THIS HAS been a most interesting term for this Society. To open the new School Hall on Whit-Monday, the Choral Society sang an abridged version of the St. John Passion by J. S. Bach and the Orchestral Society gave a second concert on the same day at which Fletcher, Head and Abrams played movements from concertos by J. S. Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi accompanied by the orchestra. The "London Symphony" by Haydn and the Polka from "Schwanda the Bagpiper" by Weinberger completed, a very creditable concert.

The School was fortunate in being asked to provide eight percussion players for the first performances of Benjamin Britten's opera "Noye's Fludde" at the Aldeburgh Festival. Fletcher, O'Loughlin, Abrams, Wolmark, Bagust, Windsor, Durrant and Stone brought great credit on the School by playing very difficult parts. Three performances were given in Orford Church as well as a television performance and the B.BC. television cameras descended on the School to take shots of us rehearsing. Benjamin Britten himself came to the School on two occasions to take rehearsals whilst James Blades, the well-known percussion player, coached the boys in the finer points of percussion playing. Mr. Blades also gave us a wonderful demonstration lecture on "Instruments of Percussion".

One of the most pleasing features this term has been the starting of the Junior Orchestra. Some of the more senior members of the Music Society have been coaching this and Fletcher has done magnificent work in training the orchestra and conducting them and a choir from 1b in a concert towards the end of the term. The standard reached in this gives us high hopes for the School Orchestra in the future. The Oxford University Opera Club visited the School and gave us a concert performance of "The Secret Marriage" by Cimerosa. We are indebted to them and also to Mr. Johnston who helped arrange the visit, for a most enjoyable evening. During the last week of the term Nawrot organised another of his concerts given by the older boys and a party went to the Hintlesham Festival to see a performance of "The Marriage of Figaro".

M.C.

THE music of the School in the last two years has showed notable signs of development. To help to further this a Music Society has been formed and the following officers were elected: Secretary, N. Fletcher., Treasurer, R. Nawrot - Committee members: N. O'Loughlin, A. Durrant, T. Head, B. Sandland.

From this a gramophone club has been evolved. In it records are constructively listened to and so far the following have been played :- Bach, Brandenburg Concerti 2 and 3, Beethoven Symphony No. 1, the Grieg Piano Concerto and the Schubert Unfinished Symphony. It is being ably run by N. Fletcher.

The orchestra is now setting out on a new departure. It will play the Haydn "London" Symphony on Whit-Monday together with other pieces. The Choral Society, after achieving its great success in the Suffolk Music Festival last year, is now preparing for the concert on Whit-Monday with the Bach St. John Passion.

Many concerts have been attended at school and in Ipswich. The Civic Concerts have brought us the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Halina Stefanska, the celebrated Polish pianist. A party of boys heard the Ipswich Orchestral Society's annual concert in which N. Fletcher played. Also a party of boys went to listen to the Bach St. Matthew Passion.

The well-attended Sunday evening Chamber Music Concerts at school have produced some very good works. Our thanks are due to these who have come to play:- The Leute Trio, Mr. Burney and I. Blinkworth, P. Last, D. Baxter who came with Mr. Parry from Northgate School to play and also for arranging two concerts.

N. Fletcher and N. O'Loughlin attended an orchestral course in Ipswich in which much useful orchestral experience was gained. A. Durrant, N. Fletcher and N. O'Loughlin have played in concerts in Ipswich. A. Durrant, playing in the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, performed in the Royal Festival Hall at Christmas. We hope that this is the lead which others in due course will follow.

AFTER THE performance of "The Mikado" at Christmas the various sections of the Music Club started on fresh ground during the Spring term. Both the Choral Society and the Orchestra began rehearsing for the Suffolk Music Festival which is to be held in Ipswich this year in May and June. The Choral Society made a good start working at Handel's "Messiah", parts of which will be performed at the Concert to be given on Speech Day on 20th July.

Towards the end of the term the Beckstein grand piano was delivered to the School and, to celebrate its arrival, an Informal Concert was given in the Library Reading Room where the piano is being temporarily housed until the new Concert Hall is ready. The concert was given by Miss Olive Quantrell (Soprano), Mrs. Channon (Clarinet), R. Naurot (Piano) and Messrs. Richardson (Bass), Woolford (Piano) and Channon (Trumpet.) Items included "Shepherd on the Rock" - Schubert and a group of 18th century English songs. The concert ended with two arias from Handelian Oratorios for bass voice with trumpet obligato.

During the Spring term parties of boys have attended concerts in Ipswich given by the Ipswich Orchestral Society, by Lord Harwood, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears and by the B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent.

A. Durrant was fortunate in being asked to play Percussion with the London Schools' Symphony Orchestra at their Easter Course and final Concert given at The Royal Academy of Music in London. I hope many more boys will have this opportunity later on.

THE CHIEF activity of the Music Society during the Summer Term was preparing for the concert which was given on Open Day, 21st July, 1956.

AMONG THE winter activities of the Music Society were a number of meetings of the newly formed Music Club to listen to short informal concerts. The first of these was given by Mr. and Mrs. Channon (trumpet and clarinet) accompanied by Mr. Woolford (piano). The programme included "Sonata in Bb" by Arne, Howard Furguson's "Short Pieces for Clarinet and Piano" and "Concertino for Trumpet" by Knudage Riisager.

The second concert was given by Mr. Thornbery (flute), a Master at Ipswich School, Mr. Richardson (bass) and Mr. Woolford (piano). Mr. Thornbery played "Sonata No. 5" by Handel and a Sonata by the 18th century Flemish composer, Loeillet. Mr. Richardson sang groups of songs by Handel, Schubert and Schumann.

An informal School Concert took place in December, in which a large number of boys performed. Among the items of quite a high standard were two piano pieces played by Nawrot (piano) and an item by N. O'Loughlin (clarinet). The Wind Players played part of Matthew Locke's "Musick for His Majesty's Sackbuts and Cornetts" and the School Orchestra accompanied carols sung by the Choral Society and the audience.

A Festival of Lessons and Carols was given at the end of the term, in which the Choral Society sang extremely well. They also took part in a similar service at Woolverstone Parish Church.

The Spring Term was largely taken up with preparation for J. S. Bach's "Christmas Oratorio," but one most interesting meeting of the Music Club took place when Mr. O. W. Lane, the Ipswich violin maker, gave a talk on his craft. Unfortunately, this was badly attended, but those of us who were there thoroughly enjoyed listening to Mr. Lane.

Two visits to the Celebrity Concerts at the Gaumont Cinema, Ipswich, were made by a party of senior boys. The first programme given by the London Orchestra conducted by Alec Sherman included Beethoven's 7th Symphony and his 5th Piano Concerto with Gina Bachauer as soloist. The second concert was given by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by George Hirst. Among the items played were Richard Strauss's tone poem "Don Juan," and Symphony No. 2 in B minor by Borodin. Clive Lythgoe was the soloist in Schumann's A minor Piano Concerto.

Although an independent criticism of the Choral Society's performance of the Christmas Oratorio will be given elsewhere, I think special mention should be made of the hard work that the members put in to make the standard of the performance such a high one. Messrs. Richardson, Woolford and Burney freely gave of their time in helping, and the soloists, Abrams, Bennett, Durrant, Mann and Browne spent many hours practising their parts, as well as singing in the choir. Great credit is due to them.

The end of the Christmas term saw our biggest musical production to date, when the Choral Society and the newly formed orchestra joined forces for a performance of the Schutz Christmas Oratorio.

It was only quite recently that some German scholars, piecing together the surviving original manuscript parts of this music, and reconstructing the missing parts themselves, have produced a score which must closely resemble that written by Schutz. Our performance too must have been quite authentic. We were kindly given permission to use the village church where we had the organ for accompanying the recitatives, and found we could just fit the orchestra into the chancel. Yet another similarity between our performance and that given by our forebears at Dresden in 1664, was that, like them, we all played or sang from, manuscript parts.

Our thanks are especially due to the small team of scribes who undertook the copying of these parts, and also to those who produced the programmes at the peak period of the printing year.

Finally, on another matter, I would like to express our thanks to Mr Cushing, the school barber, who has very generously presented his viola to the school.

The Choral Society's first public appearance at the carol service at Christmas was generally judged to have been successful. A few of the staff joined, and we had the full four parts, so that we were able to sing several of the carols unaccompanied. During the Spring Term we have been rehearsing one of Elgar's Bavarian dances for the School concert, and we hope to give a short outdoor recital of madrigals towards the end of the Summer Term.

Members of the Music Club have been rehearsing songs, piano duets, and recorder pieces for the concert. We have several composers in our midst, two of whom have composed special pieces for recorders and piano.

The Gramophone Circle has met after lunch on most Sundays. There have been signs that the general taste is becoming more catholic, although Rossini's 'Largo al factotum' remains the most popular record.

Concerning the wind and stringed instrument classes, it is now practically certain that a start can be made next term. This is of great importance to the School's music, for it is the first big step towards the formation of a School orchestra.

R.H.C.W.