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Hof fneG INTERPLANETARY MUSIC FESTIVAL

Presented by HAROLD HOLT LTD. at the ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, 21st & 22nd NOVEMBER 1958

AN EXTRAVAGANT EVENING Introductory Music played in the Foyer OF SYMPHONIC CARICATURE DEVISED BY GERARD HOFFNUNG with * « FRANCIS Hoffnung Festival Overture BAINES * * APRIL CANTELO * EDITH COATES * JOHN DOBSON « DAME EDITH EVANS * EDGAR EVANS « P. RACINE FRICKER » Metamorphosis on aBed time Theme PETER GLOSSOP * GERARD HOFFNUNG * * OTAKAR KRAUS * GLORIA LANE » ELIZABETH POSTON * SHEILA REX * DUNCAN ROBERTSON * LIONEL SALTER * MATYAS SEIBER Sugar Plums ¢ JAN WALLACE *« THE HOFFNUNG FESTIVAL OPERA COMPANY and CHORUS

THE HOFFNUNG (alias MORLEY COLLEGE) SYMPHONY | ORCHESTRA (Leader: Michael Jones) Conductor: NORMAN DEL The Famous Tay Whale THE BAND AND TRUMPETERS OF THE ROYAL MILITARY SCHOOL OF MUSIC (by permission of the Commandant and Lt.-Col. David McBain, O.B.E.) THE DOLMETSCH ENSEMBLE Carl Dolmetsch + Cécile Dolmetsch + Nathalie Dolmetsch * Joseph Saxby * Layton Ring * Michael Walton Concerto for Conductor and Orchestra Festival Manager: JACK PHIPPS Producer: COLIN GRAHAM Notes: T. E. BEAN, C.B.E. Punkt Contrapunkt

“Hoffnung, aided and abetted by his many gifted collaborators, has done it again, to the The United Nations delight of the 6000 odd music-lovers who at- tended the two performances, and to the envy of the many thousands unable to gain admis- Waltz for Restricted Orchestra sion...Dare we look forward to a third edi- tion? They say, after all, that Hoffnung springs eternal...” Thomas Heinitz, Saturday Review Let’s Fake an Opera io 35800 MERGING from the relative obscurity of the lower brass section of the but coughing and polite applause. Not only did music-lovers hear old favorites orchestra, Gerard Hoffnung has become more of a public figure than “upside down,” as it were, but new compositions were commissioned for the probably any other tuba player in musical history. The fun began express purpose of exciting laughter. The recording of this festival attracted when his devastating caricatures of musicians and singers first appeared in critical notice throughout the world; and (as expected) the response was tre- newspapers and magazines, and then in books. He dared to laugh at that mendous when the second, the Interplanetary Music Festival, was announced pompous figure, the orchestral player, as only a musician can; and his inven- a long two years later. tion sometimes, indeed, borders on madness. Hoffnung is a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists, and a serious In 1956 Hoffnung hurled a catastrophic bowling ball into the china shop graphic artist and painter. During the 1951 Festival of Britain his paintings of “serious” music, when he organized the first Hoffnung Festival. The comic were seen at the Festival Hall. spirit prevailed in the concert hall where for so long had been heard little

HY INTERPLANETARY? asked a reporter at the press conference at reminiscent of Grand Guignol he hissed: “But can’t you tell him that they which the 1958 Hoffnung Festival was first announced to the stellar are being run on diluted cocoa?) When a professional tightrope-walker universe. “I’m glad you asked that question,” was Hoffnung’s reply, “because offered his services for the Interplanetary Festival life was made hectic for ... I don’i know!!” the back-stage and first-aid staff of the Festival Hall for several weeks while

He may not have known, but everyone associated with the preparations our Leonardo was working out elaborate engineering devices for enabling for the event can make a shrewd guess. The truth is that Hoffnung revels in the second trombone in the United Nations fantasy to reach his place in the hyperbole. That is why he prefers the Tuba to the Recorder, the Alphorn orchestra by copper wire from Mars (alias the Grand Tier)... to the Piccolo... It may also explain why the first discussions about the 1958 Yet, though his whimsies are sometimes gargantuan in conception there Festival took place (I am not inventing this!) in the Hippopotamus House in is a nimbleness in their execution which keeps one in a state of mercurial the Zoo with the chief occupant making waffling contributions which hilarity. He talks and thinks (as he gesticulates) at a thousand tangents. Hoffnung alone could interpret and communicate. Suggest the germ of an idea to him (it was probably his in the first place!) Indeed, this penchant for the elephantine runs like a silken thread (or and instantly he grasps its innate absurdity, translates it into something HEAR MUSIC FROM should one say a steel hawser?) through both the 1956 and the 1958 Festivals. strange and wonderful, blows it up to ludicrous proportions until, even- In “‘Let’s Fake an Opera” he demanded that the Valkyries should arrive on tually, it explodes into another Hoffnung Festival, a new volume of musical THE 1956 HOFFNONG the scene mounted on Lambrettas, not, let me hasten to add, because he was caricature, or a stitch in the side... MUSIC FESTIVAL particularly impressed by their size (he would have preferred a division of It has, of course, sadly to be admitted that musical caricature is not to heavily armoured tanks!) but because they enriched the counterpoint with such everybody’s taste or stomach. “‘Let’s Fake an Opera” had to be pruned of CONCERT a heavenly ground bass. (When, incidentally, it was pointed out to him that many an affectionate dig at Thingumajig and You-know-who because the the Lord Chamberlain expressly forbade the importation of inflammable publishers of their scores feared that the Masters would lose face if David ANGEL 35500 fuel into a place of public entertainment his contempt for chicken-livered and his fellow-apprentices were permitted to parody their stately measure. officialdom became itself highly inflammable and in a conspiratorial whisper What these guardians of the seemly and the straightfaced failed to appreciate

The drawings in this booklet and on the cover have been reproduced from The Maestro, The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra, The Hoffnung Companion to Music, The Hoffnung Music Festival, and Hoffnung’s Musical Chairs by kind permission of the publishers, Messrs. Dobson Books Ltd., and Messrs. Putnam & Co., Ltd. A movement from Concerto for Conductor and Orchestra () The Maestro (Gerard Hoffnung) with the Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra. A Concerto in which the soloist, although silent, makes his personality strongly felt is the subject of this extract.

Punkt Contrapunkt (Bruno Heinz Jaja). The performance of this work is preceded by a discussion and analysis of it by Dr. Klaus Domgraf-Fassbaender and Prof. von der Vogel- weide. The work is played by the Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra conducted by Norman Del Mar. Script by John Amis. Music by Humphrey Searle. Punkt Contrapunkt, since it is accompanied by an illuminating disserta- tion on some of the more obscure aspects of the twelve-tone row— by two distinguished teutonic musicodologists, needs no further description. was that parody can be a far healthier and no less sincere form of flattery Ian Wallace, bass-baritone; Lionel Salter, harpsichord. The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra than imitation. You can’t make vital parody of something that is itself lacking conducted by the composer. in vitality: and this is true whether you are parodying the ineffably bad or In Metamorphosis on a Bed-time Theme (‘Sleep sweeter Bourn-vita’), the superlatively good work of art!... Joseph Horovitz presents the ghosts of the Great Masters as they might be Besides, it is a mistake to imagine that Hoffnung and his fellow con- resuscitated for Independent Television in England or for Madison Avenue spirators are concerned primarily with taking the mickey out of the masters. in America. The work is exquisitely scored for soprano, bass-baritone, harpsi- Much, indeed the greater part, of the fun of the two Festivals has consisted of chord and orchestra, and. is full of cunning mis-quotations — reminiscent of original music which serious composers have been encouraged, stimulated, Bach, Mozart, Verdi, Schoenberg and Stravinsky. xz Gos i prodded, bludgeoned, bribed, flattered — or, to use an omnibus verb, hoff- Sugar Plums (realized by Elizabeth Poston). The Dolmetsch Ensemble with Elizabeth Cp, ed HON ae ~= won~ ¢ a aN ia a CT. nungized — into writing: thereby enriching the orchestral repertoire with a Poston, organ, Felix Aprahamian, percussion. Battérie: Lionel Salter, Eric Thompson, Peter = Hemmings, Robert Ponsonby. 4 new vein of musical humor. None of these willing collaborators has any patience with that obnoxious form of philistinism which guffaws at what it In Sugar Plums the famous Dolmetsch Ensemble bursts with unsuspected have been the preserve of the larger orchestras. To hear the great moments cannot appreciate. That their satire is appreciative, their sky-larking positive, virtuosity into the wide realms of symphonic music which for far too long in Tchaikovsky through what, until now, have been regarded as the wrong the works here recorded will gaily testify. end of the telescope adds a new perspective to one’s appreciation of the composer’s genius. SIDE ONE “The Famous Tay Whale” (a dramatic poem by William McGonagall, poet and trage- dian. Set to music by Matyas Seiber). Declaimed by Edith Evans with the Hoffnung Symphony SIDE TWO Introductory Music played in the Foyer (Francis Chagrin) Drum and Fife Band of Orchestra conducted by the composer. Fog-horn by Annetta Hoffnung. the Royal Military School of Music conducted by the composer. To a composer less versatile than Matyas Seiber, and to an actress less Excerpts from The United Nations (Malcolm Arnold). The Hoffnung Symphony Two excerpts from a Hoffnung Festival Overture (Francis Baines) The Trumpets Orchestra conducted by the composer and Band of the Royal Military School of Music. catholic in her sympathies than Dame Edith Evans, the realization in music of the Royal Military School of Music. The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. Organ: John Weeks. of William McGonagall’s dramatic poem “The Famous Tay Whale” might In The United Nations Malcolm Arnold has sought “‘to recreate the fine spirit of human endeavor which becomes so apparent whenever the Nations The planets begin their capers with a Hoffnung Overture by Francis well have ended in dramatic fiasco. William McGonagall (self-styled “poet meet together.” The work is scored for full orchestra and as many military Baines. It is scored for full orchestra, a violence of trumpets, and a New Noise and tragedian’’) has been described as the Florence Foster Jenkins of poetry. bands as there are entrances to the concert hall. I suspect that Arnold began possibly to be known in future editions of Grove as “The Creak.” And what immortal hand or eye could possibly set Miss Jenkins to poetry? One imaginative touch in the score is the introduction of the Espresso Machine this work with his tongue in his cheek, and the entry of the bands in a babel Metamorphosis on a Bed-time Theme (Allegro Commerciale in Modo Tele- which, in the words of Gerard Hoffnung, “imparts a strange, sweet sound of of chauvinistic marches and airs certainly has a lusty, satirical humor which visione) (Libretto by Alistair Sampson. Music by Joseph Horovitz). April Cantelo, soprano; the sea and somehow always reminds me of coffee.” would have appealed to the author of Gulliver’s Travels. But there is no satire in the noble melody here recorded, nor in the work’s gentle closing In an age grown weary of the lush exploitation of string tone, woodwind cadence. Here the music crosses over that borderline between laughter and timbre, and brassy brilliance the satiated listener will turn with relief to Beckmesser: Brinnhilde: Beckmesser, Don Giovanni: tears, between biting satire and loving kindness into the terrain of all great —_ Racine Fricker’s Waltz for Restricted Orchestra. Despite the evidence of first Ah, beloved mine! I’m in search of a man O Melisande, lovely Mélisande, who can my beautiful Mélisande. comedy. impressions, the instruments employed are the normal instruments of a nor- Both: Ah, to be united behind the curtain! support me. Mélisande: mal symphony orchestra, but employed with an austerity that commands Once a horn-player caught me; Oh, oh, oh! Waltz for Restricted Orchestra (P. Racine Fricker). The Hoffnung Symphony They go inside, and the curtains are drawn behind the experience taught me: them. The chorus dances gleefully round the box. Do not rely upon a fellow Nadir: Orchestra (deflated) conducted by the composer. fearful respect. Suddenly they look up, amazed, as a swan is sighted. because you happen to be his aunt. (very quickly and almost breathless) It is pushing a bath chair in which is seated a knight Pace, pace! Nuit enchanteresse, . ae white armour. He is coal black; he is (to the conductor) Divin ravissement LET’S FAKE AN OPERA tello. O souvenir charmant Won’t you smile for Grane? de l’ivresse, Otello: If you love me, you must love my horsey. or, The Tales of Hoffnung doux réve! Nie sollst du mich befragen A snore is heard from the bed. by wie ich kam auf diesen Wagen. Chorus: AND Was ruht dort schlummernd (gradually entering) He dismounts, and raises sword and shield in greeting im schattigen Tann? to the assembled crowd. With wild shrieks Max Our sleep is disturbed The work orchestrated by Eric Wetherell Ha! in armour a man, by this horrible serenading. The Music conducted by Norman Del Mar (Der Freischiitz) and William Tell interrupt and perhaps a husband for me! assisted by Brian Priestman chase the swan away. Otello vainly strives to Mélisande throws a pail of water down on to Rubbing her hands, she approaches the bed and removes Briinnhilde. Producer: Colin Graham restrain the huntsmen, and the excited chorus also follow the chase. Otello returns, disconsolate, the meat cover which had concealed the upper part of Briinnhilde: Azucena EpitH COATES Beckmesser Bs be ee OrakarR Kraus holding the plucked corpse of the swan. Fidelio’s body. O barbarous fate for a girl! Otello .. Epcar Evans Salome—Fidelio (Leonora No. 4) SHEILA REx Otello: Brinnhilde: Mélisande: Briinnhilde Goria LANE Don Giovanni .. ae PETER GLOossoP Here I am at the place of execution. (horror-struck) Go back and paint your tricycle! Das ist kein Mann! Manrico Joun Dozsson Nadir .. ste Duncan RosBERTSON Povero Otello! Briinnhilde: Ove son? Dove sono? She drops the meat cover with a clatter. It bruises her Viper! Escamillo A QweEN BRANNIGAN The Nightwatchman .. Tan WALLACE foot but she brightens at the sound of two rival Meélisande ae Kfigte— ier, EpitH Coates He walks round trying to identify his whereabouts. Serenaders who now draw near. They are Don Mélisande: Then he hears the-strains of the orchestra. Giovanni, with guitar, and Beckmesser, with lute. Toad! with THe Horrnune FestivAL OpERA CHORUS Chi é la? chi é 1a? Beckmesser: Brinnhilde: N Let’s Fake an Opera, Franz Reizenstein and William Mann have given us the one a Listener’s Digest, the other a Librettist’s nightmare of all O schéne Meélisande, Lizard! Carpet-sweeper! Grand Opera. The scene is the outside of a cigarette factory in old Nuremberg. Beckmesser woos Azucena, the sex-kitten of the tobacco girls. He looks round and sees the conductor. Your hair is my delight. Manrico: Otello rides in with his swan which is chased away by William Tell, Max and other huntsmen. Otello, retiring defeated from the Hunt, meets Cielo! Del Mar! Es ist doch eine Schande... Deserto sulla terra... Salome who, on the removal of all her veils, proves to be Fidelio, and sings herself into a stupor. Briinnhilde, in search of a husband, is disappointed (Gives him the bird) Don Giovanni: Other Serenaders: —Fidelio is a woman in disguise—and even the rival serenaders of whom she has hopes turn out to be serenading Mélisande. However, she gets her man (Radamés) in the end: Fidelio awakens and departs on Brinnhilde’s tricycle, Grane: leaving the frustrated Nightwatchman to steal Buona sera, wo sind wir? Deh, vieni alla finestra, (as above) forty well-deserved winks on the vacated bed, etc., etc. Voice of Salome: O mio tesoro! Chorus: ( from inside the marker’s box) Mélisande appears on a balcony and begins to let down The lady weeps. SCENE Eventually she espies the conductor, gives him a loud Beckmesser: Almost there! her hair. What is this singing ? Briinnhilde sees her. Why do they all sing together ? Outside a cigarette factory in old Nuremberg. “ Hil” and begins her song: Entrancing Azucena, Otello: Brinnhilde: When will it... During the prelude Mastersingers, led by Hans Sachs and Azucena: Come, share my marker’s box. What a voice, saucy and audacious! Beckmesser, enter expectantly; the cigarette girls are due I’m Azucena, Pll sing my cantilena A rival, O horror! A menacing figure, bewigged, in a black cloak, strides And you will darn my socks. He moves to the marker’s box in and interrupts the noise when it is at its height. to emerge for their tea break. Sachs passes the time by Who could be plainer? Manrico, with harp, begins to walk down a flight of reading a large book: we can see the title, The Art of Azucena: Dear hall of song, I give thee greeting. Stairs at the back. The crowd shrinks back: this must be the terrible Still I’m alluring, At the cost of my life I’ll ring the bell. Scarpia. Cobbling. Beckmesser instructs the apprentices to erect As you'll be hearing. Exquisite Beckmesser, Manrico: the marker’s box. At last they see the factory door open at There is a gong hanging outside the box. Otello Deserto sulla terra But it is not (Puccini’s music is still protected by Each lusty Mastersinger Gifted musician, copyright). Off come cloak and wig, and there the back of the square, and the workers emerge. Who could be sexlesser, picks up the gong-stick to announce his arrival, but is col rio destino in guerra. Calls me his humdinger. Sorestalled. The gong rings of its own accord, and underneath them is the famous toreador. They all make passes In worse condition. sola speme un cor... Masters and Apprentices: Salome, swathed in veils, walks out. She is carrying Escamillo: Here come the girls, When I take off my glasses. Of all the masters He is interrupted by Nadir, the Pearl Fisher, who has You are the plainest, a large silver dish on which reposes a crystal ball. entered from the opposite direction. The four I’m Escamillo, The prettiest in Nuremberg. She does so; the Masters fall at her feet. the toreador who listened to your singing. The best tobacco— She steps over them. Yet there are hidden fires Otello: serenaders now vie with one another for Mélisande’s That is the Weis’ Under your wig. Daughter of heaven, attentions, elbowing one another out of the way. (the serenaders crowd round, pressing their claims) There’s a café on the corner I claim the right to know my fortune. that’s favourite in Nuremberg; They go towards the box, ecstatically. Nadir: The competition was very keen, Run by my friend Walter Stolzing. Salome: Je crois entendre encore, but the winner is certain, it takes the prize I swing my pelvis Azucena: Give me your hand, O fairest, caché sous les palmiers, and for prize I shall award at every song-assembly. Like any shellfish. Oh blissful night! The girls sing as they descend to the square. Try not to look sedate. la voix tendre et sonore. Briinnhild’, my only child... Though I’m no kitten Beckmesser: Then cross my own with silver, Still I’m hard-bitten. O nuit enchanteresse, (he looks for her, and at last sees her and takes her Cigarette girls: Blissful night! And I will tell you all your fate, divin ravissement. hand) Pogner, Ulrich Eisslinger, Men like a charmer Azucena: Mate. O souvenir charmant! ... as bride. and Fritz Kothner, Who is a mamma. Now I will dance for love of you, I have the greatest pleasure To every man Ah, beloved Master mine! Manrico: Vogelgesang, Sixtus Beckmesser, And you will see, my lord, in telling you the victor, Foltz and Moser. I’m a red-hot gran. Deserto sulla terra These seven veils conceal col rio destino in guerra... the lucky man who wins this competition . . . They are our Master-pinups, A wondrous revelation. —Radamés! There is a noise of slate-scratching from inside the Beckmesser: we prefer them and their ditties marker’s box where Beckmesser is busy at his duties. Sit you down, Otello. to pompous toreadors in Spanish cities. O schéne Mélisande Tutti: Azucena throws the rose at the doorway of the box; She performs the dance of the seven veils. As the Your hair is my delight. Radameés! The men have been dandling the girls on their knees. it explodes and Beckmesser looks out, first astonished, seventh veil falls she is revealed as Fidelio, and Enter a military band, leading a tumbril in which Now they push them impetuously away. O welche Schande, then enchanted. promptly draws her revolver on Otello. I must say good-night. stands Radamés. He descends and hands Briinnhilde into the tumbril. They depart in triumph, followed by Men: Beckmesser: Fidelio: Don Giovanni: the entire company, singing. Where is the gypsy girl? (peering through his spectacles) Abscheulicher! Seducer vile! Deh, vieni alla finestra, We do not see her! What is thy fate? Tutti: I see by daylight dawning O mio tesoro... Another door opens and Azucena appears. To death Fidelio will put thee. Bravo Escamillo, Briinnhild’ and Radamés! A perfect female form. Briinnhilde is now thoroughly enraged. She runs to Radamés victorious in this vocal bull-fight. Girls: As Otello cowers at her feet, she twirls her pistol in (He approaches Azucena, thrumming his lute seductively the air, and expresses her triumph in a grand cadenza. the foot of the balcony and begins to pull Melisande’s When the stage is empty, the Nightwatchman slowly Here she is! hair. Confound her! at her) The effort of this spectacular vocal feat, culminating enters with his horn. He sees the sleeping Fidelio, in seven top Cs, is too much for her and she faints. Brinnhilde: kicks the alarm clock by her bed, which awakes her, Azucena (or ts she Carmen?) slinks down the stairs, My lute I’d soon be pawning If you would keep me warm. Four Bohemians enter with a bed on to which she is Who is that woman? and indicates the tricycle which is still grazing flirting outrageously with the men. She is glamorously deposited and promptly falls into a deep sleep. Who is that bitch with the flaxen hair? peacefully. Fidelio cycles furiously away. bespectacled and is puffing at a tobacco rose. [Love Duet] A honking announces the entrance of Briinnhilde on Heil’ge Gotter, himmlische Lenker! The nightwatchman lifts his horn to his lips; but her tricycle, Grane. Having reached the spot she Manrico, Don Giovanni, Nadir: the instrument plays a cuckoo-call. He collapses Libretto © William Mann, 1958 dismounts. Grant me your favours! exhausted on to the bed. END gers es a? 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