22 MARCH 1940, Page 21

BANNED MUSIC

Slit,—In his article " Herr Schmidt on Culture " your music critic refers to a German broadcast in which it was suggested that England had banned performances of Wagner's music. Perhaps the broadcaster had seen and accepted as evidence the following letter from the Rector of Horfield which

appeared in the Bristol Evening World on January 31st, 1940.

" Sir,—May I express my surprise and regret that the B.B.C. Symphony Concert in the Colston Hall today includes items from Wagner's Siegfried and Gotterdiimmerung. These operas are the musical embodiment of German brutality and unprincipled domination and are not fit for performance at the present time."

King's College London Union Society, c/o Victoria Rooms, Bristol, 8.