Happy retirement
Sir: Amidst the dismal news from all over the world there is one cheerful item for thousands of music lovers in the UK. The BBC's Controller of Music is retiring.
His preoccupation with all types of non-music, from serialism to the childish antics of Stockhausen and his school, made him an unfortunate choice for his key post. May we hope that his successor will be fond of music?
Sir William's retirement is postponed, for some unspecified reasons, till after the 1972 Proms. This will enable him to add one more insult to the memory of Henry Wood, the father of the Proms. Example? Wood's favourite classical composer was Handel — the ' Master of all Masters' according to Beethoven. In this year's Proms Handel's music occupied eight minutes.
G. 14 Bosworth Pear Tree Cottage, 31 Church Street, Willington, Eastbourne
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