Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

10 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

,.. —'— London Festival Awards.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

—'— London Festival Awards. IMPRESSIVE GORSEDD CEREMONIAL. Mr A. J. Batfour on Loca) Patriotism. (From Our Special Correspondent). Lord Tredcgar's reception, inaugurating the Royal Welsh National Eisteddfod of Wales In London, held at the Roya.1 Institute of Painters in Water Colours on Monday, was a very brilliant aSa.ir, admirably managed. Tin guests, 500 in number, were received by Vis- count Tredgar in the saloon, his Lordship beinp supported by his niece, the Hon. Mrs Addams- Wiliiams. Among the guests were Lord Jus- tice Vaughan Williams and' Lady Vaughan aIlL WiUiams, Lord Mostyn, Lady St. David's. 8tf James Hills-Johnes. V.C., G.C.B., Sir Her- bert Roberta, Bart, M.P., Sir Francis Edwards. Bart-. M.P., General Robert Owen Jones, Sir John Rhys, Sir Marchant Williams, Mr Her- bert Lewis, M.P., Mr David Davies. M.P., Mr Ellis Grimth, M.P.. Lady Hughea Hunter, and others.. During the evening selections were well ren- dered by the Elfed Choristers, the programme consisting of Welsh folk songs, most of them being Bangor productions, some of which were sung at the recent graduation ceremony at Bangor. A selection was also given under the direction of Madame Clara NoveIIo Davies. together with a pianoforte solo by Misa Marie Novello. Penillion singing with the harp by Miss K. Cordelia Rhys and Miss Bessie Jones, aongs by Mr Lewys James, and the Misses Winifred LeV\ois and Katherine Jones, and a pianoforte solo by Miss Winifred Bellingham. During an interval the Arcbdruid, as repre- senting the Gorsedd, proposed a vote of thanks to Lord Tredegar for his splendid reception of the eisteddfod visitors. There was, he said. no nobleman who was dearer and nearer t<< the hearts of Welshmen, who in a word wna country's pet and a nation's idoL (Cheers. I As an enthusiastic Eisteddfodwr no one but :t<ord Tredega-r would have conceived the idea not presenting the Gorsedd with the magnificent hirias horn, while as to the general life of WaJcs there was no movement which did not Bnd in Lord Tredegar a warm supporter. ,tChecrs. ) Sir Marchant Williams, in seconding, wished hia Lordship to understand that he was there on behalf of the Eisteddfod representing the Welsh people from the north, east, and west, as well as the south. He knew of many eminent Welshmen for .whom he had the greatest admiration, but he was sore that they Would agree with him when he Mid that for &r kindness, generosity, and for pure patriotism Lord Tredegar was the finest Welshman of the day. (Loud cheers.) His Lordship had been re- ferred to as one of the Six Hundred, but he Sir Marchant) said his Lordship was one-in ,six hundred millions. (Cheers.) Sir John Rhys supported the resolution on T)eha]f of the Council of the Cymmrodorion Society, and it was carried with acclamation. Lord Tredegar, in rising to respond, was re- ceived with much cheering. He hoped that the three gentlemen who had spoken would not be offended if he said that he feared the audience had been bored by them for the last 20 minutes. (laughter.) For himself he must say that he certainly was. (Laughter.) It had given him {-me greatest possible pleasure to entertain the itnenda of the Eisteddfod, which he hoped would be attended with great success. (Cheers. LONDON, Tuesday Night. In the vast Mtditonum of the Royal Albert Hall, with its stately and dignified surround- ings, the National Eisteddfod of Wales found itself to-day onunfamiUar ground. To vary the ahnile, one might liken it to a diminutive David attired in the accoutrements of Saul, and being weighted down in tlze process. Scores of competitors, and even some adjudicators, lost themselves in the bewildering mazes of never-ending comdora, but thanks to the vigil- ance of an army of stewards, ever on the look- out to direct the footsteps of the unwary, the platform proceedings did not suffer over mmch. From the platform, the Albert Hall seemed more than half empty even when it was known that many thousands had been admitted, and one's heart went out in sympathy to the anxioua crowd of ardent Eisteddlbdwyr penned up like rooks in the balconies above, almost too far for their cheery voices to be heard or their forma to be seen. The dignity of this place," said one irri- tated bard this morning, 11 will freeze the Eis- teddfod." The London Eisteddfod Com- mittee, however, have done all that is possible under the circumstances for Eisteddfodwyr to feel at home. The Welsh language, let it be cheerfully acknowledged, has been given more prominence on the platfonn here to-day than at many similar festivals in Welsh Wales. If ,the auditorium is not decorated all around with Eisteddfodic scrolls, there is displayed over the platform the names of a galaxy of W e worthies, and we observe tha.t every name thus honoured is the name of a Welshman < ,more or leas connected with London. Writing at night, and looking back on the day's proceedings, the uppermost feeling is ,one of pride that the ancient festival has been able amid the countless counter attractions of the fashionable quarter of the greatest City in the Empire to make so brave a show. By common consent it ia conceded that, .taking the unfavourable conditions of its surroundings, to-day'a Gorsedd in Kensington Gardens was an undoubted success. Everyone who has attended these celebrations elsewhere must have been struck by the absence of the customary barriers from the Gorsedd circle. These were replaced on this occasion by circles of chairs, and it i3 significant that the sanctity of the circle was observed, and preserved un- broken. Dyfed made an excellent Arcbdruid, and all the speeches were short and sweet. The Albert Hall proceedings, with Vicount Tredegar in the chair, did not attract very many in the morning, but towards the after- noon, when Mr Balfour arrived, and the chief choral event approached, a fair sized audience was assembled. Mr BaMoor's admirable speech. with its grateful tributes to Welsh virtoes, will be read with pleasure. Indeed, the Eight hon. gentteman seemed delighted with his vtsit. He had in Mr WiUiam Jones, M.P., a Sale guide, philosopher, and friend, and nearly all the Welsh members who are in town attended to give him support. These included Sir Francis Edwazds, Bart., Sir Herbert Roberta, Mr Herbert Lewis, Mr Ellis DavMS, and others. Mr BaCoar stayed until two of the choirs in the chief cactest—Pembroke Dock and Rhymney Patted—had sung, and then de- parted to another assonbly, which he homofonsly described as a less harmonious and a less neutral sphere of action. Lord Mostyn, Lord Aberdatre, Sir James Hills-Johnes, Sir John Hewelyn, Sir John Bhys, and Sir Mar- cha-at Williams were also in the vicinity of the platform, giving the ex-Premier a welcome. Ex-Premier on Loca! Patriotism. Viscount Tredegar and the Right Hon. A. J. EigHour, M.P., were the president)! for the day. Mr Batfonr on entering the Albert Hall shortly after 1 o'clock was received with great en- thusiasm. He was introduced to the audience by Lord Tredegar as one of England's greatest statesmen, and was greeted in verse by Cadfan, Pedr Hir and Dyfed. Cadfan's greeting was htnslated into English Hail! to thee. Balfour, noble and kind, Philosopher and statesman combined. Welcome we give thee, happy and strong To Wales's old .Eisteddfod of poem and song; Whose history starts from that distant day f Ere. ever Imperial Caesar held sway. Wour, in his presidential address, re- marked that they were there assembled to eele- bate a national festival which went back to the very twilight of their history. He could boast but little Welsh blood in bis veins, though he belieyed that there was some. (Loud cheers.) But he was speaking at all events aa a fellow citizen of these islands when he said that one of our great characteristics, whether we were Welshmen or Scotchmen or Englishmen, was that reverence for the past, that love of our historical continuity, which so far, at all events, had never been foozd to stand in the way of true development and true progreat. (Cheers.) There were those who held that because the United Kingdom was united out of tragmemta, each of which had a different historic past, that therefore it was the business of the sepa- rate fragments out of which we were created, as it were, to merge their historical memory into only those matters which concern the whole, and abandon local patriotism in favour of what they described the larger outlook. Locat Patriotism. He believed in the larger Otrttook, but he did not think it was mconsistent with local patriotism. (Cheers.) Rather did he think that that patriotism, well and aoberly ordered, was the most valuable element in our common national life and that the memories which we, 6. either as Welshmen or as Scotchmen, or as Englishmen or as Irishmen, might have had of our own separate histories before we were united, might well be cherished, and that they would lead, if seen in their true perspective, to no petty separatism, but that each part of the United Kingdom weuld.feel that its contribu- tion was necessary to the common interests of the whole. He was afraid that amongst such qualifications as be might possess to be their president for an hour or two he did not happen to possess that of understanding the Welsh language. He <vas therefore incapable of form- ing any judgment upon the poems just read, but if he might judge from the transition of one of them they were couched in terms natter- ing. too nattchnt;. to .himself. (No. no.) Unless indeed the fact that one of them was not trans- lated—(iaughtec)—implied that the author might have taken the opportunity of making -)om<* candid.-though doubtless kindly, criti cisma upon their president. (Laughter.) Wales and Music. Music had ever been-if he read the history o' Wales arightr—one of the great arts in which Welshmen had cxceDed. He had heard of quotation, though he had never verified i< accuracy, from the c)d Welsh cbronicter of Lh. twelfth century, in which he stated that \Vah. and parts of Yorkshire were the two place' where the aft of choral s1ngin was t. the people. CCheers.) Believe me," continued Mr Balfour, there cannot be a greater gift to a.ny people. There cannot be a gift which car rios with it higher pleasures—pleasures mort easy of attainment, pleasures which leave nr, after-sting, no after-taste of evil, but which raises and must raise the whole ]eve! of civilised pleasures among peopfes that practise them. Music knows no national barriers. Music is not subject to the limitations which unhappily beset language. Music speaks to men of a,)! races and all tongues and all nationalities. It speaks to them in tones which are or may be understood by all. And it speaks to them in language which appeals more immediately and Mr JOHN WILLIAMS. Conductor of the Winning Choir. more directly to the imagination than perhaps any other of the arts. And more than thja music is. it seems to me, in the true and good sense of that much abused word, the most democratic of all the arts. Pictures are rather apt to be the luxury of the rich. They cannot have any universality-do what you will; put them even in your galleries open to all. They were not painted for galleries they are not in their original setting. They lose and they must lose something from the fact that they are merely gazed upon by the stream of passers-by. You have to consider music subject to no such limitations. Music does not pay death duties. (Laughter and hear. bear.) You have not to find JE80.000 to prevent music going out of your country. (Hear, hear.) You haven't got to consider whether the foreign millionaires will not absorb all your works of art as time goes on. Music is of the people. Music at its best should be and ought to be the greatest of popular arts. And because the Welsh have from time immemorial shown their appreciation of that great truth. I think that they are among alt the inhabitants of this island those who should do most to spread that creed through all classes of the community." The time had now corner concluded Mr Batfour, when the truth which he was feebly trying to express in words was going to be put before them in the concrete artistic form of choir singing. And, however different it would be, both from the ancient songs and recitations of their bards, and from the choral singing to which Giraldus Cajnbrcnsi? referred those many centuries ago, it would be its true lineal suc- cessor. It would embody for our modern ears, trained to modem harmonies, it would embody that artistic sense of music which the Welsh had always possessed. and which they could make, since no barrier of language here inter- vened—which they could make the common heritage of mankind. (Cheers.)

LORD TREDEGAR.

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