The Gramophone, December, 1926
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262
A BEETHOVEN RECORD.
~HE disc revolves, the waves of sound uprise, • ~ The swelling rhythmic chords break cool and sweet,
And visions pass before my closing eyes . . .
Two great hands poise above the keys, and beat In frenzy, till the room is filled with sound.
A massive head is turned, and bends to hear The music of those notes his fingers pound . . .
Deaf. Deaf. The proud head sinks, and one slow tear Slips down the Master's cheek . . . Beethoven weeps.
The disc revolves, the last, deep note is played; The record laid aside, Beethoven sleeps,
Never to hear the music that he made. A whirling disc, a golden flood of sound, Bring us the joys the Master never found.
Margaret Marshal!.
OUR SYMPOSIUM T
HE first thing I have to say about this symposium is a word of very grateful thanks to the contributors both on behalf of our readers and for myself personally. You will see by Mr. Bernard Shaw's reply what a risk one ta·kes jn issuing this kind of unwelcome invitation, and, of course, Mr. Shaw is, as always, perfectly right. However, if the questions were foolish, nobody can accuse the answers of being so, and I must say that I agree with Miss Sybil Thorndyke that confession books are amusing, and like her I wish they were in favour once more. I f l i terature and the stage predominate among the guests, that is b ecause they produce the most good-na,tured victims of this sort of thillg. I did not invite any member of the legal profession to contribute, because you can't very well ask a judge to admit that he has favourites, and you can't very well ask a K.C., because he is liable at any moment to become a judge. The absence of any distinguished l'epresentatives of the Anglican Church a,nd the Nonconformist bodies is due to their unwillingness to commit themselves, not to my faHure to invite them. The compa,rative scaJ'city of musicians is also due to this, and I am particularly grateful to Sir Landon Ronald and Sir Richard Terry, because they really were abominable questions to address to .a musician. I feel I ought to register my own confession, partly because I should like to be sitting at the table with our guests, and partly on the same principle that the waiter always pours the first few drops of a bottle of wine into t.he host's glass. I think my favourite song is Schumann's Er der He1'rlichste von Alle8, which I regret to say nobody has yet recorded for an English catalogue. I cannot think why. My favourite tune is without doubt The Rhinemoidel1s' Song. My favourite composer is without doubt Beethoven, and for my favourite singer I find myself sitting very deligh tfully between Miss Margaret Bannerman and Miss Madge Titheradge in naming Marguerite d'Alvarez and John McCormack.
COMPTON MACKENZIE.
Miss MARGARET BANNERMAN:
My favourite song in all the world is Schubert's" Serenade." Nly favourite composer, Schumann. My favourite tune, " Chopin" from" Carnival." My enthusiasm for Marguerite d'Alvarez as a singer and artist is sincere. She is (to me) a great artist. Mr. MAX BEERBOHM:
I think my favourite song is Voi Che Sapete; and I would call Mozart my favourite composer (thus making a verv chaste impression on your readers) but for the fact that on the Mozartia.n heights I have never felt quite so mueh at home and so happy as on heights less exalted. The tunes made by Meyer Lutz for the old Gaiety Burlesques, the tunes made later by Lionel Monckton and Paul Rubens for the Musical Comedies, and the tunes made by Mr. Herman Finck for the Revues, are what I ha.ve been and am most
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