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A big hitter

I first met Ruth Gipps (Composer of the Month, August) when she delivered some horn music to my home – I was most impressed that she was driving a white Triumph TR drophead sports car. I saw her some years later when I went to a performance by the Purley Philharmonic Orchestra and others in deepest South London suburbia. There was a familiar figure in the percussion section, and so I made enquiries. Ruth told me that she had had a long and successful career, as your excellent article set out, but there was one unfulfilled ambition: to knock the heck out of a big bass drum in the Verdi Requiem. Hence her presence in Purley!

John Wates, Chipstead

Gounod snubbed

I feel that Bizet’s inclusion in your list of teenage symphonic prodigies (On your Cover

CD, October) is not valid. In February 1855, Gounod submitted two symphonic movements for inclusion in a Pasdeloup concert, which were sufficiently well received for Gounod to add two more movements for what became his Symphony No. 1. In July, Bizet was asked by Gounod to prepare a four-hand piano version of the symphony, and later, as his teacher, Gounod set him a compositional exercise to produce a symphony based on his own Symphony in D. Bizet’s symphony was completed in November, 1855, but was not considered suitable for publication as it was so closely modelled on Gounod.

The manuscript was later given by Bizet’s widow to composer Reynaldo Hahn who subsequently passed it to the archives of the Paris Conservatory. That is where the position remained, until Bizet’s manuscript was discovered in the Conservatoire archives in

1933 and was first performed in Basel in February

1935, conducted by Felix Weingartner. It was hailed as a lost masterpiece, but only because nobody then knew Gounod’s Symphony No. 1 and the debt owed to it by the new discovery. Even after the Gounod symphonies reappeared in the 1950s, a Times reviewer could still refer to No. 1 as ‘a pale copy’ of the Bizet. The chronological evidence should make clear that this is not the case.

Graeme Jeal, Enfield

Dressing up

It is so good to have the BBC Proms back – with wonderful concerts again! However, once again I find myself feeling sorry for male orchestral players who, during the hot muggy evenings, have to wear jackets and ties when the women players can wear sleeveless,

cool dresses, blouses and even T-shirts. Who decides on the dress codes for the Proms – is it each individual orchestra or is it the Royal Albert Hall management? I wonder what the players feel about it? Wendy H Hill, Ledbury The Acting editor replies:

The choice of concert dress at the BBC Proms is at the discretion of the ensembles themselves. Within reason, of course…

Walton on themes

Reading Tom Service’s entertaining article on Variations (October), I was reminded of an amusing story Herbert Von Karajan told the writer Richard Osborne about a conversation he once had with William Walton. Apparently Walton had rung Karajan to tell him he was writing a Theme and Variations, but in a typically droll aside, added, ‘I’ve written the Variations but I don’t yet have a Theme!’

Neil Sinyard, Lincolnshire

Not a parody

Whilst it is admirable that

Tom Service should begin his September column by admitting that for most of his life he has not been a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, he does fall into the age-old trap of ‘accusing’ Sullivan of parody in his music. Specifically, when writing about Utopia Limited he remarks on ‘its parodies of “Rule Britannia” as well as his (Sullivan’s) own previous hits’. Surely what Sullivan does in Utopia Limited is musical quotation rather than parody, and if not, then any piece which quotes an existing tune, including a national anthem or national tune, should be viewed as using parody and the connotations associated with the word. Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory (‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘God Save the King’), Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave (God Save the Tsar) and 1812 Overture (‘La Marseillaise’ and ‘God Save the Tsar’) and Puccini’s Madam Butterfly (‘The Star-spangled Banner’) all fall into this category of ‘musical quotation’, and I don’t think anyone would dream of accusing these composers of using ‘parody’. Is it because Sullivan’s quotation is in the context of a comic opera that writers feel they have free rein to describe it as parody, and always with the hint of a sneer? Michael Enscot, Atherstone

Hurray for Hummel

I have recently been listening again to my recordings of music by Hummel and thought I would like to find out how much of his music had appeared on your cover CDS. I was surprised to find only one, the Trumpet Concerto in E flat. Could I suggest that there are many other of Hummel’s compositions which could also appear? Could you also let me know if there have been any articles about Hummel? Listening to a BBC Discovering Music item about Hummel, I discovered he was a pupil of Mozart’s for two years. I have always thought Hummel’s music was similar to Mozart’s – maybe this is partly why! Dan Glading, via email The Acting editor replies:

The last time we covered Hummel at length was a Composer of the Month feature back in 2006, so maybe it is time to pay him another visit. Listening recently to the superb recordings of his concertos and sonatas by Stephen Hough (see p26) has certainly proved a timely reminder of his brilliance.