Personally conducted by JACK PAYNE
Directed by GEORGES HAECK , from Restaurant
Frascati
Personally conducted by JACK PAYNE
GEORGINA TANNER (Soprano) ; AMINA LUCCHESI (Violin) ; MARGERY CUNNINGHAM (Pianoforte)
AMINA LUCCHESI and MARGERY CUNNINGHAM
The West Countrec-FREDERICK CHESTER will deal with this attractive subject in Song and Story
' Jan's Paper-hanging—and what happened thereat,' another amusing yarn by JAN STEWER. ' John Ridd meets Lorna Doone ' (R. D. Black more)
Played by Mrs. NORMAN O'NEILL
LOUIS AUBERT (bom 1877) is yet another of the pupils of Faure. Besides songs, pianoforte and orchestral pieces he has written music for a lyric fairy play, The Blue Forest.
JACQUES IBERT , a Rome Prize-winner in 1919 (when ho was twenty-nine) has written an Orchestral Suite, Escales (Ports of Call-inspired by a Mediterranean tour), The Ballad of Reading Gaol (after Wilde's poem), a Ballet, Les Rencontres, an Opera, Perseus and Andromeda, music for the play The Gardener of Samos, a quartet, songs, etc. His Stories Suite includes tales about The Old Beggar, A Giddy Girl and The Woman who sells Fresh Water, besides those of The Little White Donkey, and The Crystal Cage, which wo are to hear.
AS times get faster and faster, and record after record is lowered, one begins to wonder how far progress will ultimately go. But, however much the technique of athletics is improved, the athlete will always be up against the fundamental limitations imposed by nature on human effort. The exertion expended by a man running 100yds. in ten seconds may amount to as much as eight horse-power, and he may do enough work against the internal friction of his own muscles to lift him vertically as high as the cross of St. Paul's. In the final talk of his series, Professor Hill will discuss how science can investigate the onset of fatigue-an enquiry of the utmost importance in industry as well as in sport.
(Picture on page 662.)
By EDGAR T. COOK
Relayed from Southwark Cathedral
By Cardinal Newman
Set to Music by Edward Elgar
In 1865, Cardinal Newman wrote the poem, The Dream of Gerontius, inspired by his thoughts as he sat by the deathbed of a friend. It pictures the dream of a dying man, as he anticipates what lies beyond.
Elgar, himself of the same faith as Newman, long afterwards set the poem to music, and his setting had its first performance, in 1900, at the Birmingham Festival.
The best preparation for a first hearing of Gerontius is a reading of the poem itself. This can be obtained in various editions, the cheapest costing one shilling.
In the First Part of the work we hear Gerontius (Tenor), the Priest (Bass), and Assistants (Chorus).
The music opens with a very beautiful Prelude, and then follow these solo and chorus passages:-
GERONTIUS: 'Jesu, Maria - I am near to death.'
ASSISTANTS: 'Kyrie Eleison.'
GERONTius: 'Rouse thee, my fainting soul.'
ASSISTANTS: Be merciful, be gracious ; spare him, Lord.'
GERONTIUS: 'Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus.'
GERONTIUS: 'I can no more.'
ASSISTANTS: Rescue him, O Lord, in this his evil hour.'
GERONTius: 'Novissima hora est.'
THE PRIEST: Proficiscere, anima Christiana.'
ASSISTANTS: 'Go, in the name of Angels and Archangels.'
In the SECOND PART we hear the Soul of GERONTIUS (Tenor), GUARDIAN ANGEL (Mezzo-Soprano), THE ANGEL OF AGONY (Bass), and DEMONS, ANGELICALS and SOULS (Chorus). It opens with a brief Introduction, and then follows:-
SOUL OF GERONTius: 'I went to sleep; and now I am refreshed.'
ANGEL: My work is done, my task is o'er.'
Dialogue. - Angel and Soul: 'All hail, my child and brother, hail!'
DEMONS: 'Lowborn clods of brute earth.'
ANGEL: It is the restless panting of their being.'
DEMONS: 'The mind, bold and independent.'
Dialogue. - SOUL and ANGEL: 'I see not those false spirits.'
ANGELICALS: 'Glory to Him.'
ANGEL: 'They sing of thy approaching agony.'
Soul: 'But hark! a grand mysterious harmony.'
ANGEL: And not the threshold, as we traverse it.'
ANGELICALS: 'Praise to the Holiest in the height.'
Dialogue. - ANGEL and SOUL: 'Thy judgment now is near.'
ANGEL OF THE AGONY: 'Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee.'
VOICES ON EARTH: 'Be merciful, be gracious: spare him, Lord.'
ANGEL: 'Praise to His Name.'
Soul: 'Take me away.'
Souls IN PURGARORY: 'Lord, Thou has been our refuge.'
ANGEL: 'Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul.'
(The titles are given by kind permission of Messrs. Novello and Co.)
It must not be understood that these Solos and Choruses are cut off from one another in the way usual in the older Oratorios. Each of the two parts in the work is continuous, and is bound into a whole by the use of leading motifs, which are first heard in the Orchestral Prelude.
(Continued)
