It is nearly 100 years since composer Gustav Holst went to Salonika to work as a musical organiser and educator with the YMCA. It is very appropriate, then, that his sojourn with the British Salonika Force should be commemorated by the Holst Birthplace Museum with a special exhibition. Continue reading “Gustav Holst in Salonika : exhibition now on!”
Tag: Entertainment
How the troops entertained themselves in Macedonia, 1917-1918.
First Night of the Proms : A Salonika Special!
Whilst the First World War Centenary theme of Friday night’s opening concert of the BBC Proms season isn’t in doubt, you may look in vain for any explicit acknowledgement of the Salonika connection. So you read it here first! Continue reading “First Night of the Proms : A Salonika Special!”
Christmas 1917 : It’s panto time again!
In Christmas 1917 the indefatigable 85th Field Ambulance took to the stage again with their third and final pantomime of the campaign – Bluebeard. This is what 2nd Lt Frank Kenchington, RFA, had to say about it in his introduction to Music from Macedonia by Charles H B Jacques, published after the war.
Salonika … and all that jazz!
Yesterday (26th February) was the centenary of the what is reckoned to be the first ever commercial jazz recording: Livery Stable Blues by the Original Dixieland Jass Band (they had to change ‘Jass’ to ‘Jazz’ because naughty children kept scratching the ‘J’ out on their posters!). Continue reading “Salonika … and all that jazz!”
The Sound of Christmas, 1916
A traditional Greek tune used in ‘Aladdin in Macedonia’, first performed in 1916 by 85th Field Ambulance at the Kopriva Palace Theatre in the Struma Valley. Continue reading “The Sound of Christmas, 1916”
Christmas 1916 : Aladdin in Macedonia
A pantomime in two acts, given by members of the 85th Field Ambulance to the 28th Division, Christmas 1916 in the Struma Valley. Continue reading “Christmas 1916 : Aladdin in Macedonia”