Record

Performance TitleFestival of Music for the People - Pageant Music and the People in Ten Episodes
Performance Date1 April 1939
Performance DaySaturday
Performance Time20:15
Main PerformersThe Woodcraft Folk,
The Unity Theatre Dance Group

Harold Hebbs,
Sid Deitsch,
R C Jones,
Richard Wadleigh,
Charles Kelley,
Ronald Kelley,
Meg Turner,
Brenda Poole,
Rosheen Napier,
Albert Holland,
Maurice Cheshire,
Len De Marne,
Roderick Jones,
Mildred Watson,
Jane Connard,
Katherine Lawson,
Richard Wood,
Trevor Anthony,
Jane Lawson,
Cecil F Howard,,
Richard Wadleigh
F R Spelling,
Dean of Canterbury,
Tom Mann,
Fred Copeman,
Parry Jones

Paul Robeson - vocal
Secondary PerformersArnold Goldsbrough - organ
Orchestra or BandThe People's Festival Wind Band
ChoirsAshford Labour Choir,
Bromley Labour Choir,
Clapham Labour Choir,
Eltham Labour Choir,
Epsom and Ewell Labour Choir,
Greenford Co-Operative Choir,
Hendon Left Singers,
Laindon Ladies' Co-Operative Choral Society,
New Progress Choir,
Rhondda Unity Male Voice Choir,
Unity Male Voice Choir,
West London Co-Operative Choir,
Bexley Heath Co-Operative Choir,
East Ham Co-Operative Choir,
Edgware Co-Operative Musical Society,
Enfield Highway Co-Operative Choir,
Kentish Town Co-Operative Choir,
Redhill and Reigate Co-Operative Choir,
Surbiton Co-Operative Choir,
Tooting Co-Operative Choir,
Tottenham and Edmonton Co-Operative Choir,
John Payne and His Negro Choir
ConductorsAlan Bush,
A E Sweeney,
Will Sahnow,
W G Glock,
Frank Hopkins,
David Percival,
John Turner,
L J Maynard,
Kathleen Jensen,
E R Lock,
A V Jenner,
Peter Baker,
Alfred Nieman,
Chas.Barnes,
Mary Peppin,
John Goss,
John Turner,
Chris Ullman,
Morgan Davies,
P G Goldsack
Set List'Flourish For Wind Band', R Vaughan Williams,
'Introduction', A Cooke (Harold Hebbs, Sid Deitsch, Richard Wadleigh, F R Spelling),
'Feudal England' (Elisabeth Lutyens, Parry Jones, Jane Lawson, Cecil F Howard),
'The Massacre of The Innocents', V Yates, orch. Matyas, Seiber, arr. E Rubbra, (R.C.Jones, Richard Wadleigh, Charles Kelley, Harold Hebbs, F R Spelling, Ronald Kelley, Sid Deitsch, Meg Turner, Brenda Poole, Rosheen Napier),
'Peasants in Revolt', E Chisholm (Albert Holland, Maurice Cheshire, Len De Marne, Harold Hebbs),
Interlude (The Woodcraft Folk, Margaret Leona),
'Soldiers of Freedom', C Darnton (Parry Jones)
'Village Green to Concert Hall', F Austin (Roderick Jones, Jane Lawson, Mildred Watson, Jane Connard, Katherine Lawson, Richard Wood, Trevor Anthony, The Woodcraft Folk),
'Changing Europe', N Demuth, orch. M Seiber (Unity Theatre Dance Group, Parry Jones),
'Prisoners' (Alan Bush, Cecil F Howard),
'Slaves' (Paul Robeson, John Payne and His Negro Choir),
'The People Advance', E Maconchy (Charles Kelley),
'For Peace and Liberty' (Alan Rawsthorne, Dean of Canterbury, Tom Mann, Fred Copeman)
Performance Notes"FESTIVAL OF MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE
AN INEFFECTIVE PAGEANT
The group of musicians who last year organized a successful conference on "Music and Life - 1938" has this year essayed something more ambitious - a festival of three concerts of music which professes to be "for the people." Without stopping to examine the implications of such a vague phrase, the idea and the general lines on which its execution is designed may be commended for its bold attempt to carry out the ideals of the conference which preceded it - namely, to relate our music to the life of our times. But the artistic results of burning zeal may be no more than tepid if artistic principles are abandoned for the sake of pointing a moral, rewriting history, or making political gestures. And this is what appened to the paheant which constituted the first part of the festival at the Albert Hall on Saturday evening.."
(The Times, 3 April 1939, page 12)

Directed by Mr Randall Swingler.
Related Archival MaterialProgramme (RAHE/1/1939/31)
URLhttps://thirdlight.royalalberthall.com/pf.tlx/A9hAJhoAkDBgN
Catalogue
Reference NumberTitleDate
RAHE/1/1939/31Festival of Music for the People - Pageant Music and the People in ten episodes1 April 1939
Work
Ref NoTitleNo of Performances
Aimatiogckif_DFestival of Music for the People - Pageant Music and the People in Ten Episodes1
Performers
CodeName of Performer(s)
DS/UK/2133Jones; Gwynn Parry (1891-1963); Welsh tenor
DS/UK/307Robeson; Paul Leroy (1898-1976); American singer, actor and Civil Rights activist
DS/UK/1638Mann; Tom (fl 1919-1920); British Socialist
DS/UK/3754Copeman; Fred (1907-1983); OBE; British trade union activist, Socialist
DS/UK/3973Bush; Alan Dudley (1900-1995); British composer, pianist
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