THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AMATEUR
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,— Mr. Basil Maine, in his article in your issue of April 20th, contradicts himself in several instances. In one sentence he tells us that there is a " decrease in amateur endeavour," and in another, in Berlin " only world-famouS artists and the big orchestras can be sure of drawing good audiences." This shows that the proper place of the amateur is in the audience. We are also informed by Mr. Maine that "the concert world is plunged in gloom because of the increasing number of unemployed, or little employed musicians, and the ever- decreasing audiences." The reason for. " this depression " is that the musical profession, like many others, is oyer- crowded, the prices of admission to concerts have risen con- siderably since the Great War, and. probably many thousands of. the " ever-decreasing " audiences arc. in the ranks of the unemployed themselves. We are. not living in normal times; and it is scarcely fair to judge the conditions of the art of music, which after all ,belongs to the luxuries, by pre-War standards.
The ordinary listeners of the .B.B.C. pragramines have suffered quite enough without being further bored by trials of Mr. Basil Maine's schemes for competitions for „musical amateur enterprises on the wireless. This is not the proper way to. help the unemployed professional rimaician.—I am;
Sir, &e., ANDREW DE TENNANT. 36 Somerleyton Road, S.W. 9.
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