THE CONSTANT NYMTH -- CONTENTS -- BOOK I SANGERS CIRCUS BOOK I1
NYMPHS AND SHEPHERDS BOOK 111 THE SILVER STY EOOK IV THREE MEET
PAGE . l -- 1924 -- BOOK I SANGEKS CIRCUS - CHAPTER I AT the time
of his death the hame of Albert Sanger was barely known to the
musical public of Great Britain. Among the very few who had heard
of him there were even some who called him SanjB, in the French
manner, being disinclined to suppose that great men are
occasionally born in Hammersmith. That, however, is where he was
born, of lower middle class parents, in the latter half of the
nineteenth century. The whole world knew of it as soon as he was
dead and buried. Englishmen, discovering a new belonging, became
excited it appeared that Sanger had been very much heard of
everywhere else. His claims to immortality were canvassed eagerly
by people who hoped soon to have an opportunity of hearing his
work. His idiom, which was demonstrably neither Latin nor Gothic
nor yet Slav, was discovered to be Anglo-Saxon. Obituary columns
talked of the gay simplicity of his rhythms, an unmistakably
national feature, which, they declared, took one back to Chaucer.
They lamented that yet another prophet had passed without honour in
his own country. But for this the British public was not entirely
to blame few people can sincerely admire a piece of music which
they have not heard. During Sangers lifetime his work was never
performed in England. It was partly his own fault since he composed
nothing but operas and these on a particularly grandiose scaIe.
Their production was a risky enterprise, under the most promising
conditions and in England the conditions attending the production
of an opera are never promising. The presssuggested that other
British composers had been heard in London repeatedly while Sanger
languished in a little limbo of neglect. This was not quite the
case. The limbo has never been as little as that. Sanger, moreover,
hated England, left it at an early age, never went back, and seldom
spoke of it without some strong qualification. Appreciation, though
tardy, was generous when it came. A special effort was made, about
a year after Sangers death, and The Nine Muses, an enterprising
repertory theatre south of the river, undertook the production of
Prester John, the shortest and simplest of the operas. The success
of the piece was unqualified. All the intelligentzia and some
others flocked to hecrr, and proved by their applause how ready
they were to appreciate English music as soon as ever they got the
chance. There were no howls of rage such as had arisen when Prester
John was produced in Paris no free fights in the gallery between
the partizans and foes of the composer. The whole thing was as
decorous as possible and the respectful ardour of the audience,
their prolonged cheers at the end, . left no doubt as to Sangers
posthumous position in his own country. They were not unlike the .
ovation accorded to a guest of honour who arrives a little late.
Raving renounced his native land. Sanger adopted no other. He roved
about from one European capital to another, never settling anywhere
for long, driven forwards by his strange, restless fancy...
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