London, W.1.
THE GRAMOPHONE London Office: 58, Frith Street,
Edited by COMPTON MACKENZIE
TELEPHONE: Regent 1383
TELEGRAMS : Parmaxto, Westcent, London
Vol. IV.
JUNE, 1926
No.1
All communications should be addressed to this office. In the case of .1l!SS. or of letters requi1'ing an answer an add1'essed and stamped envelope MUST be enclosed.
All cheques, money orde1's and postal orders should be in favour of " Gramophone (Publications) Ltd.," and should be crossed "Bank of Liverpool and Martins Ltd."
Any difficulty in proc1tring copies of THE GRAMOPHONE, and any suggestion for inC1'easing the circulation, should be forw{£1'(led to the Publications Manager; any inqui1'y ab01a advertisement mtes to the Advertisement .1l:[anager at the above address.
For the convenience of readers the following are kept in stock :-
Index to Vol. I . , 1s. 6(l. post free; Index to Vol. I . and Binding Case, in black cloth with gold lettering, 4s. 6d. post free. Index to Vol. II., 1s., postage 2(l.
Red cloth spring-back Binding Case (for the preservation of current numbers), 3s. 6d., postage 6d.
Coloured p01trait of Moza1t (December At·t Supplement), 6d., post free.
" Thoughts on Music," compiled by Hervey Elwes. 216 pp., 8vo, cloth, 6s., postage 6d.
"The Lifebelt," 5s., post free. Weight Adj1tstm' (for gooseneck tone-arms only), 7s. 6d., postage 3d.
"A List of Recorded ChambC1' Music" (N.G.S. booklet), 6(1., postage 1d.
" Wilson Protractor," 1s., postage 2d. "Gramophone Tips," by Capt. H. T. Barnett, j l l . I .E.E., 1s., post free.
"Gmmophone Nights," by Compton Mackenzie an(l A1'chibald jlfarshall, 5s., postage 4d.
Back numbC1's of THE GRAMOPHONE, Vol. 1., ls. each and postage 2d. (except Nos. 2 and 4 which are O1ttofprint). Vol. II., Nos. 1 to 12 inclusive, and Vol. III., Nos. 1 to 11 inclusive, 2s. each and postage 2d. (See (dso May No., p. 546).
The anmtal subscription for THE GRAMOPHONE ·is 14s. post f1'ee f1'om the London Office. -
APRIL & MAY RECORDS
By THE EDITOR
My remark last month about" hyenas nosing in the entrails of dead l ions" provoked such a loud roaring from :Mr. Ernest Newman in response, unaccompanied by the least suggestion of laughter, that I am bound to suppose he was anxious to convince me, once and for aU, of his own zoological status. He really need not have put himself to such an expense of breath. Readers of THE GRAlVIOPHONE know that I have always regarded :Mr. Newman as a lion and invited them to regard him as one, so that i t never occurred to me that he could possibly confuse himself in his own mind with an hyena. Unfortunately, with a table groaning under the weight of two months' records, I cannot devote the space I should like to devote to a long arglll1ent. But, in justice to myself, i t seems advisable to point out that I have never defended idealized portraits of great men. My contention is that the present fashion in biography lays an undue emphasis on what is base or petty or ridiculous in genius. There is a mean between sentimental glozing and this monotonous denigration, and the truth is as much maltreated by the one method as the other. So fa,r as Wagner is concerned I make no protest. He left his own body to the dissecting-room when he wrote that autobiogra,phy, and the surgeons are entitled to claim him. At the same t ime, when I read such a sentence as this:
Let us hope tha.t in thc disturbance 'Vagner's first and only thought was for Minna, and that, with his arm round her dainty waist, he had taken her for cover and for safety into the orchestra, possibly behind the big drum, I ask myself if some of these surgeons are not merely facetious quacks. That is an extract from the latest life of Wagner by William Wallace. The vulgarity of such writing may 'seem incredible to those who know lIfr. William Wallace's other work, but i t can be matched on many other pages of this lamentable l i t t le book, which is a typical product of the contemporary fashion.
:Mr. Newman thinks that our appreciation of the G min01' Q1tintet will be heightened by l istening at the keyhole of Mozart's bedroom. I think that
