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2A THE OSHAWA TIMES, Seturdey, August 20, 1966 LIBRARY NEWS AND REVIEWS HAS Ye OAT °° FREER RY AMOS HOOPS OT A HO PHT RREAOP YOUNGSTERS ENTHUSIASTIC READERS History Set On New Course At Hastings The following reviews were . ality and career of the Norman written by Miss Ruth Brook- ing, Head of the Adult Circu- lation Department, McLaugh- lin Public Library. The Norman Conquest, by Dorothy Whitelock (and others); a book commemor- ating the ninth centenary of the Battle of Hastings, compiled by the Battle and District Histor- ical Society. Nine hundred years ago, the last battle which led to a con- quest of England was fought at Hastings, when William the Conqueror introduced Norman rule after defeating Harold II of England in 1066. This book traces the history of the Anglo-Saxon state before 1066, which produced leaders like Alfred the Great and schol- ars such as Bede and Alcuin, and then describes the person- By DONALD PHILLIPSON TORONTO (CP) -- Herman Geiger-Torel sets the rules for the Canadian Opera Company, and his slogan is "integrated productions." This means firstly that out- side stars are engaged for their acting and singing in specific operas, not just as well-known names to bring in box office receipts. Secondly--and more impor- tant, says the company's artistic director -- the stars must attend three weeks of rehearsals in Toronto. By con- trast, many American com- panies engage a visiting star and go through only two re- hearsals before the public performance. He puts forward this insist- ence on proper rehearsal as one of the reasons the Cana- dian Opera Company needs subsidies from public funds. Unlike the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Ca- nadian Opera Company has no organized program to scour the country for new singers, "There is no need," Geiger-Torel. "If we took everyone who applied, we'd have a company of 1,000.'° However he visits Montreal and New York regularly each year for auditions and aspir- ants arrange to sing to him in Toronto throughout the year. Geiger-Torel has 36 opera students at the Royal Con- servatry of Music in Toronto. Probably five or six of these will enter _ opera's "big league,' he said in an inter- view, one will become a com- pétent director, and the rest will become part-time singers or just plain housewives. LACK FULL EDUCATION In all his 18 years in Tor- onto, Geiger-Torel has had only two pupils in his own speciality, opera production and direction. The main reason, he says, is that Canadian opera hope- fuls haven't the dedication or the opportunities he had as a student in Frankfurt, Ger- many, in the 1920s. 'There is so much to learn --theatre history, staging, English, philosophy, history of fashion--let alone music. I had to learn all these things . . « there simply weren't enough hours in the day."' Now 58, Geiger-Torel was trained as a conductor as well as a director, although he has not taken the podium '\. for several years. He attended opera school in Frankfurt and became as- sistant to the stage director of of the city's opera house, says duke, who, on the evening of the fourteenth of October, 1066, stood victorious on the Sussex downs above Hastings. Not only was he a great warrior but he was a statesman who respect- ed the traditions of a conquered country. A detailed account of the military campaign, with a scale drawing of the battlefield, helps to reconstruct the events of that memorable day. When a traveller stands, as I did this summer, amid the ruins of Battle Abbey, which William built to the glory of the God who gave him victory, and looks out upon the Senlac ridge where cattle now graze peace- fully on the meadow and roses climb in profusion along the stone walls, history comes alive and the wraiths of Harold's Housecarls and William's Nor- man knights seem to pass across the landscape. The effects of the Norman conquest were wide and lasting. A French aristocracy replaced the Anglo-Danish, with a new body oflaw and the Norman feudal system. In the ecclesias- tical sphere, the Normans also effected considerable changes and gave a new look to English church architecture. Had the tide of battle swung the other way that October day nine hundred years ago, En- gland would have remained under Scandinavian, rather than French influence, and the stream of English history would have flowed in another direc- tion, Conquest 1066 by Rupert Fur- neaux, who is a descendant of one of the Conqueror's Compan- ions, is a complementary work to The Norman Conquest. The military aspects of the battle are described in detail, with particular emphasis on Wil- liam's 'secret weapon", his 3,000 mounted knights, who had to be carried, with their horses, across the sea. This account of the battle is indexed, and con- tains a_ bibliography, list of sources and the Falaise Roll of the Conqueror's Companions. The Fire and The Rose by Arthur Bryant. T. S. Eliot, in his poem, 'Little Gidding", pro- vided the title for this narra- tive chronicle of English his- tory from a scholar who ranks with Gibbon, Macaulay and Trevelyan. Sir Arthur Bryant has set down nine accounts of decisive events in English his~ tory, ail contests of wiii, irom the duel between Henry. II and Becket, to the Battle of Trafak gar and of Waterloo. The great ness of the human spirit and its ability te transcend disaster ig the dominant theme of the book, NEWS The August Reading Club is progressing with great en- thusiasm in the Boys' and Girls' Department. The leading boy has read eight books -- the © leading girl fifteen -- the race continues until Labor Day. The little children's Story Hour every Thursday in Aug« ust from 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m, attracted thirty children the first week. The library staff is particularly anxious to encour~ age those children commencing school next month. eNO, RAMA nee aNt GEE TO PREAH G NAFTA PE EGON T 1 EDO AR EAN A APH E1001 FA DRDO YE DDD Integrated Productions Rule For Canadian Opera HERMAN GEIGER - TOREL Hues Talent, Not Drawing Cards Lothar Wallerstein, who was later' stage director of the Vienna State Opera, Milan's La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera of New York. _ Geiger-Torel's first profes- sional success came long be- fore he graduated from the school, when he was 16. At a hospital benefit con- cert, the stage director failed to arrive.:The young student had to present the finale of Wagner's Die Meistersinger and at the same time conduct a mixed orchestra of high school students and _ profes- Sionals from the Frankfurt municipal opera. He later went to South America and became stage di- rector of opera houses in Ar- gentina, Uruguay and Brazil during the Second World War, after which he migrated again, this time to Canada. In 1956 he refused an offer to become the Metropolitan Opera's permanent stage di- rector for fear that working predominantly with _ estab- lished international stars would cramp his style. In Toronto, however, he can insist on such rules as that for three weeks' rehearsals for the stars and no one ar- gues his final authority in artistic matters, Herman Geiger-Torel looks like a caricature German rather than a dedicated artist. Massively stout, he speaks English like the Katzenjam- mer Kids and always has a huge cigar in the corner of his mouth. Above all, he is a mobile storm cloud of guffaws. Wether it's joking backstage to keep away stage fright, or presenting a Mozart opera so that critics called it "a marriage of Mozart and the Marx Brothers," he integrates artistic aims with the admis- sion: "I loff to make people laff."' He has not hesitated to up- set long-established operatic conventions in order to make stark dramatic operas more convincing and lively. Above all, his rule is credible cast- ing--no 200-pound romantic heroines--and proper acting-- no mere concerts in fancy dress, WROTE OWN PARODY Long before the English musical spoofs of Gerard Hoff- nung (sponsor of Lon- don's "interplanetary con- cert') Herman Geiger-Torel composed his own, Opera Backstage, which was pro- duced live in Toronto and later presented on television. In fact it was the first IT'S TRAVEL TIME The Smort Traveller makes his reservations for * AIR- LINES * STEAMSHIPS * TOURS * HOTELS -- by caling: 723-9441 MEADOWS TRAVEL SERVICE 25 KING ST. E. operatic production of Tor onto's CBC television station. It made a two-week tour of Western Canada and took in more money than could have been expected from 'straight opera." In a production of La Bo- heme some years ago, an actor fell ill and Geiger-Torel took his role as. the non-sing- ing waiter in a tavern epi- sode. STORE HOURS: Mon. to Thurs. 4:15 P.M. -- 1 A.M, Fri. ond Set. 12 Neon -- 2 A.M. 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