ENGLISH MUSIC . FESTIVAL IN PRAGUE [To the Editor of
the SpEcrivroa.1
Sin,—The opening lines of Mr. Basil Maine's account of the above, in your issue of December 24th, are likely to create an • entirely false impression concerning foreigners and British • music: I am by no means a young man, and I have lived all my life among Frenchmen, Italians, and Germans (some of them relatives by marriage with members of my own family), and • I have never heard that any one among them had any prejudice against British music and musicians.
It is a legend, largely created by that section of Britishers, who cannot speak -a single foreign language properly, and whose travels on the Continent have been strictly limited to Messrs. Cook's fortnightly tours. A perusal of the Biographie Universelle des Musiciens, of Francois Joseph FOtis, will show that British musicians- (composers, instrumentalists, and singers) of the past, who were above mediocrity, were always welcomed on- the -Qontinent. George Onslow (the gi-andsoni- ' of Mr. Speaker Onslow) was for nearly. 'half a ce.ntury the principal composer of chamber music _ in France, and his quartets and quintets are still performed in French provincial - towns. John Field, -the inventor of the "Nocturne," who paved the way for a more "widely known successor, the Franco- Polish Chopin, lived and died in Russia. . There are at the present time ten cheap niodern German editions of Field's Nocturnes obtainable. Balfe was known as a composer Of Italian and French operas before his successes in England. . G. A. Osborne was for a long time one of the most popular composers of light pianoforte music in France. The published letters of Mendelssolin and the musical criticisms of Schumann show that the-cOmpositions of Sterndale Bennett (now most unjustly negleeted.by his own countrymen) were appreciated by these great Germans. The recently published biography of Arthur Sullivan (by his nephew, Mr. Herbert Sullivan, and Mr. Newman Flower) shows that Sullivan as a young man was hailed as a " colleague " by Rossini. Dame Melba, in her charming Recollections, tells us that she foimd • it more difficult to obtain an engagement for a minor part in one of the London Savoy productions than to be cast for the prima donna roles at the Paris Grand Opera. This Australian child of the British Empire was first recognized as a great singer by the Latin race, French and Italians. That respected veteran musician, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, tells us in his delightful Narrative that his earliest successes were " Made in Germany," Sir Edward Elgar has been for some years a member of the French Institute. Grand Opera in England has been always warmly patronized by foreigners and their descendants, and the Jewish people, who are a cultured musical race all over the world. If this "imported blood" were more numerously represented in this island, Grand Opera would be in a better financial position than it is now.
In conclusion, it may be stated that Mr. Basil Maine rather Weakened his cause of" Contemporary English Music when he recommended the performance of works of Delius and Goossens. Both belong to the" imported blood" section.
The first is the son of a Genhari resident at Bradford; and the _ _ _ .; other a son of a Belgian conductor.—I am, Sir, &C., ANDREW 'DE TERNAJCP.
36 Somerleyton Road, Brixton, S.W.
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