Mr. G. W. GILES : Organizing and Planning for the Future '

From THE PICCADILLY HOTEL

HILDEGARD ARNOLD (Violoncello)
BERNARD CROOK (Pianoforte)
IN 1809, the firm of Breitkopf and Haertel contracted with Beethoven to publish two of his Symphonies, the Fifth and Sixth, two Pianoforte Trios, and this Violoncello Sonata. It was Beethoven's first transaction with the Leipzig firm, which was, even then, as important a music publishing house as any in the world. At tlio beginning of last century the firm had already plunged into the policy of publishing the complete works of the great masters. Mozart was being brought out in seventeen volumes, Haydn in twelve, and others, too, were in hand. Half a century later it was Beethoven s turn, and in twenty years more he was finally and completely represented in Breitkopf and Haertel's monumental edition of thirty-four volumes.

Directed by JOSEPH MEEUS
From GROSVENOR HOUSE, PARK LANE

played by The West Regional Trio
Trio No. 6, in D
Allegro; Andante; Allegro ma dolce
Trio No. 17, in G Minor
Andante; Presto
(From West Regional)

Monsieur E. M. STÉPHAN

Conductor, B. WALTON O'DONNELL
PATRICIA ROSSBOROUGH (Pianoforte)
T ORENZO DA PONTE, author of the libretto of the opera, Don Giovanni , was a combination of poet and adventurer typical of the artistic and the operatic world in the eighteenth century. He was born in the Ghetto, entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, achieved an unsavoury notoriety and was presently expelled from Venice. As a poet, however, of decided talent, he was appointed to the Italian Opera in Vienna,, and had the great distinction of writing the libretto, first of Mozart's Le Nozzc di Figaroa brilliant adaptation of Beaumarchais's comedy—and then of Don Giovanni. It appears to have been the custom in those days for the principal European opera houses to carry an official librettist, or poet as he was called, on the staff. Da Ponte made it his profession, as the celebrated Metastasio had done before him. He attempted on two occasions to secure the post of poet to Drury Lane Theatre in London, but without success, Badini, a rival, getting there first. He subsequently went to America, lived there adventurously for the rest of his life and wrote a volume of very entertaining Memoirs.
FORTY years separated Puccini's first opera, Le Villi, from his last, Turandot.
Ho was twenty-six when, as an impecunious student, he entered Le Villi for a competition. The judges did not even notice it, but Puccini had friends and the little work was not lost. In due time he writes to his mother : ' I am giving my little opera at the Dal Verme ... the expense of production is being shared by many gentlemen of Milan.....' Boito, the poet and composer of Mefistofele, contributed and was one of his most active supporters. The performance had a success, and Puccini was taken up by Guilio Ricordi , the publisher, who not only commissioned him to write another opera, but made him an allowance to enable him to do so.

' How to appreciate Art'
A Dialogue between Mr. STANLEY Casson and A Philistine
THESE talks are intended to bring before listeners who are interested in art the artist's rather than the critic's point of view. Mr. Stanley Casson will, in the course of the series, interview Mr. Frank Dobson (sculptor), Mr. Henry Rushbury (etcher), Mr. Albert Rutherston (painter) and Mr. Edward Halliday (portrait painter), with the idea of getting at the aims and methods of these different kinds of artist. A brief biography of Mr. Casson appears on page 78.

WEATHER FORECAST, SECOND GENERAL NEWS
BULLETIN

by CEDRIC SHARPE

Roy Fox and his BAND, from MONSEIGNEUR