MUSIC.
THE BOURNEMOUTH MUNICIPAL ORCHESTRA. Ix London one may easily fail to see things musical in their true perspective. We are apt to attach undue importance to Metropolitan institutions which do not affect the musical growth of the nation, and to overlook provincial developments of a far- reaching and permanent influence. Thus, to be specific, the exceptional attractions of the present opera season may well lead us to disregard the fact that opera in London is still an exotic—a luxury confined to the wealthy and the well-to-do, and essentially cosmopolitan in its organization. The space devoted in the leading newspapers to the brilliant performances at Covent Garden and Drury Lane is no doubt explained by their artistic excellence and social importance, but it is out of all proportion to their value as an educative influence on the nation. With enterprise so dazzling, but so limited in its appeal, it is well to contrast an event which has been noticed very briefly in the London Press—the coming-of-age of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra, celebrated on Thursday week by a special concert. There is, of course, nothing very wonderful in a town orchestra to a German or one who knows Germany. There it is a matter of common form, But with us it is still so much of a rarity that the establishment, the continuance, and the success of this pioneer municipal orchestra deserve especial recognition. The thing has been done, and well done, thanks to a happy combination of circumstances : local enterprise and the choice of a musical director of great ability and indomitable energy. Mr. Dan Godfrey, junior, who is still in the prime of life, proved his hereditary talent as a student at the Royal College in the " eighties," and had already made his mark as a conductor when he was chosen to take command of the Bournemouth orchestra. It was a great opportunity for a young man of five- and-twenty, but he has proved worthy of his trust. He has not only been a benefactor to Bournemouth, but he has reconciled his allegiance to art with an enlightened musical patriotism. The record of his work, set forth in the book published to commemorate last weekl anniversary, is a fine testimony to his courage, his persistence, and his catholic taste. The most conspicuous features of these concert programmes, as is truly pointed out, are the symphony, overture, and concerto. Thus by 1910 the nine symphonies of Beethoven had been played at the regular symphony concerts alone on more than 180 occasions; 910 symphony and classical concerts had been held ; the total number of works performed amounted to 1,263; while, of the 308 composers represented, 129 were British, 47 German, 30 French, Belgian, and Dutch, 17 Russian, 17 Bohemian, Polish, and Hungarian, 12 Scandi- navian, and 11 Italian. This eclectic character has always been a feature of the Bournemouth concerts, and is remark- ably illustrated in the list of works performed at the symphony and popular concerts during the last season. Among the compositions heard for the first time at Bournemouth were works of Brahma, Liszt, Glazonnov, Kopilov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ravel, Sibelius, and Tcherepnin; while among the older works were seven symphonies of Beethoven, all four of Brahms, two by Glazounov, three by Mozart, two by Schubert, three by Tchaikovaky, two by Stan- ford, and no fewer than twenty-three overtures and excerpts from Wagner's operas. Of the 308 works performed, thirty-six were new to Bournemouth, including thirteen new works by British composers. With regard to the personnel of the band, it may be noted that, while many of the players have taken up important positions elsewhere, a considerable number have been members of the band almost from the start, while the original leader is now a member of the Bournemouth Town Council. As for Mr. Dan Godfrey, he is now not only orchestral generalissimo, but Managing Director of the Winter Gardens. The permanent orchestra costs about £150 a week, and the total expenditure under his control amounts to some £18,000 a year. The state- ment of finance shows that there has only been a small charge on the rates, and that the Winter Gardens are now practically self-supporting.
Mr. Godfrey has not only built up a first-rate orchestra, kept it together, and inspired it with his own enthusiasm, but he has educated his audience to a pitch of appreciation at which they expect to be kept abreast of the beat and the most advanced symphonic music. But all this could not be done in a day. The fortunes of the experiment have had their ups and downs. Mr. Godfrey was never content to advance on lines of least resistance. He had to educate the municipality as well as his audience, and to prove to them that the generous and ambitious policy was the best policy : that in the long run it would pay Bournemouth to maintain, not merely a band, but a band which played fine music in first-rate style. It is only fair to the municipal authorities to say that, whatever misgivings they may have had in the past as to the employment of the rates in the furtherance of this policy, they are now convinced and whole-hearted supporters of their musical director. They fully recognize that their orchestra is one of their greatest assets; that it is a potent inducement in determining the choice of intending residents when they come to consider the rival attractions and amenities of the towns of the South Coast. The music at Bournemouth is a " draw " second only to the salubrity of its climate. These points were all dwelt on at the Mayor's luncheon which preceded the concert. Lunching, in the words of Michael Finsbury, is a thing that may happen to any man, but public luncheons are seldom so entertaining in all senses of the word as this was. The local worthies were proud of the occasion, as they had good reason to be; the guests were glad to be there; and to Mr. Godfrey fell the agreeable loh laudari a lawlatis. Bournemouth is fortunate in the possession of a Mayor, Mr. McCalmont Hill, who is a moat humorous and genial speaker, and his references to the versatility of Dr. Maclean, to the early triumphs of Sir Hubert Parry, and to the fact that Mr. Edward German, in spite of his surname, was inseparably associated with "Merrie England" were witty as well as appropriate. The speeches were all good, brief, and to the point. Sir Hubert Parry— who, by the way, was born in Bournemouth—paid a well- deserved tribute to the enterprise of the municipality and the good comradeship of the band. It was always a pleasure, he said, to come down and conduct orchestral players who were all of them such good fellows as well as such good musicians. Mr. German—the first British composer to conduct a perform- ance of his own music by the Bournemouth orchestra—spoke with genuine feeling of the services rendered by Mr. Godfrey to native art; no new composer of note could appeal above the horizon without Mr. Godfrey swooping down upon him and bringing his works to a hearing at Bourne- mouth. Mr. Godfrey indulged in some breezy autobio- graphical reminiscences which added to the hilarity of the gathering, and welcomed the presence of Mr. Bertini, who directed the military band with which the municipal authorities began their musical activities ; and Dr. Maclean, in proposing the toast of the Parks and Band Committee compared their unobtrusive efficiency, in a well-chosen image, to that of the violas and the horns in an orchestra —instruments that were never aggressively prominent and yet were absolutely essential. Then, after the inevitable claims of the camera had been satisfied, a move was made to the concert hall. The Mayor and Aldermen filed in arrayed in the full splendour of their official robes; the National Anthem was played, and the concert began with Brahma's Academia Festival overture. That genial yet dignified work was well chosen to show bow Mr. Godfrey and his band can interpret classical symphonic music, jest as Stravinsky's "Fireworks," which closed the programme, gave them fall scope for the display of transcendental bravura. For the rest, as became the occasion, the concert was mainly devoted to the works of British composers, who, as it has been truly said by Sir Charles Stanford, have never had a better friend than Mr. Godfrey since the late Sir August Manna. Sir Alexander Mackenzie conducted a movement from his "London Day by Day" suite, Mr. Edward German the charming Valse Graciense from the suits written for the Leeds Festival in 1896, Mr. Vaughan Williams his romantic Norfolk Rhapsody, and Sir Hubert Parry the high-spirited Overture and "Little Pigs" minuet from his music to the Acharnians. The only songs heard were settings by Mr. Granville Bantock of Browning's " Man I am and man would be" and " Epilogue."
It is pleasant to add that the appreciation of Bournemouth music-lovers of their band and its director did not content itself with applause. At the close of the concert the Mayor presented Mr. Godfrey and his wife with a testimonial and gifts subscribed for by their well-wishers, and the members of the orchestra with gold medals in commemoration of their coming of age. Never were gifts better earned. But perhaps the moat convincing proof of Bournemouth's pride in, its orchestra is to be found in the intention of housing it more worthily in the new Winter Garden Palace, the plans for which were exhibited at the Mayor's luncheon. C. L. G.
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