THE WIRELESS CHORUS
THE B.B.C. THEATRE ORCHESTRA
(Leader, S. KNEALE KELLEY )
Conducted by THE COMPOSER ORCHESTRA Gypsy Overture, Chal Romano
The Queen Fairy Dances (Suite, In a Fairy Realm)
The Gnomes' March (Suite, In a Fairy Realm) By the blue Hawaiian Waters
A Birthday Greeting (First Broadcast Performance)
CHORUS and Orchestra
The sacred Hour In the mystic Land of Egypt ORCHESTRA
The Cockney Lover (The Cockney Suite
'Appy 'Ampstead (The Cockney Suite
A T the age of eleven Albert William Ketelbey played his first Pianoforte Sonata at
Worcester Town Hall, and soon after won a scholarship at Trinity College, London. There for six years he studied every branch of music he was allowed to and had time for, to say nothing of French, German and Italian, and took every medal and prize that came within his reach. Then lie was offered a professorship at Trinity College and an organist's job at Wimbledon, but presently abandoned these and his teaching work for theatre conducting. This in turn was given up for composition. At first he tried writing chamber music and major works of unimpeachable dignity, but the publishers failed him. They could' not live up to such high ideals, and ketelbey had to think again. So he took the best of the melodies out of his serious works, and dressing them differently, offered them to the publishers again. This time the more astute ones were delighted, and those who have been fortunate enough to be associated with Mr. Ketelbey in the remunerative business of best-selling must obviously have been delighted ever since. But what of those who were not so astute? For even when the young composer had decided to reform ho had great difficulty in persuading the majority of publishers that he and his music were a good thing. The famous In a Monastery Garden was already in existence; it had been commissioned for a seaside resort and performed there and was clearly ripe for publication. No publisher would, however, look at it at first. They required that it should be altered this way and that way, but Ketelbey refused to make any alteration. That the composer was right and the publishers wrong must have given rise to painful reflections in more than one boardroom in the years following its ultimate acceptance.