ENGLISH MUSIC FESTIVAL AT PRAGUE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sit,—Mr. Basil Maine knows as well as I do that it is not a question whether Delius's compositions are good or bad. But Delius is by no means an English composer, and he belongs to the modern German school. His father was also a German, his musical studies were completed in Germany, the majority of his compositions were first performed and published in Germany, and he has resided more than half of his life on the Continent. The place of 'his birth; Bradford;' s immaterial. The 'veteran musician and author, L. N. Parker, was born in Fiance, but he has never called himself a French composer and dramatist.
It is, of course, easy to sneer at the old-fashioned melodious ballad operas of Balfe, but the sad fact remains that since the so-called " dark days " of Balfe, Wallace, and Macfarren; no-
other English operas (apart from the comic species) have been permanent successes. It is to be hoped, however, that the riextpromoter of grand opera in England will devote more atten- tion to operas composed to English libretti than to opera in English, and that the works of Mackenzie, Stanford, Goring Thomas, and Cowen will be given another chance. It is an absurdity to call an organization a National British Opera 'Company, or,' by the latest selected title, Imperial League or Opera, which devotes 'itself almost exclusively to foreign works. This would never be tolerated in any other country.—
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