Program Notes

> Last week John Barbirolli, conductor of the New York Philharmonic, who is not generally considered a magician so far as programs are concerned, pulled an exciting Easter rabbit out of his hat. Assisted by the young, well-trained Westminster Choir of Princeton, N. J., the Philharmonic gave Manhattan an earful of Gioachino Antonio Rossini's rare Petite Messe Solennelle (Little Solemn Mass), which is neither little nor solemn. The Mass took almost two hours to perform, was full of the impish but not impious gaiety of Rossini's comic operas (Ceneventola, The Barber of Seville). Rossini, one of the laziest and wittiest of all composers, wrote his Solemn Mass in 1863 at the age of 71, called it his "last mortal sin," marked one passage Allegro Cristiano (quick but Christian), confessed he did not know whether it was "musique sacree ou sacree musique" (sacred or accursed music), made one tenor solo, Domine Deus, sound like a swashbuckler's serenade, and directed that the composition should be sung by "three sexes--men, women and eunuchs." The Westminster Choir got along all right with the first two.

> Largest and swankiest spa in England is the venerable town of Bath, 107 miles from London. Bath's principal claims to fame are its Roman remains, its Georgian house-fronts, and its spring water. Gouty Britishers have drunk and dunked themselves in Bath's water since the time of the Roman Empire. Not so well known as Bath's baths, but no less remarkable, is Bath's Pump Room Orchestra, a small 18-man group, which is today the oldest established orchestra in the British Empire.

Founded by England's famous dandy and fashion arbiter, Richard ("Beau") Nash, the Pump Room Orchestra (now conducted by handsome Maurice Miles) has given concerts in Bath's Pump Room for 234 uninterrupted years. Last week word leaked out that the famous Pump Room Orchestra was to be disbanded. Reason: for its size, Bath's orchestra had set a new record in box-office flops. This year's expected deficit: $25,000.

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