MUSIC.
THE COMING ELIZABETHAN FESTIVAL.
IF British music in the twentieth century is remembered for nothing more than the reinstatement of the Tudor musicians, it will Laid a high place in the history of music. If we imagine the sueden discovery of Shakespeare and the whole train of Elizabethan dramatists, it will give us a hardly exaggerated idea of the importance of this wonderful galaxy of musicians rescued from oblivion for us by Dr. Fellowes, Sir Richard Terry, Mr. Barclay Squire, Mr. Arkwright and their colleagues. Although we cannot estimate the true value of these additions to our music until the Elizabethans play as full a part in our musical life as they played three hundred years ago, an intelligent interest is the least tribute we can pay to the long, patient research of the editors, whose. labours are almost beyond appraisement. Documents from half a dozen libraries may be needed for the reconstruction of a single madrigal, for until now this music has existed only in singers' parts, some of them imperfect and inaccurate, many of them still hidden away in private collections. How much of Shakespeare should we possess to-day if instead of the Quartos there had been only the parts of the separate characters, ill-printed or hurriedly copied out by the actors themselves, and scattered all over England with the dispersal of the players ? Moreover, Under the Commonwealth, almost all memory of Elizabethan music was blotted out.
Partly through private enterprise and partly with the admirably directed resources of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust a large quantity of Elizabethan music has been pub- lished, but history shows that the best music is seldom appreci- ated and accepted by the public until its merits have been persistently sung and demonstrated by the enlightened few. The promoters of the Elizabethan Music Competitive Festival are making it their business to encourage the wide performance of this music, and they deserve every support. Last year the competitions were more in the nature of" a series of enjoyable concerts "as the Committee intended, in spirit as far removed as possible from the lusty pot-contesting character of most competition festivals. Many of the competitors were small village choirs, and strangely diverse were their ideas of madrigal singing. None, however, went away without some knowledge of the subject, so thoroughly constructive were the adjudicators' methods. This year the second Elizabethan Music Competitive Festival begins at the Kingsway Hall, on February 28th, and ends early in March, with a concert. The latest date of entry is January 31st, and all particulars may be had from the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Alan May, 31 Bonham Road, London, S.W. 2.
The prospectus of test pieces for the competition is far more elaborate than last year's. It has leaped from nineteen to fifty-two classes for singers, instrumentalists and choirs of all sizes. The pieces themselves form a fascinating anthology, well exemplifying in their diversity the adventurous and many-sided genius of the Tudor musicians. How fortunate are those competitors who will study, for instance, Byrd's Cradle Song, one of the first art-songs, so Dr. Fellowes tells us, and surely never since excelled in exquisite tenderness ; or Byrd's two string sestets, perhaps the beginning of modern chamber music, and one of them at least a miracle of sustained development, and a valuable addition to string music ; or Weelkes's madrigal, Cease sorrows now, for three voices, written when the composer was of "unripened years," and in its rich imagination and colour, more precocious than the glowing poetry of Marlowe ; or Morley's Ho, who comes here, full of robustious merry-making, with echoes of the morris- dancers and chiming bells, certainly a delightful test for the large male voice choruses who are invited to sing it. But these pickings of mine from "a box where sweets compacted lie," have led me into discursiveness ; let it suffice that there
are tests of all kinds, from unison songs for Scouts' choruses, to six-part motets and madrigals.
• Elizabethan music should be sung, not listened to, and sing- ing it is the most exhilarating pastime imaginable ; but some of us, even though we have listened to Byrd's persuasive arguments that singing " doth strengthen the parts of the brest and doth open the pipes," and "is a singular good remedy for a stating and stammering in the speech," must nevertheless spare mankind our voices. Non-combatants, however, can help the cause of the Elizabethans by urging their friends into the arena, by subscribing to the cost of the - Festival, and by attending the final concert. CECIL HANN.
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