Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-08
NEWS OF MUSIC
BY DAY THORPE

Beechsm, conductor. In Constitution
Hall. PROGRAM: symphony In B nat,
No. 102. Haydn: The Great Elopement,
Ballet hs s sSss u aIsss c9 f Dsas
excerpts from Les Troyens a Carthage
Royal Hunt and Storm. and Trojan
March, Berlioz.
Sir Thomas Beecham's love af-
fair with the music of Haydn. q
romance of at least 80 years
standing, has become somewhat
clandestine in this year of Mo-
Fart betrothal. but last night Sir
Thomas and the Philadelphia
Orchestra paid court to his old
flame. A perfect union was the
result
. Sir Thomas Haydn no longer
has quite the pep and vigor the
irrepressihle coquette once was
famous for, but she has aged
gracefully and is as winning as
ever in her mellow charm and
exquisite grooming.
OF all adaptions of 18th CEN
fury music for large modern Or
cheStra. the many arrangements
by Sir Thomas of movements
from Handel's operas and key
board suites seem to me to be
the most satisfactory, and of
them none is better than THE
Great Elopement." The two en-
inent Englishmen, Handel and
Beecham, do not approach each
other gingerly like genius and
scholar. but confidently like two
practical musicians intent on
making something new and sala-
BILE out of something old and out
of fashion.
They care not a fig for pedan-
try, and they contribute on the
one hand excellent tunes and on
the other very clean, resonant
and captivating orchestration.
Sir Thomas commented a bit
ruefully Monday night in the
Library of Congress that his re-
furnishing of Handel was the
only way to make it acceptable
to modern audiences. Handel
himself. who did the same sort
Of thing all his life, would prob
ably not be able to find anything
in the Beecham arrangements,
either in theory or result, to war;
rant either criticism or apology.
The DeliuS tone poem Paris
The Song of Great City"
although a major work of the
composer, is almost never played.
I had never heard it before, and
was greatly impressed by the
variety and power of the or
chestration. and the beauty of
the melodic material.
The two excerpts from Berlioz'
opera Les Troyens. which Sir
Thomas played last night, are
examples of the intense and in
toxicating music this great work
contains.
That the opera is never given
on the stage-indeed, was never
given in the composers original
version even during his lifetime
can be ascribed to several rea-
sons. First. it has no built-in
public to reassure a prospective
producer Second, it is long,
about Az hours-but so are
"Parsifal" and many other SEN
tentious but respected operas.
Finally. much of the music is
inferior to the best of it. which
is the very best of Berlioz.
But If one were to reject mod
ern operas because they con-
tanned weak spots, what would
be left other than those of Mo-
Fart, two of Verdi. and pei
leas"?
The music for an entire scene
in pantomime. The Royal Hunt
and Storm" Is background for
a stag hunt by Dido and Aeneas.
A storm comes up and the two
lovers take shelter in a cave,
where they forget venery and re-
member Venus. Sir Thomas
performance was magical. posi-
bly, the best playing in an eve
ming Of music where everything
was very good.
The 77-year-old conductor re-
sponded to the applause of a
near-capacity house with a few
deft and endearing remarks In
which he contrived puns on
Constitution" Hall and his own
constitution" Sir Thomas
speeches are as spontaneous as
hiS Fn1fSjr. ms ring