PERSONALITIES ..ON THE AIR..

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 36, 17 February 1939, Page 8

PERSONALITIES ..ON THE AIR..

OR the past fifteen years the name of Mrs. Wilfred Andrews has figured on programmes of the best concerts in Wellington. This popular platform and radio contralto was born in Palmerston South, near Dunedin, and studied under Mr. Harold Browning, now of Melbourne. For three years Mrs. Andrews was a prominent member of the Otago Varsity Musical Society, under Professor Adams, and took roles in various light operas including all the works of the late Sir Edward German. In 1923 Mrs. Andrews sang in ‘‘The Tale of Old Japan"’ for the Wellington Choral Union. Shortly after this, with her husband, who was transferred to Wellington, Mrs. Andrews came to take up her residence in the city. Since. then her voice has been heard not only in Wellington, but in many other cities and towns, and at the Dunedin Exhibition.

GREAT TONAL ARTIST

2YA listeners will hear Mrs. Wilfred Andrews, contralto, on Tuesday, February 21.

The world today knows the history of Ignace Jan Pader-ewski--as an ar-

tist, a patriot, an administrator in troublous times, and now, at the crown of his life, an artist again, in everything the term recognises and implies. Hé is of Polish birth, and it will always be remembered that he was the first premier of the new Poland. Paderewski, for all of his superb technical skill, is a tonalist ... an artist who can overlay the silvery, and at times

cool, tones of the piano with coruscating iridescences of colour, The key once struck, the pianist, unlike the singer, or the player of almost any other instrument, has no control whatever in this matter of tone-all must be done beforehand, while the finger descends. The marvel is now, with the matured piano recording, that the listener can follow the technique of the artist as though watching him in the flesh.

QUEEN OF LIEDER

Ignace Pederewski, pianist, will be heard at 4YA on Sunday afternoon, February 19.

In a field upon which only the exceptionally gifted may venture, Elena Ger-

hardt has won conspicuous dis tinction, and has well earned her title as one of the world’s great-

= est singers of the German lieder. Madame Gerhardt was born in Leipzig to parents who, while not conspicuously gifted musically, were enthusiastic amateurs and gave the young girl every opportunity to improve the talent which she demonstrated at an early age. She entered the Conservatory at the age of sixteen, determined to pecome a great singer. Her teacheys discovered in her a rare talent

for the songs of Schubert, Brahms, Schumann and Hugo Wolf. At the early age of eighteen she made her debut, after which her reputation steadily grew, and she became Europe’s Queen of Lieder Singers.

INHERITED FORTUNE

Elena Gerhardt, soprano, will be heard from 4YA on Sunday afternoon, February 19.

At the age of eleven William Makepeace Thackeray was sent to Charter-

house School where he remamed for six years. Described as being "a pretty, gentle, and rather timid boy," the sensitive nature always remained with him, In certain of his novels he describes the brutality of school life and calls Charterhouse, "Slaughter House." Born in Calcutta, where his father and grandfather had been public servants, his mother was only nineteen at the date of his birth, and five years later became a widow. When Thackeray came of age he inherited a fortune that produced £5,000 a year, but he contrived to lose it all by bad investments in an Indian bank, at cards, and in newspapers. But for this we might have lost a brilliant novelist, Thackeray being obliged to write for a living. At 8YA on Wednesday, February 22, Mr. O, L. Simmance will present a reading from Thackeray’s "Roundabout Papers."

LIKE A RUSTIC

People who ouly saw Virgil, the poet, patriot and philosopher, fancied that he

looked like a. rustic, you would have taken him for an uneducated person, they said. He was very shy. He was recognised in the theatre one day and applauded, and it was most embarrassing for him, He read his poetry to his friends, and read with a rare charm. He was very critical of his own work, and at the end he wished to burn the "Aeneid," but the Emperor happily prevented. this. Virgil is known by his friendships-particularly the friendship of Horace, who put him among the "animae candidiores." This phrase means "the whiter souls’-and suits Virgil rather better than most.

BORN EAST OF SUEZ

1YA listeners will hear a reading from Virgil by Professor CG. G. Cooper, on Friday, February 24.

Like so many who were destined to spend a good part of their lives in

India, Major F. H. Lampen was born there. Educated’ in English Public Schools he joined the army and returned to India where his linguistic abilities led to his passing the Interpreter’s Test Examination in Hindustani and Malayan. Major Lampen was appointed Lecturer in Military History .n the Quetta Command, and also Assistant Instructor in Army Signalling in the Southern Command in India. His travels and duties have taken him to many countries, and he knows Tommy Atkins through and through. This renders him fully qualified to speak on the topic of batmen. Originally "batman" meant the man who had charge of a "bathorse," or packhorse that carried an Officer’s baggage.

NAMED AFTER ‘ HUBAY

Major’ Lampen will discuss "Just Batmen" at 2YA on Thursday, February 23.

Eugene Ormandy, conductor of the. Philadelphia Orchestra and formerly of the

Minneapolis Orchestra, is a native of Budapest. His father was an amateur musician who named him Jeno, after the famous Hungarian violinist Jeno, or Eugene, Hubay whom he greatly admired, in the hope that the boy would become a great violinist. These hopes were realised before young Ormandy was out of his teens, for under the tutelage of Hubay and Kodaly he made such headway that he had appeared in concerts in most of the European capitals. He is now co-conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and ranks equally with Leopold Stokowski. The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy will be heard from 3YA on Wednesday, February 22.