto-and the face of the snppliant is transfigured by the glow of hope -thus the Presto movement, —

The title "Moonlight"? was conferred on the Sonata by the poet Rellestab, not by Beethoven, who, by the way, did not consider it a very good composition. My authorities for the above facts ate. (Groye’s Dictionary of Musie and Musicians, and Harvey Grace. Paul J. Bekker, in his biography of Beethoven, eays that the fact that the EH Plat Major sonata was contemporary with the moonlight should in itself be sufficient to diseredit the romantic legends, for this was dedicated to yet another lady. However. it might be said that this reasoning is not beyond reproach, but it strengthens, rather than detracts, from Grove’s anil Harvey Grace’s statements,