Begin with the thing itself. The Reed-Bed Subcommittee on Cultural Matters has advanced its midsummer programme beneath the Old Willow to a stage where part of it can be reported. This critic had begun to read the long silence as paralysis. He was, it seems, premature. The running order was lodged with the Clerk on Tuesday and posted, after some delay, in the reeds above the south bank. Four items. The third is a piece of length, a close-harmony duet scored for a pair of honkers.
That the duet happens at all is of moderate cultural significance. Readers will recall the one attempted at May Day. Two honkers were meant to hold a close harmony. They held it closely but not strictly, the second voice arriving a beat behind the first, and the occasion took the gap in stride. The Subcommittee has learned certain lessons it does not mean to repeat. Asked which lessons, the Clerk said they would be summarised in a memorandum, and that the memorandum would go to any party able to establish a reasonable interest in receiving it.
The duet is the item by which the programme will be judged. It has one of the two honkers it needs. Hettie, the standout of the spring recital and of much since, is booked subject to terms. The terms are in negotiation through Hettie’s mother. She told this critic, through the reeds, that matters were proceeding “in a satisfactory direction (ish)” and that “an announcement would be made when an announcement was warranted.” She prefaced the exchange with a request that no further questions be put. Pressed anyway, she produced a look this critic has decided not to describe.
The other honker is wanted by open advertisement. The Subcommittee has issued the following call, reproduced verbatim from the posted notice:
Wanted: one honker of suitable register, capable of close harmony, available for rehearsal in the late afternoons, and willing to defer to the senior performer in matters of tempo, ornament, and entrance. Letters of expression of interest, accompanied by a brief account of the candidate’s previous engagements (where any), may be addressed to the Clerk of the Cultural Subcommittee at the usual reeds. Auditions will be held in due course.
“In due course,” sources close to the Subcommittee suggest, means within the fortnight, weather permitting, and provided the Old Willow holds. A delegation of two and a half drakes inspected the Willow on Thursday and returned a verdict of “broadly serviceable.” This critic took that to be encouraging. He marked his approval with a single honk, sotto voce, which the delegation accepted as a vote of confidence.
Further notices will follow as the arrangements admit of being announced. One question hangs over the whole enterprise, and the notice does not touch it. Whether a suitable second honker exists on this water, the season has yet to say.