THE PETERSFIELD MUSICAL FESTIVAL
A SPLENDID SUCCESS.
The first Petersfield Musical Festival has come and gone, and left in the minds of all who were associated with it either as competitors, performers or audience, the memory of a notable, delightful and thoroughly profitable day, which will not easily be effaced. The festival was excellently organised by Miss Craig Seller, of Littlegreen, whose energy and devotion in the institution of what is urgently hoped by all lovers of good music in the neighbourhood will be an annual event, has excited a very general feeling of admiration and gratitude. The warm and widespread interest which the inauguration aroused in the district, and the practical support which was forthcoming when the conditions of the competitions were published, must have been very gratifying to her and those who chiefly assisted her in the work, but more than all else the unqualified success which the festival proved when at length it was brought to an issue must encourage them to pursue their praiseworthy efforts to improve the choral singing of this neighbourhood. The advantages of these festivals to those who take part In them are so obvious that we need not go into them here. Mr. Arthur Somervell made brief reference to them at the festival, and we are sure the members of the choirs who appeared at the Drill Hall last Thursday will be the first to acknowledge the benefits which have already attended the undertaking. Now that the thing has been started so auspiciously we have little doubt that in years to come there will be no lack of interest or participation by those for whose good It has been established and that many more choirs will come forward another year. For a first venture last Thursday’s gathering exceeded the most sanguine expectations and nothing but praise is due to those who surmounted the initial difficulties and admirably carried out the arrangements, which were remarkably free from the inadvertent faults and omissions that even with the greatest care and consideration are so apt to creep in. Financially the undertaking was well supported by a list of some fifty subscriptions, and in case of necessity there were guarantors of substantial sums in the persons of Mrs. Craig Sellar, Miss Craig Sellar, Mr. J. Bonham Carter and Mrs. Long to fall back upon, but so well patronised was the festival that the heavy expenses will no doubt be met without recourse to their generosity.
The spacious drill hall was capitally suited to the requirements of the gathering. Quite a third of the hall was occupied with a large platform with tiers of seats for the singers, of whom nearly 200 took part in the various competitions. These were made up of choirs from Petersfield, Havant, Horndean, Langrish, Littlegreen and Purbrook. The members of the different choirs wore a distinguishing badge. Petersfield was represented by the Temperance Choir, conducted by Mr. H. Sharp, and the singers wore dark blue and white rosettes. Havant wore purple and were conducted by Mr. W. Packham. Horndean’s badge was cerise and white, and Miss Mary K. Long was the conductor. Langrish choir, over which Mrs. Vaughan wielded the baton, wore white; Littlegreen, conducted by Miss Rosalind Craig Sellar, green and white; and Purbrook, under the conductorship of Miss Kelly, turquoise blue. The choirs were well handled by these different conductors, the pieces selected for the competitors were admirably chosen, and the standard of singing as a whole was extremely good. There were two competitions in the morning, viz., the choral competition, of which a chorus from ‟St. Paul” formed the subject, and the competition for male voices. In the afternoon the competition for female voices and the madrigal competition took place, followed by sight-reading, which rightly played a very important part in deciding the two chief contests, though it led to some heart-burning on the part of some of the choirs, such as Petersfield and Langrish, whose performance in these contests had placed them in proud positions, only to be forfeited by their failure to read at sight sufficiently well to retain them. A good many people listened to the competitions. especially in the afternoon The judge was Mr. Arthur Somervell, the well-known composer, who carried out the duties with striking ability, and of the accuracy of his awards there can be no question. Mr. Henry Bird played the accompaniments on a grand piano, supplied by Messrs. Austin Storry, of Southsea. It was a beautiful instrument and Mr. Bird's playing was perfect. Throughout the festival was favored with bright and sunny weather.—We are asked on behalf of the organisers of the festival to tender their best thanks to Capt. Mackarness for kindly lending the drill hall.
FIRST CHORAL COMPETITION.
The subject of the first choral competition was the beautiful chorus ‟See What Love” from Mendelssohn’s St. Paul. Six choirs entered and sang in the following order: Havant, Horndean, Purbrook, Petersfield, Littlegreen, and Langrish. The prize was a challenge banner and £4. All the choirs acquitted themselves well, and at the close Mr. Somervell rose amid much applause. He could not tell them, he said, how pleasing it was to him to be there. He had assisted at a very large number of competitions, and it was always a delight to see them started, because when once they had been started they never stopped. The choirs insisted on having the same thing next year and going on and doing better and better every year. (Applanse.) He did not think it was necessary for him to begin to point out the advantages of these competitions to those who had worked all through this winter, because the advantages laid where everybody could see them. He thought the principal one was that they got to know by degrees an immense amount of good music. They had the delight of practising together all through the winter, which was often extremely long in the country, and gradually accumulating year by year a repetoire of good music, which enabled them to give concerts in villages very easily. Anti then they learnt to do the things well. Some people thought it was not a very good thing to know a great deal about music lest they should become critical and their critical faculties destroy their pleasure. But he did not think it was so in anything else in life and he did not see why it should be in music. These competitions were also good inasmuch as they enabled them to measure themselves against other people which was often an extremely wholesome proceeding. (Applause.) Then there was one thing all would agree with him in, viz.. that the competitive part was only a very small part really. The real object was to get to know and love good music. It was not for the prize in itself, though of course it was very delightful to get the prize, but all was not lost if they did not get it. (Applause.) He felt very strongly about that at the present time because those who took any interest in games and those who ever looked at music as it went on in Wales would see that both things were going very much in the direction of what he could only describe as pot-hunting. He thought it was a dreadful thing, especially for music, that there should be any sort of feeling that the prize was the object. In Wales there were most magnificent choirs who would all compete against each other but could not be got to sing together. That, it seemed to him, was altogether a wrong spirit to introduce into music, and therefore he hailed with great delight the concert that would take place that evening when all feelings of competition would be done away and they would all be united in singing the same things. (Applause.)
Mr. Somervell then proceeded to criticise the performance of the choirs, particularly pointing out at the beginning that the sight-reading tests would be gone through in the afternoon at the end of the competitions, and marks for sight-reading would be added to the marks now obtained, so that the results, so far as they went now, might be entirely changed.
HAVANT.—This choir, he said, were a little bit too abrupt in their start. They were inclined to slur and the altos to force the notes too much when they came in in the attack. The choir had a very sweet tone on the whole and managed the expression nicely but had one great fault—their mouths were not opened enough. If they did not open their mouths it stood to reason that they could not get either the tone or words out properly. They should open their months until they felt they were opening them a good deal more than was comfortable or even sightly and that would be about the right extent. The maximum marks for this competition were 60, made up as follows : Correctness of time and notes, 10; intonation, 10 ; attack and clearness of words, 10; expression and blend of voices, 10; and general effect, 20. Havant under these headings had gained respectively 10, 8,6, 8, 16; total 48.
HORNDEAN. —Time and tune were very good, but here again the words were not clear. Except in the case of one or two of the choirs the words were not clear enough. If he had not happened to know the words of the piece they were singing he did not think four of the choirs would have made him any wiser except for an occasional word thrown in. Horndean choir took too many breaths. They ought to breath a little bit more together and arrange the best place to take breath and to get the phrasing. So many breaths spoilt the smoothness of the piece. It was a pleasing choir but he thought it was a little bit wanting in grit. The marks gained were 10, 6, 6, 7, 14: total 43.
PURBROOK. —This choir began quietly but were rather wanting in tone. There was a nice feeling running through the whole performance but he thought tone was wanted distinctly in places and the balance of the voices was not so good as it should be, the men were a little bit too weak for the women. They mistook quietness for feebleness. Instead of being quiet they became feeble. They must preserve the idea of strength even when singing quietly. The marks awarded to this choir were 10, 7,6, 6, 13; total 42.
PETERSFIELD. —The blend was rather wanting in this choir. The intonation was very good indeed. The words were not quite clear enough and the voices were inclined to slur sometimes from one note to another. They should not make a festoon as it were in reaching a note but go clean up to it. The crescendo was very well managed. There was a good general effect and the chorus was worked up well. The marks gained were 9, 8, 6, 8, 15 : total 46.
LITTLEGREEN. —Intonation was good. The choir began rather feebly. This was the first choir that really gave him the words. The performance was well worked up but the blend was not so good as it should be and the voices were not always quite together. He thought there was a great deal of very nice feeling displayed in the whole performance. Their marks were 10, 8, 7, 6, 13; total 44.
LANGRISH. —He thought the tempo was a little bit slow and inclined to be a little bit sleepy but they were very beautifully controlled at the beginning. The words were also very clear and the chorus well worked up. He thought the performance was a trifle mechanical and sleepy sometimes, but there was a great deal of tenderness in it and the general effect excellent. The marking was as follows: 9, 9, 8, 8, 16; total 50.
In conclusion the judge again reminded the choirs of the sight reading and remarked that it was a very wholesome and sometimes a rather humiliating thing when the marks were added for sight-reading.
MALE VOICES.
The next competition was for male voices only and the subject an extremely pretty four-part song ‟The Winter is Past” by Mr. Somervell. Four choirs competed in the following order: Horndean, Langrish, Littlegreen, and Havant, and the prize was a banner and £2. At the close Mr. Somervell said it had been an extremely interesting competition, partly because it was very close and partly because he knew a good deal about the piece and knew the pitfalls quite as much as the conductors and singers. He had marked this competition exactly on the same principle as the last.
HORNDEAN.—The intonation was not always perfect. The attack was rather sleepy in places and the words were not quite good. He thought it was not quite smooth enough and sounded a little bit too much a march. The piece did not go slowly but they must not hear the four beats in the bar very distinctly. This was a very sweet tuned choir. The marks awarded were 9, 8, 7, 6, 14; total 44.
LANGRISH.—This choir did not get the end quite right but it was extremely difficult, and in fact he wrote it for a competition up at Kendal and partly made a pitfall at the end. The intonation was not quite what it should have been and the choir made rather a bad start. It had a nice tone and was very quiet, almost too quiet, in tone, but that was a fault on the right side. The marks were 7, 7, 7, 7, 12; total 40.
LITTLEGREEN.—This was an excellent performance. It was the only choir that got the end quite right. Intonation was not perfect in one or two places but on the whole it was good. The words were very clear and the attack good. There was a good attempt at the expression of the piece but blend of voices was wanting. The marks gained were 10, 8, 8, 6, 16; total 48.
HAVANT.—This choir also gave a very good performance indeed. They made one slip just at the end. The blend of the voices was rather nice but he thought the tempo of the piece was a little too fast. They lost marks on the right notes at the beginning and also a little bit on general effect because he felt they rather lost the plaintive character of the music by taking it a shade too fast. It was, however, a very nice performance and the blend of the voices was excellent. The marks awarded were 9, 8, 8, 7, 15 ; total 47.
FEMALE VOICES.
The third competition was for female voices and all the choirs, with the exception of Petersfield, entered. The subject was an exceedingly beautiful trio ‟Orpheus with his lute” by Edward German. The prize was a challenge banner and £2. At the close of the contest Mr. Somervell said this had been an extremely interesting competition and an extraordinary close one. This was one of the moments when he wished he had not to adjudicate because the singing had been so extremely even all the way through and he was thankful for a wrong note sometimes. Still, in the words of the notice in the American church, he hoped they would not shoot the judge because he was doing his best. (Laughter.) His remarks on the competing choirs were as follows:—
HAVANT.—This choir, he thought, got the time of the piece exactly right. It was not always an easy thing to do, a very slight difference in the tempo sometimes made an enormous amount of difference in the effect. The intonation was fair but the words not quite as clear as he should have liked, and once or twice passages were slightly slurred. This was a very sweet choir, and he thought the rendering of the piece was an extremely delicate performance. The marks awarded were 9, 9, 8, 8, 17 total 51.
HORNDEAN.—The intonation was not quite perfect, and the words not quite so clear as they should have been. The second sopranos seemed a little weak and overbalanced by the soprano and alto parts, but the performance was extremely nice and sung with great feeling, though he thought the time was not quite what it ought to have been, but just missed that exactitude which made all the difference. The marks gained were 10, 10, 8, 7, 15 ; total, 48.
LANGRISH.—The intonation was fair, but the voices were not well together. They did not start together, and at the end the word ‟die,” on which the voices should have been together if on any word, was not right, but sung with a little stammer. It was a very sweet choir and their performance conscientious, with a good deal of feeling, but yet rather erring on the sleepy side. The points gained were 10, 9, 6, 8, 14 ; total 47.
PURBROOK.—The worst fault of this choir was that they rather sank in pitch. They were not always well together, but the piece was delicately sung. In some details they were not always quite so good as other voices, but as a whole they were extremely good, and it was an exceedingly charming performance. Their points were 10, 7, 8, 8, 16: total 49.
LITTLEGREEN.—The intonation was not quite so good as it should have been and the start was bad, the choir slurring up to the word ‟Orpheus.” It was a very sweet-toned choir, but the altos were hardly strong enough on the low notes and seemed to be overbalanced by the two top parts, especially at the end. The feeling of the performance was very nice, but now and again there was a sort of want of unity in the whole of the choir, which rather spoilt the general effect. The marks awarded were 10, 7, 7, 8, 14 ; total 46.
MADRIGAL COMPETITION.
The choral competition in which the subjects were madrigals, unaccompanied, afforded as much interest and pleasure as any. The selections were ‟Why do the Roses” (Pearsall) and ‟Down in a Flow’ry Vale” (Festa), and the prize a banner and £3. The same six choirs that entered for the the first choral competition took part in this. Mr. Somervell acknowledged that it had been a rather difficult competition to judge. The following were his remarks on the different renderings.
LANGRISH.—The pitch of the first madrigal was kept fairly well. The altos were a little eager to come in at the beginning. The expression was nice and the general effect fair. The marks awarded were 49. The second madrigal was much too slow. It ought to be quick and light as a feather. There was a nice effect of light and shade, but it would have been so much better if the speed had been right. The voices were not always well together and in tune. The performance was rather heavy. The marks for this piece were 45, making a total for the competition 94.
LITTLEGREEN.—The time of the first madrigal was very good and the entry of the voices very well managed. The words were well spoken. For this performance 49 points were awarded. The second madrigal was too slow, though not quite so slow as in the case of Langrish. The voices were well together and the blend came out better than in the first madrigal. They lost pitch a little. Points awarded 48, making a total for the competition of 97.
PURBROOK.—In the first madrigal the choir were not very well in tune once or twice. The effect was sometimes rather ragged. There was not quite enough light and shade. Marks 45. In the second madrigal the time was much better, though still a little slow. The voices did not begin very well together, in fact some of the voices, he thought, did not come in at all for about one bar. The staccato was not done in all the parts, only generally in the altos and trebles. Marks 49, making a total for the competition of 94.
HORNDEAN.—The entry in the first madrigal was rather too loud in the basses. The time was very good. The sopranos were a little sharp once at the end, but it was a spirited performance and the attack was firm. Marks gained 53. In the second madrigal the time was the best so far. The voices were well managed, but slightly forced at the staccato, which had a rather unpleasant effect. There might have been a little more light and shade. Marks awarded 48, making a total for the competition of 101.
HAVANT.—The expression in the first madrigal was rather overdone. The expression wanted to be rather more broad, it was too detailed, and descended to words, almost to syllables, sometimes. They wanted to throw the expression into the whole sentence. The piece was extremely well sung and the blend of the voices very good. The end of the madrigal was well done, but the choir rather lost marks on the expression, which he felt was exaggerated. The marks gained were 51. The second madrigal was rather too heavy and the expression again a little overdone. The voices were not always quite together. In the second verse the time was rather better and the general effect good. Marks 48. Total for the competition 99.
PETERSFIELD.—The time of the first madrigal was very good. It erred on the side of being fast, but the madrigal was not a slow one, and he would rather have it too fast than too slow. But in taking it too fast they lost tenderness. The attack was very good, though perhaps a little forced in some places. Points gained 50. The second madrigal sounded extremely well. The choir was a very good, full-toned one. The attack was not always quite clean on the note. Sometimes the sopranos rather gave a whisk in the air before they came down on the note, but the whole performance was very spirited and, in fact, about the best of that madrigal. The marks were 52, making a total of 102.
READING AT SIGHT.
As already mentioned coupled with the choral competitions was reading at sight, and after the four classes were finished the choirs left the Drill Hall and were called in separately to go through this further trial, and, as Mr. Somervell had warned them, it proved a very chastening ordeal to some of the choirs. Whereas the singing of the competitive subjects revealed no very striking difference in the proficiency of the choirs, this further test led to some astonishing, and, in fact, most amusing results. The test piece was a portion of a part-song entitled ‟The Haven” and contrary to the general expectation had to be sung unaccompanied, simply a chord being struck on the piano to give the singers the pitch. Havant were the first to essay the difficult task and under the circumstances acquitted themselves with great credit, getting the tune and time very fairly. Horndean came next, but got a bit mixed at times and the performance was not nearly so good as that of Havant. The same may be said of Purbrook, but the greatest diversion was afforded by the three last choirs whose struggle and floundering excited much laughter on the part of the audience and amongst the singers themselves when after having a decidedly bad time of it they reached the last note, by a singular coincidence on the word ‟peace.” Special interest attached to the performance of Langrish and Petersfield, who, apart from this test piece, led respectively in the choral competitions, but sad to relate got further at sea than the others and received the lowest number of marks. Petersfield started off in a spirited and apparently confident manner, but did not keep it up very long and the concluding half of the selection was exceedingly tame and poor, the soprano part being practically absent. It is only fair to say, however, that several of the singers in the Petersfield choir are sol-faists and were without music. The following were the marks awarded by the judge: Havant 32, Horndean 27, Purbroo 28, Petersfield 23, Littlegreen 24, and Langrish 23.
FINAL RESULTS.
At the close of the sight reading Mr. Somervell said he had added on the marks and there was a sort of Kaleidoscopic result. He gave ten for time, ten for tune and twenty for the notes, which after all was far the most important part of reading at sight, making a total of 40. The only choir that really sang—he did not want to be rude (laughter)—was Havant and they did remarkably well. He apologised for having chosen such a horrible piece of music for them to sing, but explained that he was obliged to choose something which had the merit of not having been seen by any of them before. He must also apologise for not having tonic sol-fa copies. He had only just time to make one or two for the basses and tenors during the luncheon. On the performance of ‟See what love,” Langrish got 50 marks, but he was sorry to say they pulled themselves down later on by the reading, so that the prize went to Havant. Littlegreen won the competition for male voices and Havant that for female voices, Havant would also have won the madrigal competition, but could not take more than two first prizes so that the prize was awarded to Horndean.
GRAND CONCERT BY THE UNITED CHOIRS.
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DISTRIBUTION OF CHALLENGE BANNERS AND PRIZES.
In the evening the hall was filled to its utmost capacity, when the choirs gave a grand concert, assisted by several accomplished artists and an efficient orchestra of 35 instrumentalists, consisting of local and other amateurs and members of the Royal Marine Artillery band from Southsea. This brought the delights of the day to a climax, and rarely, if ever before, has such a rich musical treat been enjoyed in Petersfield. The elite of the neighbourhood was strongly represented, and a good number of people came from Portsmouth and the intermediate stations. In the body of the hall scarcely a seat was vacant, and the balcony was fully occupied with listeners. The platform presented an interesting sight with the singers ranged at the back and along the sides, with the orchestra in the centre. After the choir had with fine effect sung ‟God save save the King,” with orchestral accompaniment, under the conductorship of Miss Rosalind Craig Seller, the distribution of the challenge banners and prizes took place.— The Rev. Cyril Edwards said he had been asked at a moment’s notice to initiate the concert by bringing before them the prizes which were to be kindly presented to the successful competitors in the competition by Mrs. Cave. They all owed a very great debt of gratitude to Miss Craig Seller for the initiative and the energy which had brought this great musical festival to such a successful issue. It had been a glorious day for weather and for harmony, and if he might venture to say one word, it was that the thing which struck him was the excellence attained by village choirs. He then asked Mrs. Cave to present the prizes, which she did amid much applause, and then Mr. Edwards thanked Mrs. Cave in the name of all present for having distributed the prizes so gracefully, and hearty clapping of hands confirmed his wonls. —Then the concert programme was proceeded with and evoked real enthusiasm amongst the audience. The winning choirs in the various classes sang the competitive pieces and were all applauded, especially Horndean for the madrigals, which were loudly encored. The combined choirs of Horndean, Purbrook, Littlegreen, and Havant, and the orchestra, conducted by Miss Craig Sellar (to whom during an interval in the programme a lovely bouquet of white roses and lilies of the valley was present by Master Purfoy Causation, the son of the Vicar), gave a magnificent performance of the chorus, ‟Hail! Bright Abode,” from Wagner’s ‟Tannhauser,” and roused the audience to such a pitch of delight that rounds upon rounds of applause and shouts of encore continued for some minutes after the performance, though Miss Craig Sellar several times, bowed her acknowledgements, and only ceased when she ultimately held up her watch to indicate that time would not permit of a repetition. Miss Craib Sellar also ably conducted the whole of the choirs who had taken part in the competition during the day and the orchestra in a very excellent rendering of Mr. Arthur Somervell’s fine chorus, ‟The Charge of the Light Brigade,” set to the words of the late Poet Laureate, and which also elicited the warmest applause. Mrs. A. A. Montgomery and Mr. Lawrence Rea, both vocalists of the highest ability, contributed songs which excited the utmost admiration. Mrs. Montgomery sang in particularly pleasing and refined style ‟Deh Viene” (Mozart), ‟O Come! O Come! my Dearest” (Arne), and ‟Nymphs and Shepherds” (Purcell), and in response to a hearty recall, captivated her hearers with a brilliant rendering of a spring song in which various bird notes and trills were imitated to perfection. Mr. Lawrence Rea’s capital baritone voice and artistic powers impelled unstinted appreciation in his songs, ‟Two Grenadiers” (Schumann), ‟So we will go no more a-roving”—of which he gave a specially beautiful rendering—and ‟King Charles,” both by Maud Valérie White. He was encored at every appearance, and in two instances responded with other songs, equally enjoyable, and which served but to further reveal his excellent vocal skill. The other items in the programme were violin solos by Mr. F. Royston Cambridge, L.R.A.M., the leader of the first violins in the orchestra, in ‟Concerstuck” (A. Willholmj), ‟Nottumo op. 9, No. 2” (Chopin-Wilhemj), and an encore selection he displayed a very delicate touch, charming expression and great executive skill, which pleased the audience above measure. Mr. Henry Bird acted as accompanist, except to ‟The Charge of the Light Brigade,” for which Miss Rosalind Craig Sellar played the accompaniment.
Before this, the last item on the programme, was performed the Hon. S. H. Jolliffe proposed a very hearty vote of thanks to Miss Craig Sellar, and also to the ladies and gentlemen who had so well and ably assisted her, for the great pleasure they had given them the beautiful concert they had listened to. It was seldom they were treated to anything like such beautiful music in Petersfield (applause), and he hoped the appreciation she had received would encourage Miss Craig Sellar to allow this to become an annual festival.—The vote of thanks was passed with enthusiastic applause,—Mr. Arthur Somervell said Mis Craig Sellar had honoured him by asking him to thank the company very much in her name for the kind way in which they had received Capt. Joliffe’s proposition. He was sure everything she had done had been a pleasure to her, and he believed she had every intention, as he had, of doing it again nest year (loud applause).