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PETERSFIELD MUSICAL FESTIVAL

FULL LIST OF THE WINNING CHOIRS.

THE ADJUDICATORS COMMENTS ON THE SINGING.

     Eight children’s choirs—three more than last year—sang at Petersfield Musical Festival on Wednesday. They were Petersfield (conducted by Miss Ethel Causton), East Tisted (conductor, Mr. Arthur S. Eison), Harting (conductor, Mr. G. Frisby), Horndean (conductor, Miss Long), Privett (conductor, the Rev. W. H. Thomas), Sheet (conductor, the Rev. G. Sampson), Waterlooville (conductor, Miss E. Baskett), Westmeon (conductor, Miss Helen Fair). Of these East Tisted (the smallest choir of any, mustering only 12 children, Harting and Privett were new to the festival), Denmead School, which has usually figured very creditably, was unrepresented this time. 

     As Petersfield was not drawn exclusively from Elementary Schools it was unable to enter the competitions. The adjudicator was Mr. J. Bates, of London, and Mr. Percy Whitehead accompanied the singing.

The first Competition.

     The first competition was sight reading, for which a prize of £1 or £2 according to merit, and a challenge banner, were offered. Three of the choirs failed to read the test, and consequently gained no marks. 

     Mr. Bates stated that when he was there two years ago the children sang so extremely well that he thought on this occasion he would make the tests harder. He was rather sorry for that, because some of the choirs, he understood, were entirely new to the competition. and both tests were really much more difficult than he set two years ago. He also referred to the unfortunate mistake some of the choirs had made in starting in the wrong key owing to the letter C denoting common time in the old notation test. He criticised the performance of those choirs which sang the tests, and placed them as follows:— 

     Privett, 19; Sheet (2nd division), 18; Sheet (1st division), 17; Horndean, 17; Waterlooville, 16; Petersfield (2nd division), 12: Petersfield (1st division), 10. 

     With regard to the prize winners, Privett, he described their performance as a very excellent attempt, and said they made one slight mistake. The Sheet results, he said, were very excellent attempts at sight singing from old notation, much better than one usually heard at these competitions. Horndean made the best attempt at the tonic sol-fa, but the notes were not quite correct, and the rhythm not right in several places. Waterlooville (who won this competition last year) made another very good attempt. He also commended the Petersfield choir, but advised them to sing the tonic sol-fa syllables rather than the syllable la. 

The Second Competition. 

     The second competition was a round and catch (unaccompanied) from Novello’s School Round Book, and the prize was £2 with challenge banner. 

     Mr. Bates explained that in this competition marks would be awarded under the following heads:—Time, tune and intonation, 20; voice production and quality of tone, 20; balance and blend of parts, 20; pronunciation of words and enunciation, 20; expression, phrasing and tempi, 20. In announcing the results Mr. Bates said that generally speaking, compared with two years ago, he noticed a very great improvement in the tone quality, though there was still room for improvement. He commented upon the fact that so many choirs got the tone crammed in the throat, the result being a non-blending hard quality. He awarded the prize to East Tisted, whose tone he said was surprisingly good, quite the best of the morning, the parts were well balanced and the blend perfect, the pronunciation was good and the phrasing was excellent. The full results of the competition were as follows :— 

Final Children's Contest. 

     The last contest was the rendering of the folk song, “The Jolly Waggoners'’ (accompanied), the prize being £2 with challenge banner. 

     Mr. Bates particularly praised the Sheet choir for their very excellent articulation of the words, which he said was equal to any school he had ever heard, and also the tone quality of the Petersfield choir. The results were as follows:— 

     At the afternoon concert the children’s choirs sang. Mrs. Alexander Maitland and Miss Margaret Beneke also contributed to the programme. In the interval Mrs. Maitland, one of the founders of the festival, distributed the prizes, and subsequently instrumental quartets were played by Miss Dorothy Fletcher, Miss Justine King, Miss Olive Bell, and Mr. Percy Such. 

     The attendance of the general public at the competitions on Wednesday morning and afternoon was extremely gratifying. The large hall was well filled and the various performances, which were on the whole exceedingly creditable, were well received. The outstanding feature of the competitions was the splendid performance of Sheet choir, which gained the top points in five out of the six classes, though according to the rules all the prizes won were not given them. The improvement of the choir was very pronounced to those who have followed the festival performances previously. Miss Nettleship, the conductor, has this year got together a good choir of splendid balance, and the fact that she and those under her have been so successful is but a fitting reward for the great amount of work put in.

     Liss, Rogate, Sheet and Woolbeding entered for all the six competitions, while a large ladies’ choir from Hambledon entered for Class V. Another feature was the good work put in by Rogate choir, which is quite a new one, and the fact that they gained the honours in Class III., which is considered the principal competition of the day by not a few, should encourage them to persevere. Dr. R. Vaughan Williams and Dr. H. P. Allen were the judges, and Mr. Percy Whitehead, A.R.C.M., who gave such universal satisfaction last year, was again the accompanist. 

     The competing choirs and the conductors were . — 

Harting, Mr. G. Frisby;
Liss, Mr. A. E. Paris;
Rogate, Miss Winifred Murray;
Sheet, Miss E. Nettleship;
Woolbeding, Miss Avis Elves;
Hambledon. Mrs. Harold Floud.

     Appended will be found the results of the various competitions with a summary of the Judges’ remarks on the performances. 

Sight-Reading Test. 

     Class I. was for sight-reading (unaccompanied). The value of the prize was £2 or £1 according to merit, with challenge banner. There were five entries: Sheet, Woolbeding, Harting, Rogate and Liss. After the test Dr. R. Vaughan Williams, who judged the first class or so by himself, as Dr. H. P. Allen had missed his train, said it was a much harder sight-reading test than last year, and if he had marked the points lower it would not necessarily mean that it was badly done. Going on to explain the allocation of the points, he said that in sight-reading the greatest thing was correctness—correctness in note and correctness in time; they did not expect much else. He pointed out he gave the maximum, 10 points each for accuracy of actual notes, accuracy of time, accuracy of intonation, and 30 points for general musical intelligence. That would make a total of 60. He went on to point out the mistakes that had been made, and urged the choristers not to make things too difficult for themselves. Let them always try to make things as easy as they could for themselves—sometimes the easiest was the most correct. He then read the result as follows:— 

Sheet Win Again. 

     There were the same number of entries in Class II. The subject was a test chorus from “Judas Maccabeus,” and the chorus "We come in bright array,” was chosen. The prize was a challenge medal. 

     Dr. Williams said that was a very difficult chorus to sing accurately, but it was on the whole sung very well, and there were very few places where actual mistakes in notes were made. It was important that the notes should be accurate, but that was not everything. Criticising the singing, he said he thought all the choirs took the chorus too slowly. Enunciation was very good in a great many cases, but the word “Judah” might have come out better—it should have come out like a trumpet, and worked up to as the climax. Giving 10 points each to accuracy of notes, time, marks of expression, good tone, accuracy of intonation and the enunciation of words, and 30 for general musical excellence, this made a total of 80. He explained that he had marked on a higher scale than for sight-reading, and then gave the result as follows:— 

Rogate Head the List. 

     The grand chorus, “O Father, Whose Almighty Power" (Handel) was the subject for Class III., the same choirs competing. The prize was one of £4, with challenge banner. 

     Dr. Williams said the subject was not very hard with regard to notes. A few of the leads were very difficult, but most of the choirs did them very well, though some of them took them a little weakly. Most of the choirs took the opening too quickly. One choir commenced well, but got slow and it became too heavy. The lead “And grant the leader bold,” was, he was sure, taken too quickly. One choir took it about correct, but made a mistake elsewhere. With regard to enunciation, the choirs should have given a little more attention to “Oh” in the “Oh Father.” Criticising the performances of each choir, he said with the Sheet choir the sopranos got a little bit flat, and he noticed a little sliding from one note to another. The enunciation was very good. Liss choir took the piece too quickly, and it was almost impossible to get the leads correctly; otherwise it was not a bad performance at all. Rogate's was a very good performance, musically, and he was very pleased with it, especially considering it was a new choir (applause). The time, tune and tone were good, and the sopranos good. In consequence of the tone being good they also managed to keep in tune. The enunciation and general musicianship were very good, but the piece was taken too quickly. The choir had a very good sense of climax, though there was one rather weak lead on page 7. Woolbeding's start was not very good. There was a little sliding from one note to another, and the tone in some passages was not quite so good as it might have been. He pointed out that they might think that he was unkind in his remarks, but he told them their faults, for they knew themselves where they were good. With regard to Harting, he rather thought he was going to hear the time of the opening taken right; but it got slower and too heavy. Some of the leads were not very good, and there was an actual mistake in notes once. The result was:—

This result was received with loud applause. 

Male Voice Competition. 

     Class IV. was that for male voices. Mendelssohn’s “Vintage Song,” from °Loreley" (accompanied) was the subject, and the prize was £2, with a challenge banner. Five choirs entered. 

     Dr. Williams said there were two difficulties with regard to this subject. The first was as to the right time. There was nothing to guide them as to exactly how quickly to take it, but it all depended upon how quickly they could do so without losing other points. Most of the choirs took it too quickly, and as a result the pronunciation of words was at fault. However, Sheet, though taking it too quickly, made up for the fault by the fact that they pronounced the words so well that it did not matter. The other difficulty is to sing some of the passages in tune. He illustrated his remarks on this point, and showed the most difficult passages. Some of the choirs did not start well, and that was a difficult point. A friend of his once told a leader writer for a daily newspaper that he thought it must be dreadfully difficult to write a leader every day, and the reply was: “Oh, it is easy after the first sentence is complete.” It was exactly the same with singing. After a good start what followed was made easier. Two of the choirs were very close together. They were Sheet and Harting, and both were extremely good performances, but on the whole Sheet got one more mark than Harting (applause). The result was:— 

      This concluded the competition before lunch, and Dr. Vaughan Williams said he thought the performances on the whole had been very good. The accuracy of notes, the time and tune had been good, and he urged upon the soprano’s to remember by improving time they got better intonation and general interpretation. He had heard some very musicianly performances, and more than one of them had been bad from a musical point of view. Some of them might have been more spirited etc., but those were negative faults. 

Dr. Allen's Comments. 

     After lunch the competition for Class V. was taken. This was for female voices (accompanied), and the subject was “Sound Sleep” a beautiful trio by Dr. R. Vaughan Williams himself. The prize was one of £2 with challenge banner and there were six entries, Hambledon bringing up the number. Dr. H. P. Allen announced the result, and the appearance of this most popular musician upon the stage brought forth tremendous applause from the choristers who he conducted in the evening and the company in the body of the Hall. He gave a characteristic declaration of the result, his witty and pointed remarks being applauded. He asked the competitors to look at their copies as he wanted to tell them one or two things about it first. He said when one had to sing a piece that was very delicate and wanted delicate tone, it was often sung in a different way as if one was afraid of it. After further remarks he said they must not sing as if they were simply trembling with fright, because that made all the people in the audience most uncomfortable. (Laughter.) Proceeding he said that was a very difficult piece to sing, but it was a very beautiful thing. The greatest difference of all was not the matter of the notes, but the matter of the rhythm. Did they all know what he meant? He did not believe any of them did. Hands up who did. (Laughter.) Proceeding he said it did not matter how slow a thing went, they should make it go with the right swing. There was a slow swing as well as a fast swing, but he would explain that at the rehearsal. Although they all sang it at about the right time, very few of the performances sounded as if the time was right. One could take a thing fast and make it sound as if it was slow. That was a difficult thing to do, but it was a thing for the conductors to understand. There was a very serious fault to be found in the matter of intonation. He explained this was the use of the pianoforte, and said if they could overcome that fault they could keep pitch for any length of time. It all depended on watching and thinking what one was doing, and when they went up they should see they went far enough, and when they went down that they did not go down too far. He then criticised the pronunciation of the word “wind,” and gave hints as to pronunciation. He urged them to always finish one word before they commenced another and said all those points made the difference in a good performance. 

The Choirs Criticised. 

     Going on to individual criticism he said Harting took the piece a little too slowly and there was less of rhythm. The altos were a little too strong for the balance, and he advised the choir not to jerk off the notes. Woolbeding sang with very nice expression and voice and the altos were very good. In ladies’ trios the second trebles were wedged in between two others and got rather excited and thus sharp. (Laughter.) It was so here. He advised the choristers not to force their voices. One had a voice of a certain power and one should never go beyond it. If they did so they would either get out of tune or lose quality of sound, a nice sound was everything in singing, and one ought never to sound horrible. (laughter). Singing was to give pleasure, and if they growled or screamed they would not please the audience. (Laughter.) Referring to Sheet's performance, he said it was good musicianally. There was one fault in actual singing. They went and felt about for a note. They should have hit the note quite easily and not “splash.” (Laughter.) If the composer had wanted a lot of notes he would have written a scale. (Laughter.) It was, however, a very good performance, and in his experience of this choir he congratulated them on their improvement during the past few years. (Applause.) That was what they came there for. They did not altogether come there to win prizes, but to become proficient in singing. (Applause.) Taking Liss Choir he said the intonation was not faultless. He would not say more than that. Sometimes it was—well not bad, but something approaching it. He should, however, like to give them encouragement, for they had the material for a really good choir. If they did not sing in such a diffident way they would do much better. They should each say "I am coming out to enjoy myself, and not going to care for anybody!" (laughter.) Instead of that they stood on the platform as if it were really on a scaffold! (laughter). Let them not do it, but sing as if they did not care for anybody except making themselves happy. (Applause.) With regard to Hambledon the intonation was rather poor, and the tone poor. It was really their own fault. Three-fourths of them did not open their mouths. They tried to sing from their throats and through their teeth, and that tended to bad tone and sore throats. (Laughter.) They should practice opening their mouths and let the sound come out instead of forcing it back. If they swallowed such sounds as they made he assured them it would not agree with them. (Laughter.) He, however, believed they were a new choir and as such did very well (applause). He hoped they would go on and make an old choir. Rogate showed very good time and very nice tone. The second sopranos were rather weak. There was a real musical feeling which gave the judges a great deal of pleasure. He thought the choir could comfort themselves with the reflection that they had done very well and gave great promise of achieving great things in the future. He hoped they would go out and do so. (Applause.) The result was:— 

     The first went to Rogate as Sheet had gained so many victories that day, as Dr. Allen put it. 

Madrigals. 

     The last competition was that of Class VI. —The Madrigal Class. The subject was Dowland's “Awake, sweet Love” (unaccompanied), and the prize was of £3 with the challenge banner. The five choirs (Hambledon not entering) again competed. 

     Dr. Vaughan Williams judged this alone, and said the piece was a very beautiful one to sing, and he thought they had all enjoyed singing it. It was a very good performance, but if there was a fault it was that they put too much into it, and that the expression was too mechanical. The real way to sing was to really feel what they were singing, and then if they did they did not, so to speak, throw it at the audience. (Laughter.) The only thing they should make an audience think was how nice it sounded, not how it was done. It was necessary to hide their art so to speak. He enlarged on this point and gave the competitors more very useful instruction. Taking individuals, he said that with the Liss choir there was a little mistake in the tenor part, and he listened to see how it would come in the repeat, and it came again. If a mistake came twice over it must be through some mistake in practising, and that was bad musicianship. The singing was a little too “jaunty.” It should have been taken much more quiet and restful. With Sheet the tempo was good and the tenors were not too good. It was a very good performance on the whole. Woolbeding's was a very good performance except for the “obviousness” he had mentioned. The basses began a little too loudly, but the fault was remedied. Rogate did not make a real good start, but that was obviated, and he liked the blend of voices very much. With Harting the tenors made the same mistake as the first choir—poor tenors again! (Laughter.) The enunciation was not quite so good as he should have liked it to be and the rallentando was overdone. It was a very good performance and they seemed to have enjoyed singing it. The result was:— 

     Dr. Williams said as Sheet had already won so much the prize went to Woolbeding. (Applause.) 

     The competition ended with hearty congratulations to Sheet choir, and cheers were given for them by the other competitors on the call of Mr. Frisby, the Harting conductor.

———O———

Wednesday’s concert attracted a large crowd of fashionable people from a wide radius. A pleasing feature was the attendance of Mrs. Stewart Gemmell and Mrs. Alexander Maitland, who, as the Misses Craig Sellar, were instrumental in launching the Festival, which has now grown to be such a brilliant success. Mrs. Gemmell presented the prizes, and Mrs. Maitland was one of the soloists. The conductor was again Dr. H. P. Allen, whose famous Oxford Orchestra was augmented by wind players from the London Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Percy Whitehead was the accompanist. 

     The chorus was composed of the choirs of Harting, Liss, Rogate, Sheet, and Woolbeding, which had competed during the morning and afternoon, and members of the Petersfield Choir. 

     The programme opened with the National Anthem, the massed choirs and the orchestra being ably conducted by the popular Hon. Secretary, Miss Grace Keily. Selections were given from “Judas Maccabæus’’ (Handel), the recitative, “I feel the Deity within,” and the air “Arm, arm, ye Brave,” being sung by Mr. Thornely Gibson, who exhibited nice tone and a true appreciation of the meaning of the composer. The chorus, “Fal'n is the foe,” needed much more practising than some of the choristers had given it. Some of the early soprano leads were shaky, but all improved towards the end. Mrs. Alexander Maitland took the recitative “O let Eternal Honours crown his name." She was in fine voice, and received an ovation at the conclusion. The trio and chorus ‘“See the Conquering Hero Comes’’ was a revelation of its real beauty and power. The trio was taken by Miss Viola Slavin, Miss. Winifred Bowden-Smith, and Miss C. Liston, and the blending of the voices and rendering of the music were all that could be desired. The chorus was quite the best work of the choir and produced a splendid effect.

     From a highly classical standpoint the next item was the tit-bit of the evening. Mr. Leonard Borwick is a pianoforte soloist of great local popularity, and his rendering of Mozart’s Concerto in B flat major was a perfect treat to those who appreciate high-class music.

     Mr. A. J. C. Mackarness here, on behalf of the Committee, called upon Mrs. Stewart Gemmell to present the banners and prizes to the conductors of the choirs which had been successful in the day’s competitions. 

     Mr. Mackarness proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mrs. Stewart Gemmell for her kindness, and it was accorded with cheers. After this pleasing ceremony the programme re-opened with the overture “Cariolanus” (Beethoven) by Dr. Allen’s Orchestra, which was much applauded. Dr. R. Vaughan Williams' composition for female voices “Sound Asleep” was sung by the massed choirs, with the composer as conductor. The choirs had the additional advantage of Dr. Allen being at the pianoforte, and this beautiful dreamy composition was sung delightfully. The men were not to be outdone, and their competition test piece, Mendelssohn’s “Vintage Song,” was so remarkably well rendered—with help from the conductor, Dr. Allen, who had evidently been hard at work on this piece at the rehearsal that the audience made them repeat it. The concluding item was Beethoven's famous “Choral Fantasia,” which opened with pianoforte solo work by Mr. Leonard Borwick, who almost surpassed himself. The ladies’ trio was taken by Misses Viola Salvin, W. Bowden-Smith, and C. Leston, and the male voice trio by Messrs. C. Child, Percy Hannam, and Thornely Gibson. This led up to the grand finale, in which all the performers combined, and the result was an exhilarating performance.

YESTERDAY'S COMPETITIONS.

     On Thursday morning the competitions for the principal choirs in the district were held. The weather being unfavourable, there was not such a large gathering of the general public as on the previous day. The competing choirs and conductors were:— Horndean, Miss Long; Liphook, Miss N. Maclean; Petersfield, Miss Causton; Purbrook, Miss Grace Keily; Redhill, Mr. A. G. Whitehead; Westmeon, Miss Helen Fair. 

     The chief contest, the test chorus, which was taken last, was a fine finish to the competitions. There was a close contest between Petersfield and Purbrook, the former winning by one point only, for which they have to thank their tenors. Miss Causton was warmly congratulated.

     It was a fine performance of Horndean in winning the madrigal. Taking the competitions as a whole, Purbrook’s performance was best on points, as will be seen from the following list of totalled points, out of a possible 220:— 

     The results of each class and the judges’ remarks are given below :—

     The first class was for sight reading (unaccompanied), and the prizes were of £2 or £1 according to merit, with challenge banner.

     Dr. Vaughan Williams, speaking of sight reading, explained that accuracy was not the only thing in music, but one of the first things they had to learn was to read the printed note, and then to be able to translate it into sound. Then they could go on to what was really important—expressing what they imagined the composer really meant. They must also observe the key and time signatures, and “the important little words at the top.” 

     In the case of the Liphook choir, he said it was a most extraordinary thing that the treble part was practically inverted by the trebles (laughter). They started and finished right, but the most wild things went on in the middle (laughter). Evidently they had a feeling for the key. But the other choirs did the same more or less. It showed that they were not reading at sight, but were guessing. When they were reading they should read, and when they were composing they should compose, he observed sarcastically. In some choirs the conductors sang as well as conducted, and the result was that one voice was heard especially prominent, and it was more difficult to keep time. 

     Petersfield started badly, but with that British pluck which worries through somehow, they finished up right. With Redhill the trebles were very good, but not the other parts. 

     The results were as follows :— 

   Class III.—The Madrigal, for a prize of £2 with challenge banner. The subject was Morley’s “My Bonny Lass,” unaccompanied. 

     Dr. Williams said he did not mind how quickly it was taken, but Liphook got hurried over it. Some of the choirs took it slowly, and then it sounded heavy. One should do a little acting in choral work, and pretend they were enjoying themselves, even if they were not (laughter). 

     Petersfield made a rather bad start, but picked up, and the whole programme was a little heavy, although the tone was good. West Meon gave a good rendering, and the singing was lighter than by some of the other choirs, but there were bad faults in enunciation. Purbrook sang as if they enjoyed it, but the expression was a little bit overdone, and there were one or two bad faults in enunciation. 

     Redhill’s was a good, honest performance, but a little heavy. Horndean was very good indeed, and the sopranos really got away from all that painful feeling in the high notes. The expression came naturally, and there was not a mistake in notes, although it got a little flat. None, however, was absolutely in tune at the end. The result was as follows :— 

     Class II.—The test chorus, taken from Sir Hubert Parry's “Job,” p.p. 64 to 69, of scene iv., for a prize of £3 and challenge medal. 

     Dr. Allen said the judges chose that particular part because it contained so many different things that were important. There were changes of time and key and all kinds of rhythm some very solemn and some dramatic passages. It gave them all opportunities for showing what they could do, and he thought they could be very well satisfied with the result. In a choral work the first essential was to read the words and see in what spirit they ought to be sung. If that had been done he thought that at the beginning they would all have sung a little more solemnly. There was a good spirit about Liphook’s performance, which was of very great importance in music. The basses were at fault in some of the points. Petersfield was very good, and it had good tenors, who were rather scarce generally, while basses were as common as possible (laughter). The dramatic portion was well done, and the enunciation was good. Westmeon made some slips on the notes. It was the hardest work he thought that they had ever had to sing, and it gave them great credit to have tackled it with such success. Redhill showed an excellent spirit in the rendering. The basses were all right at one difficult passage, but one voice went wrong. Purbrook’s performance was good on the whole, and in one passage was almost best of the choirs. Horndean might have given a little more expression. The result was:— 

———O———

LAST NIGHT’S CONCERT

     There was almost a record audience at the winding-up concert last (Thursday) evening. The six best choirs were massed, and the orchestra was composed of the musicians who gave such delightful performances on Wednesday evening. A splendid programme was given, the items comprising madrigal, symphony, oratorio, and an overture from Beethoven.

     Mr. Mackarness announced that owing to a slight indisposition Mrs. Stewart Gemmell was unable to attend and present the prizes, but that Mrs. Alexander Maitland had consented to fill the vacancy.

     The prize-giving ceremony over, Mr. Mackarness, on behalf of the choirs, thanked Dr. Allen for coming down last autumn and helping them. It was the 8th Festival, and there had been a record booking of seats for it. He eulogised the work done by Mrs. Craig Sellar and her daughters for the first five years, and said that when they left the neighbourhood people asked what would become of the Festival, and all sorts of pessimistic things were said. People who spoke thus forgot that Miss Craig Sellar left behind her Miss Grace Keily (applause). For the past three years Miss Keily had used her unfailing tact, put in tremendous hard work, and had been always serene in the face of great difficulties. He said that he thought they must all agree that night that she was really the successful successor of a lady who it was almost impossible to succeed successfully.