PERSONALITIES ..ON THE AIR..
1865 to establish a university for the Freedmen, or liberated Negro slaves of the Southern States of America. One of these was General Clinton B. Fisk, and when the project was realised, the institution. was ealled the Fisk University. In order to complete a worthy building to be known as Jubilee Hall, a party of Negro singers set out on a year’s tour of Great Britain and some men set to work in
European countries bent on raising the necessary funds. The singers got their name Jubilee Singers from a sensational appearance they made at the World’s Peace Jubilee in Boston. Here, before an audience of 40,000 they made a smashing hit with their singing of The Battle Hymn of the Republie.’* ~ There is still a choir known as the Fisk. University Jubilee Singers. They: will be heard from 4YA on Sunday afternoon, January 1.
PRODIGY. WHO MADE GOOD
Those who heard Solomon in his first appearance -at the London "Proms"
on August 24, 1914, are not likely. to forget the experience. The child of eleven appealed tremendously to the audience with his winning soulful eyes, his little silk shirt and short knickers. .The-piano seemed. too large for such @ small person, but the music was never. beyond: his reach and his performance of the second of Beethoven’s concertos was amazing. Even in those early days his classical feeling was already to the fore-indeed, he «is one of the few prodigios who have
made good. Solomon was a young genius and his playing of the great |B flat minor Concerto of Tschai_kovsky took the Queen’s Halli audience by storm. ‘He still plays this stirring work, and with the Halle Orchestra, under Sir Hamilton Harty, will be heard from 3YA on Wednesday, January 4, playing Techalkovsky’s "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor."
MAN WHO FOUNDED FESTIVAL
The _ distinction of founding the Glynde bourne Opera Festival which
since 1935 has seen the production of opera under ideal conditions, belongs to John Christie, M.C., M.A. Mr. Christie was born in 1882, only child of the late Augustus Langham Christie and the. late Lady Rosamond Alicia Wallop, sister of
the eighth Earl of Portsmouth. Mr. Christie married a Canadian lady in 1931, and he has a son and a daughter. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; became a master at Eton; served in the European War, and won the Military Cross. In May, 1935, he formed the Mozart Opera Society, and in that year the prin-
cipals, chorus and orchestra of the Glyndbourne Mozart Opera Festival performed Mozart’s "Cosi Fan Tutte." Since then other Mozart operas have been produced, among them "Don Giovanni." The first act of Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" will be heard from 8YA on Sunday, January 1. In this presentation the dramatic action and plot of the opera will ‘be described as the opera proceeds,
BELOVED OF THE MAORIS
The two to three years of Captain Hobson’s term of office as Lieu-
tenant-Governor of New Zealand was marred by ill-health and no small amount of serious worry. He died on September 10, 1842, and was buried in what is now called the Symonds Street Cemetery, Auckland. His proudest epitaph would be the address sent by the Maoris to Queen Victoria, lamenting his death and asking that his successor should be "a good man, like the Governor who has just died." Governor Hobson’s means, both in men and money, were lamentably inadequate, and as a naval officer his experience in civil life had been too limited to enable him to overcome the difficulties of the position in which he was placed. But he proved himself a high-minded and horiourable man, and impressed the Maoris with a faith in our justice that secured their support and made the existence of the young colony possible. 1YA listeners will hear on Thursday, January 5, a recorded: talk on "Hobson’s Choice" by Mr. Douglas Cresswell.
KNOWN IN THE NURSERIES
That wuniversally popular and unique creature, the Golliwog, owes its
origin to Bertha and Florence Upton, the first of whom wrote a series of delightfully direct and natural verses. Florence was responsible for the fascinating coloured pictures of Golliwog and his five Dutch doll companions, each of whom she managed to endow with a distinet individuality. Golliwogs have been honoured by composers, among whom were Debussy and Ashley. "The Golliwog" is a piece in Ashley’s suite, "A Trip to Toytown," which will be played by the 2YA Concert Orchestra on Wednesday, January 4.
PENGUINS | HATE THE BANJO
To help preserve the morale of the members of Shackleton’s last Antarctic
Expedition, the medical officer, Dr. Hussey used to lead the Saturday night "sing-songs" with his banjo. For six months the party drifted on ice and had to live on what they could pick up. Shackleton dearly loved those "sing-songs" and was very fond of the banjo, which he rescued just in the nick of time from the "Hndurance" as she was crushed by the relentless ice-pres-sure. Flocks of penguins used to gather round them when they were in the Antarctic, but as soon as Dr. Hussey started playing the banjo, they all waddled away, apparently horror-struck. . 4YA listeners will hear Raymonde and his Band o’ Banjos on Tuesday, January 3.
ORGANIST FROM DUNEDIN
If they were a little late in the field, Presbyterjians did not waste much
time once the use of the "kist o’ whistles" was tolerated. Now we have organists, young and old, doing excellent work in Presbyter-
ian churches ‘everywhere. Among these is W. Lawrence " Haggitt (born in Dunedin) who was educated at the Otago High School, and first studied music under Dr. Galway in Dunedin. By the time he was 20, Mr. Hagegitt was organist and choir-master at the Roslyn Presbyterian Chureh, Dunedin. In 1986 he went to Adelaide for further musical study under Mr. W. Silver at the Bilder Conservatorium. He held several church posts in Adelaide and was music master at: the Prince Alfred College. In 1931, Mr. Haggitt was appointed to St. John’s Church, Wellington, Since then he has also been actively associated with activities in the wider sphere of music-making in Wellington. St. John’s services are much appreciated by 2YA listeners and the next relay from this church is on Sunday evening, January 1.
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Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 29, 30 December 1938, Page 8
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1,051PERSONALITIES ..ON THE AIR.. Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 29, 30 December 1938, Page 8
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