The GLIO Site

THE PETERSFIELD MUSICAL FESTIVAL. 

GOING AHEAD. 

     When the Petersfield Musical Festival was so successfully inaugurated a year ago there was every reason to hope that the institution had been launched on a long and honorable career. These hopes were more than confirmed by the second festival, held under the happiest auspices on Thursday last. As we anticipated it proved in every way a complete success —an even greater success than that which marked the inauguration—and there is now little doubt, if ever doubt existed at all, that under the present capable and zealous management the festival will continue to flourish in the town for many years to come, affording an admirable incentive to the development of the musical talent of the neighbourhood, and providing annually a high-class entertainment which must have considerable effect in quickening the taste for what is best in musical art. Not many places of the size of Petersfield, we venture to think, can rejoice in a gathering of this character, already so flourishing, and having the promise, we believe, of much greater prosperity and benefit yet to come. The existence of such a festival is naturally a source of very real gratification and pride to the residents in the district. It was so last year after the first meeting had shown what could be done, and that feeling, very widespread as we know it to be, has only been intensified by the splendid gathering which took place last Thursday. All who had any thing to do with it may justly reflect that they assisted in an undertaking which would do credit to any community of people, and more especially to a neighbourhood where the facilities for musical training are necessarily restricted. As readers of this paper are well aware the chief honor in founding the festival and bringing it on these two occasions to such a successful issue belongs to Miss Craig Sellar, of Littlegreen. All through she has displayed unlimited zeal and energy, whilst her enthusiasm in the cause is irresistible; but she would, we know, be the first to acknowledge the large amount of active interest, cheerful assistance and practical support which has come to her from very many quarters and from various classes of people. From the first her proposal to establish a choral festival ‟caught” on in the district, and the willing co-operation she has again received this year from the choirs and from the general public, though but the due reward for her untiring labours, is indispensable to the carrying out of the scheme, and we hope will never be in any way relaxed so long as Miss Craig Sellar is willing and able to devote herself, as she has already done, to maintaining and developing an institution of which she is the moving spirit. The festival, which cannot be carried on without great expense, was this year liberally supported by upwards of 60 subscribers, and should there be any deficit Mrs. Craig Sellar, Miss Craig Sellar, and Mr. Bonham Carter have again undertaken to be guarantors to the extent of £10 each, with the addition of Mrs. Cave, who guarantees a similar amount. 

     The festival again took place in the Drill Hall, kindly lent by the officers of the I and S Companies 3rd (D.C.0.) V.B. Hants Regiment. This commodious building is exactly suited for the purpose. The arrangements were very similar to those in operation last year and were as efficiently carried out. During the day the various choral competitions, the first commencing shortly after ten o’clock, were carried on, and in the evening there was a grand concert, in which most of the competing choirs participated and combined in the rendering of some excellent choral music. Last year we confidently predicted that the competing choirs at this festival would be more numerous than at the inauguration, and so it proved. Instead of six choirs there were nine, and of these, four, viz., Woolbeding, Red Hill, Petersfield Women's Institute, and Granville College, Midhurst, were new. This was a most gratifying and encouraging feature, and, as will be seen hereafter, elicited some comment from the judge. The only choir out of last year’s competitors which failed to put in an appearance was Havant, who, it will be remembered, did exceedingly well in the contests and took premier honors in three out of the four competitions. Petersfield Temperance, Horndean, Langrish, Littlegreen, and Purbrook again supported the festival, and now that it has become a well established institution we shall look forward to seeing still more new choirs entering another year. The following were the choirs taking part in the contests this year, with the color of their distinguishing badges and the names of their conductors:—

     The only alteration In the programme of competitions was the addition of a separate class for sight-reading. Last year the results of the two chief contests were made dependent upon the sight-reading performances, but this year it was not so. Sight-reading, which still we are glad to see is a prominent feature of the festival, was a distinct competition by itself, a challenge banner, with prize of £3, being offered by Dr. Leachman. We might here mention that in this class the performances of the choirs was much better than last year, and though this may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that the test piece presented much less difficulty than that chosen for the ordeal last year, there can be little doubt that the standard was considerably in advance of that shown by the choirs a year ago, and the display by the Purbrook choir was really excellent. Full details of the competitions are given below, from which it will be seen that Horndean won both the chorus and madrigal competitions, Purbrook the sightreading competition, Laugrish the competition for male voices, and Granville College the competition for female voices. Mr. Arthur Somervell, whose qualifications for the post are so transparent, again officiated as the judge. His task, which, as he himself acknowledged, was in some cases one of considerable difficulty, was carried out in a manner which all admired. In the course of his genial criticisms he again imparted much sound advice to the singers, by attention to which they could not fail to profit. The appended full report of his remarks on the different performances relieves us of the necessity of commenting in detail on the contests. We would only like to add that, as at the former festival, we were happy to find ourselves in complete agreement with his decisions, which were given with the utmost care and consideration, and that the standard of singing, as a whole, was highly creditable to the district. Mr. Henry Bird again played the accompaniments with consummate ability. The pianoforte was a Steinway grand, of splendid tone.

     The attendance at the competitions during the day was most satisfactory. The weather was appropriately fine and sunny, and a large number of people in addition to the singers came in from the surrounding districts to hear the rival choirs sing. The town in consequence, especially as it happened to be early closing day for the shops, wore quite a holiday appearance. The fullest attendance during the competitions was in the afternoon, when perhaps the two most popular contests, that for female voices, in which all the choirs entered, and the madrigal competition, took place. The former proved peculiarly interesting and the finished performance of Granville College was certainly one of the most memorable features of the festival.

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THE COMPETITIONS.

THE JUDGE’S AWARDS AND COMMENTS.

     Below we give the detailed results of the various competitions, placing the choirs in order in accordance with the marks gained, with the judge’s comments on the different performances in the order in which the choirs sang. Mr. Somervell marked on the same system as last year, giving 10 marks for correctness of time and tune, 10 for tone, blend of voices and intonation, 10 for attack, pronunciation and clearness of the words, 10 for the pace and feeling, and 20 for general effect—total 60.

     After the first competition Mr. Somervell said he need hardly say how pleased he was to be amongst them again. It was most delightful to find that this competition which started so well last year was going ahead. He thought everybody who had worked or had anything to do with it were to be very heartily congratulated on the success of the competition. Referring to the new choirs he said it behoved them all to listen to new choirs with a special sympathy. He extended to them a hearty welcome. Every single choir helped to build up the success of this meeting. It was plucky of new choirs to come in. Last year all the choirs took the plunge together, but when a new choir came in they naturally felt a little strange. He did not know how it was in this part of the conntry but in other parts when a competition had been started and new choirs thought of joining there was always a certain number of people in a village who were apt to croak and to discourage the idea. The worse class of those people were those who could help hut wouldn’t. (Hear, hear.) So he extended his sympathy, whatever that might be worth, to these new choirs who had had the courage of their convictions and braved the croakers of their village.—(Applanse.) 

CLASS 1.-CHORUS. 

Subject . . . .  ‟Drooping Wings” . . . .  Purcell
(Accompanied.)

A Challenge Banner to be competed for annually.
Prize £4, given by Mrs. Craig Sellar.

     Six choirs entered. The acknowledged that the test piece was an extremely difficult one, but on the whole he thought the average of the performances was extremely good. The choir, he said, sang very correctly and there were very few wrong notes. 

     Langrish. —Mr. Somervell thought this choir had a very nice sweet tone and sang well together. There was a great deal of delicacy in their performance but they took it a shade too fast. 

     Red Hill. —This choir lost pitch a little and the attack was not quite clear. The words were very clear and the pace rather better than the previous choir. They started extremely well, though, he was sorry to say, they got quicker towards the end. 

     Horndean.—Mr. Somervell thought this was a very charming performance. They lost pitch slightly, which was a pity. The words were very clear and the attack good. 

     Purbrook. —He thought this was a very good body of voices, but the singing was a little ragged in places. It was a nice performance in many ways, but there was not quite enough light and shade, and not quite enough attention was paid to the crescendos.

     Woolbeding.—This choir sang extremely well. They were not quite note perfect at the repeat. They had a nice blend of voices and were well in tune. The words were clear. He thought the chorus was taken rather too fast. There was great delicacy at the start, but not quite enough made of the light and shade. It was a very good performance.

     Petersfield . —This choir lost pitch, but he thought they were a very good body of voices indeed—very solid and firm and with a nice tone. They lacked light and shade a great deal. That, he thought, was their main fault.

CLASS II.—SIGHT READING.
(Unaccompanied.)

     A Challenge Banner, to be competed for annually, with prize £3, given by Dr. Leachman. 

     Seven choirs competed. The test piece was a sacred chorus. At the close of the competition Mr. Somervell rightly observed that it had been a very interesting and in some ways amusing competition. He should like to say that the piece of music was not chosen for its intrinsic loveliness.—(Laughter.) It was chosen because most probably none of them had seen it and he was sure none of them would ever hope to see it again.—(Laughter.) It required a great deal of pluck to go in for these competitions, and he thought they all were to be commended and congratulated. It was a form of competition to be encouraged. One very good way of practising was to take things like hymn tunes, making the sopranos sing the alto part, and the tenors the bass or the alto part an octave lower. One very useful feature of these competitions was that it brought home to them very strongly what an awful pity it was one was not taught when one was young to read music as one was taught to read a book. If people were taught young enough to read music it was just as easy as to learn to read a book. It was well-known that if people were allowed to grow up without learning to read until they reached the age of 25 it was almost Impossible to teach them reading, and it was very much the same with music. He had just come from a competition in Norfolk where he had been adjudicating and there he had seen most astounding things in teaching children sight-reading. The man responsible for the competition was more keen upon that than anything else. He had gone round and got the sympathy of the schoolmasters and they had allowed him to go into the schools and examine their pupils. At the competition on the previous Saturday the children sang from staff notation and from tonic sol-fa. Children of six, about ten of them in a body, sang anything that he (Mr. Somervell) liked to write in the key of C. Children under eleven sang anything in the keys of C, G, and F with accidentals and dotted notes, and in fact at the end he was quite put to it to give them severe enough tests. Children of thirteen also did the same, but in two parts, without a mistake. What he (Mr. Somervell) wanted his audience to try and bring about was that children in the villages should be taught to read music by sight and not by ear, because singing by ear did no good at all. They might teach children to recite a few pieces of poetry but would not consider that by so doing they had done very much for their education. So they mast not think they had done anything for a child’s musical education unless they taught them to read. If the members of the choirs now competing had been taught to read when young this particular competition would not have been necessary.—(Applause.) In announcing the marks gained as under, Mr. Somervell remarked that the performance by Purbrook was most excellent and that Horndean sang extremely well all through. He gave 10 marks for time, 10 for tune, and 10 for notes—total 30.

CLASS III.— MALE VOICES.

Subject . . . . ‟Hail to the Chief” . . . . Schubert
(Accompanied.)

A Challenge Banner to be competed for annually.
Prize £2 given by Mr. Bonham Carter.

     Five choirs entered and the judge announced that the competition was very close. Last year for this competition they had a very smooth flowing piece, and he thought the piece this year was a very good contrast to it. It did not do to get into the way of only singing one kind of music. The marks gained were as follows:—

     Horndean.—This, the judge said, was a good full-toned choir. There was a nice clear attack, the words were fairly clear, and the expression adequate but they fell In tone and got out of time. That was a point they must be very careful about and of course it came out much stronger when they had a pianoforte accompaniment.

     Littlegreen.—This was not such a large choir, but they kept extremely well in tune considering the size of the choir; the attack was good, the words clear, and the expression good. Altogether he thought it was not at all a bad performance. 

     Petersfield Temperance.—This choir had a wrong note on the second page. That was a thing which ought never to occur at all. People could get out of tune because they were not feeling very fit or any reason might send them out of time, but a wrong note ought not to be there at all. The choir had a very fine blend of voice and also sang in tune. They were not very well together at the finish but it was a very nice choir indeed.

     Langrish.—This was a very good choir too—in fact he thought all the choirs had an extremely good tone about them. The quality of voice and the way in which the voices blended was very good indeed throughout all the choirs. The words of the Langrish choir were very good. He thought the time was a little bit slow. The general effect was very good indeed, because they kept the pitch, and they were the only choir who were really admirably in tune.

     Woolbeding.—T'his was a smaller choir still, but he thought it was so plucky of the small choirs to come in. They got a wrong note on page 3, the second tenors singing A natural instant of A flat. The words were not quite so clear. The effect of the performance was a little bit sleepy. It was a little slow; hardly brisk enough for the words. 

CLASS IV.—FEMALE VOICES. 

Subject . . . . ‟Lift thine eyes to the mountains” . . . . (Mendelssohn)
(Accompanied.)

A Challenge Banner, to he competed for annually.
Prize £2, given by Mrs. Nicholson.

     Nine choirs competed, and the competition was a very close one. Granville College had to sing twice as the conductor on the first occasion sang with the choir not knowing that there was an unwritten rule forbidding it. The results were as under:—

     Langrish.—This was almost the only choir that made a mistake in notes. In the last line of the whole piece the altos made a mistake. He thought there was a very sweet blend of voices but they sank a little in tune. The words were clear but he thought the speed was a little too fast.

     Horndean.— The singers in some passages were inclined to force the voice, to blow it a little and make it sound a little louder than was naturally sweet. The crescendos were very well managed and the expression very well done. Here again he thought the time was a little fast.

     Woolbeding.—This was a very sweet choir—in fact he thought all the choirs had an extremely good tone. The leads were very well taken up indeed but the words were not clear enough. It was a very expressive performance and rather better in time than the previous two. 

     Purbrook.—This choir also had good tone. The attack was not quite clear. The notes were slurred up to and the attack lost in vigour. The expression was very well managed and the pace very good.

     Petersfield Temperance.—These were not quite so well in tune and the remarks he had made about slurring applied to this choir too. The words were very clear and the expression well managed. 

     Granville College. —This was a very well-balanced choir indeed. The words were, he thought absolutely perfect. The expression was very well managed indeed. He might say he saw nothing to alter in his marking as the result of their second performance. 

     Petersfield Institute.—The blend of the voices was not very well managed. Some of the voices stood out too strong. That spoilt the effect very much. When one or two voices stood out quite clear and distinct in the middle of the others whether they were good voices or not—it marred the general effect. In some cases breath was taken in the middle of a word. They ought not to take breath even in the middle of a sentence if they could help it. That was the worst point about the choir, but there were good points, such as expression and so on. 

     Littlegreen.—This was a very sweet choir and he thought the intonation was extremely pure. The words were very clear and the expression well-managed. The crescendo on page 3 was not quite nice.

     Red Hill. —This was also a good choir, but the intonation was not quite so good as some others. The words and attack were fair. The expression was well managed, but there was a tendency to exaggerate in one or two places. 

CLASS V.—MADRIGAL.
(Unaccompanied.)

Subject . . . . ‟Full Fathom Five” . . . . Charles Wood

A Challenge Banner to be competed for annually.
Prize £3, given by Miss Flora Smith.

     Seven choirs entered. In announcing his decision as below, Mr. Somervell referred to one extremely difficult passage in the composition, on page 3, and said it very difficult to manage to get it in tune. Nearly everybody more or less came to grief there, but some of the choirs came wonderfully near to getting it. He also drew attention to three sforzando marks, which some of the choirs sang as if they were all detached. These notes he said wanted to be sung with force but not with a great gap between each note.

     Langrish.—This choir, as he thought almost every choir did, took the piece a little bit too fast. They were rather cheerful bells to be ringing about the dead father at the bottom of the sea (laughter). It was marked allegro moderato but most of the choirs took it allegro brio or allegro spirit. 

     Petersfield Temperance.—There was a mistake or two in the notes. The basses were rather sharp in the passage on page 3. At the end of the last line where rallentando was marked the choir pulled up suddenly instead of getting slow gradually. It was like a train running into a railway station without putting the brake on and stopping dead at the buffers (laughter).

     Horndean.—As he mentioned in the morning, this was an admirable choir. The basses were sharp. The attack was better. It was a very expressive performance but a little too fast. 

     Red Hill.—There were a good many mistakes in notes and the intonation was not very good and they did not keep very well together. 

     Littlegreen.—The parts came out very clearly indeed. It was a pity the choir had not got more men’s voices as this was a madrigal which wanted men’s voices more than many. They got a little bit out of tune, the attack in the men’s voices was rather wanting, but that he thought was partly owing to the fact that there was not enough of them. The tempo was decidedly too fast, but there were many good points about the performance. 

     Woolbeding.—There were mistakes in the basses and also in the altos at the end, which had not altogether a pleasing effect. The performance had many good points. He thought it was very expressive in many ways, almost too expressive. If they got too expressive they were apt to lose strength. That was the fault of this choir. There were a lot of mistakes in parts. 

     Purbrook.—This choir began well, an d he thought it was going to be prime favorite. The parts came out very clear and the basses got out of tune, but that was a thing nearly everybody did. On the last page one of the basses, he supposed, suddenly took a lozenge or something of that sort (laughter), and all the basses stopped for a whole bar. From that moment there always a gap every four bars. He did not know what they did, but it spoilt what would have been an excellent performance. This was the choir which got the time really the best, and he was very sorry about the fault he had referred to. 

     Before announcing the results in the final competition, Mr. Somervell said he should just like to say one or two words to those who had competed for the first time about the prizes. He spoke very much to the same effect last year. Don’t let them be disappointed because they had not won a prize. The prize was only an incident in the middle of a great many other things which were far more important. Supposing they had not got a prize they had at any rate learnt some very beautiful music; they had spent a great many happy hours this winter; they had improved their knowledge of music, and altogether had a good time of it, and he thought this day might also be added to those things out of which enjoyment had come (applause). The prize was only a very small matter, only an incentive, and he appealed to them not to let it ever get the upper hand, as he had seen in some other places in England, where the prize was the only thing thought of. From the moment the prize was the only thing thought of art went downhill, there was no more music left (applause).

THE EVENING CONCERT

———

A BRILLIANT SUCCESS

     The crowning success of the whole Festival was the grand concert in the evening, which, bearing in mind the treat afforded last year, all who can appreciate good music must have looked forward to with feelings of delight. Even the most sanguine must have felt satiated by the feast provided on this occasion. The concert was really a splendid success. In the first place, the audience was a very large and fully appreciative one. Capacious as the Hall is, there were few vacant seats, and the assemblage included most of the principal residents in the district and many people from Portsmouth and intermediate stations, a late train back having been put on for their benefit. The scene when the concert commenced was a most interesting one. The large platform, specially built for the festival, was occupied by a chorus and orchestra of 260, and along the front the challenge banners were placed. The chorus consisted of the following choirs, viz., Petersfield Temperance, Horndean, Langrish, Littlegreen, Purbrook, Red Hill and Woolbeding. These occupied tiers of seats facing the audience, a different arrangement to last year, when the choirs formed three sides of a square with the orchestra in the centre. On this occasion the orchestra, which, as last year, consisted of amateurs and professionals, many of the former drawn from this district, was stationed directly in front of the choirs. It comprised about 40 instrumentalists and was again led by Mr. Royston Cambridge, L.R.A.M., who displayed such fine capabilities as a violinist at the last festival. The orchestra again rendered splendid service, which elicited compliments on all sides. In addition to the chorus and orchestra several artists of repute added to the attractions of the concert, and for two hours and a half the audience enjoyed an entertainment which would redound to the credit of many a larger town. The concert commenced with a very fine rendering of ‟God save the King” by the choir and orchestra, conducted by Miss Craig Sellar. Mrs. Bonham Carter then, amidst much applause, presented the banners and prizes to the successful choirs, the results being announced by Mr. Arthur Somervell, on whose proposition a very hearty vote of thanks was given to Mrs. Bonham Carter for her kindness. Proceeding with the concert programme, which on the whole was a more ambitious character than last year, the choirs gave a good rendering of Wood’s madrigal ‟Full Fathom Five,” from Shakespeare’s Tempest. The opening attack by the men’s voices was a little bit undecided, but as a whole the performance was an effective one, Mr. Somervell wielding the baton. Mr. Lawreuce Rea, a baritone singer who, established a reputation in this locality at the festival last year, next gave a very fine interpretation of the cinematic prologue from Leon Cavallo’s ‟I Pagliacci,” for which he was recalled. This was followed by the plaintive song ‟My heart is weary” (Goring Thomas) most admirably and tastefully sung by Miss Lisa Gibson, who possesses a nice contralto voice. The next item was one of the most delightful in the programme. This was Mendelssohn’s beautitul piano concerto, ‟Capriccio Brilliante, Op. 22,” performed by Miss Rosalind Craig Sellar and the orchestra, conducted by Mr. Somervell. The rendering was throughout an excellently good one. Miss Rosalind Craig Sellar played the piano exquisitely, the delicacy and executive skill which she displayed charming her hearers. At the end there was a vociferous and persistent encore and a portion of the work was repeated. Miss Fillunger and the combined choirs then gave what was in every respect an admirable performance of the song, ‟When I am laid,” and chorus, ‟With drooping wings,” from Purcell’s "Dido and Æneas.” The chorus was one of the competitive pieces earlier in the day, and was now capitally rendered by the choirs, whilst Miss Fillunger sang the introductory recitative and air with excellent vocal quality and artistic feeling. Following this item came a violin solo by Mrs. Douglas Scott, who is always a prime favourite with Petersfield audiences. Her transcendent powers were very apparent in the superb reading which she gave of Beethoven’s ‟Romance in F,” and for which she was warmly recalled. The first part then concluded with the stirring male chorus ‟Hail to the Chief” (Franz Schubert), sung with spirit by the choirs who had competed in the contest for which this composition was the subject. Some of the parts were not strictly in tune, hut the rendering was on the whole very creditable. After a short interval the choirs and orchestra took up the most formidable of the tasks which confronted them on this occasion. This was no less an undertaking than the whole of Act ii. of Gluck’s ‟Orpheus,” the opera by which the great master is chiefly remembered. The result was a performance which would not have brought discredit on the best of trained choirs and orchestras. Miss Craig Sellar conducted with unquestionable ability and judgement. The music—which describes the visit of Orpheus to the under-world, his reception there, his vehement importunity, and his ultimate success in prevailing on the rulers to allow his wife, Eurydice, to leave the abode of the departed and accompany him to earth again —is of great power and beauty, and presents no little difficulty, but was most sympathetically interpreted. The soloists were Miss Fillunger and Miss Gibson, and these were joined in quartettes by Mr. Lawrence Rea and Mr. E. Martell (of Buriton). All these acquitted themselves in an extremely praiseworthy manner; Miss Fillunger, as Eurydice, in the beautiful air, ‟On these meadows are all happy-hearted,” making a great impression, whilst Miss Lisa Gibson sustained the music allotted to Orpheus, and which we believe was originally meant for a tenor singer, with much acceptance and marked ability. The choirs—in rehearsing whom Miss Craig Sellar had devoted much time and attention—were well together in the choruses, which they sang with very good expression. As to the orchestral music, it was of an exceedingly beautiful character, and the instrumentalists gave an interpretation which excited unbounded admiration. Mr. Henry Bird was at the piano and played the accompaniments during the concert to perfection. The rest of the programme consisted of another violin solo by Mrs. Douglas Scott, who was vociferously encored for a magnificent rendering of an ‟Air and Gavotte,” by Bach, and at last deigned to play her enthusiastic audience another selection; a song ‟The Night Bird” (Arthur Somervell), sung by Miss Fillunger, who was accompanied on the piano by the composer himself; a grand delivery of Cowen’s spirited song, ‟A Border Ballad,” by Mr. Lawrence Rea, who deservedly received an enthusiastic encore; and finally the choirs and orchestra rendered Handel’s fine chorus, ‟Galatea dry thy tears,” from ‟Acis and Galatea,” Miss Craig Sellar again conducting. Before this last item, however, Mr. Somervell voiced the feelings of the audience in asking them to give Miss Craig Sellar a hearty vote of thanks for the enormous trouble she had taken in connection with the festival. No one, he thought, had the smallest idea of the amount of trouble necessary to get up a competition of this kind and a chorus of such quality, and he hoped his audience would join with him in giving her a very hearty clap. The response was deafening, the choirs breaking out into cheers and the audience in the body of the hall clapping most vigorously. The ovation was continued for some little time, Miss Craig Sellar, who had already mounted the rostrum to conduct the choirs, smiling and bowing her acknowledgments. With the chorus the festival, which had all through been conspicuously and encouragingly successful, came to an end.