Composers and Performers

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 99, No. 1390 (Dec., 1958), p. 653
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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THE MUSICAL TIMES
DECEMBER 1958
CONTENTS
Composers
and Performers
Giacomo Puccini: ACentennial Assessment.
By
John W. Klein
The
Home-Coming
of Musical
Analysis. By
Hans Keller
Johan Helmich Roman.
By Denys
Darlow ..
APlea for the
Virginals. By
Edward
Eyre
The Musician's Bookshelf
Notes and Comments on Books for Christmas.
By
Harold Rutland
Music for Christmas.
By Douglas Hopkins
The Musician's
Gramophone. By Dyneley
Hussey
....
Broadcast Music.
By
John
Emery
Letters to the Editor
Music in London ...
Page
653
654
657
658
659
660
663
665
666
667
668
669
The Leeds
Centenary
Festival.
Bradbury
Reports
from Abroad
Obituary
..
The Amateurs'
Exchange
Church and
Organ
Music:
Royal College
of
Organists
Counsel from the Console.
Peaker
Twenty-one
Years at St. Paul's
Book Reviews
Church and
Organ
News
MUSIC
Page
By
Ernest
.. 674
.. 674
.. 676
.. 677
678
By
Charles
.. 678
.. 679
.. 680
.. 681
' If 'twere the time of lilies.'
Part-Song
by
Richard Drakeford
Composers
and Performers
ALTHOUGH there are a few
composers
who
appear
to be content to
go
on
writing
music
without
making
an effort to have it
per-
formed,
the
great majority
are
naturally
anxious
that their works shall be
played
as
frequently
as
possible. Apart
from
merely mercenary aspects
of
the
matter,
to
put
one's heart and mind into the
composition
of a
work,
and then to have the score
lying
for evermore in a drawer or on a
dusty
shelf,
is a
disheartening experience,
to
put
it
mildly. Self-expression
is not
enough;
some kind of
communication is also desired.
Performers and the
public
are often indifferent:
they
know what
they
like and like what
they
know.
But even the most favoured works in the
repertory
were unfamiliar once
upon
a
time,
and some of
them met with
strong opposition
when first heard.
Certainly
concerts cost
money,
rehearsals for new
works add to the
expense,
and
impresarios
assure
one that a
single
unknown work in a
programme
causes a
drop
in
receipts
at the box office. On the
other
hand,
Malcolm
Arnold,
in a recent article in
the
Sunday Times,
stated what is
surely
true when
he said that
'having spent eight years playing
in
one of the London orchestras Iknow from
experi-
ence that an
audience,
however
unsophisticated,
is
always stimulated,
in one
way
or
another, by
the
introduction of an unfamiliar work'. He added
that 'the
only thing necessary
to
bring
more life
into our concert world in London is financial
help
for
any concert-giving organization
which intro-
duces new and unfamiliar music to its audiences '.
The first
step
towards the dissemination of new
music is to make known to
performers
and con-
cert-givers (not
to mention
broadcasting
authori-
ties)
what
exactly
is
available;
and here the
Composers'
Guild of Great Britain is now
per-
forming
a
positive
service
by publishing
a
catalogue
of its members' works. Volume
1,
devoted to
British orchestral
music,
has
just appeared,
and
may
be obtained
through
music dealers or direct
A2
from the
Secretary
of the Guild at 7
Harley Street,
London,
W.1. The
price
is 5s.
(75
cents
U.S.A.)
per copy; single copies, post free,
5s. 8d.
(85
cents).
The
catalogue,
which is
excellently pro-
duced,
is divided into six
sections, listing
details of
symphonies,
concertos and other orchestral works.
Subsequent
volumes
will,
it is
hoped,
cover the fields
of
vocal, choral,
instrumental and chamber music.
Aword or two about the
Composers'
Guild
may
not be unwelcome. Founded in
1945,
and
representing composers
of
every type
of
music,
from
light
to
serious,
it exists to
improve
the
general
status of
composers
in this
country,
to
act as a
general
information
bureau,
and to offer
help
and advice when
required
to all its members.
Although
a British
Guild, membership
of it is not
confined to those of British birth
alone,
but is
open
to residents of the United
Kingdom
and the
Commonwealth. 'We in the
Guild', says
the
official
statement, 'hope
that we conduct our
affairs in a
spirit
of
intelligence
and
enlightenment;
we are
dealing
with an
art,
and we
try
to do so
without
bigotry, politics
or
compulsion.
The
strength
of such a Guild lies in the
goodwill
of its
members and in their
spirit
of mutual
brotherhood,
and we have
championed
the
composers'
cause on
every
occasion where we felt our intervention
might
be of
help.'
'
The Guild's
journal, published
twice a
year
and
now called The
Composer,
contains articles and
reports
of
special
interest to members. The cur-
rent
issue,
for
instance,
contains a
moving
tribute
to
Vaughan
Williams
(who
was President of the
Guild)
from Gordon
Jacob,
the
report
of a
meeting
between the Guild and the
B.B.C.,
an article on
the new
catalogue by Guy Warrack,
the text of a
broadcast talk called 'Letter to a
Young
Com-
poser' by
Edmund
Rubbra, together
with informa-
tion about such mundane matters
(that
nevertheless
have to be dealt
with)
as income
tax,
ballet con-
tracts. and insurance.
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