Sir London Ronald, the famous conductor and composer, Principal of the Guildhall School of Music for the last 21 years and conductor of the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, now the New Symphony Orchestra, for the last 23 years, has announced at the annual dinner of the Brighton Symphonic Players that he is going to retire. I have had 40 years of conducting, and thank God I am giving it up, he said.
It is a difficult job, he said, although many people think it is an easy one. Only the orchestra know the truth about a conductor. All the jumping about on the plat-form and throwing batons at people, and perspiring, counts, unfortunately, with the audience, but it doesn’t count with the orchestra. They only look round and say: “What is he doing that for?”.
Sir Landon Ronald, who is now in his 60th. year, is a member of the Maccabean Society, the organisation of Jewish artists in England, and in 1922 it gave a dinner in his honour, at which Lord Rothschild, the President of the Society, presided. The inherent love of the Jewish people for music had expressed itself in Sir London, Lord Rothschild said in his presidential speech. Mr. Mark Hamburg, Mr. Beno Moiseiwitch, the famous pianists, and many other musicians, Jewish and non-Jewish, were present at the dinner.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
