by SEYMOUR WHINYATES
WILLIAM DE FESCH was a distinguished Flemish organist, who began his career in the Church of Notre Dame at Antwerp. Besides being an organist he was a capable performer on the violin, and it was in that capacity that he established himself in London. When Handel's Occasional' Oratorio was produced in 1746, it was de Fesch who was leader of the orchestra. He produced more than one Oratorio of his own in London, and his published works included, besides important church music, a number of Sonatas and Concertos for stringed instruments. Many of these are rich in fresh and wholesome melody, not unlike Handel's.
Caslelnuovo-Tedesco is one of the youngest members of the present-day Italian school of composers; he has produced a number of interesting works, chiefly for orchestra, and for chamber music, although they include some for voices. He is no doubt one whose name will become better known in this country as in his native Italy, as performances of his music increase in number.
ONE of the most interesting figures in the modern French school of music, Milhaud has been violently assailed for the revolutionary nature of some of his work. Still quite a young man, his output is already very large, and embraces music in many different forms. It was his chamber music which first attracted attention, and it looked as though the romantic influence of Cesar Franck was to be carried on in his work. But he quickly showed that more startling forms of expression were to be looked for from him, and one specially bold experiment was the way in which he combined stage noises along with voices and the orchestra in his music to a play of Aeschylus. Music of a burlesque order has appealed to him, too, and his parody of musical comedy traditions in The Blue Train is brilliantly funny.