Pappy receives a very despondent letter from Colonel Brase. ((Colonel Fritz Brase (1875-1940), German bandmaster and composer in the service of the Kaiser, after the first world war music director of the Berlin police, in 1923 accepted the post of director of the newly founded Irish Army School of Music. He had a decisive influence on the musical life of Dublin. He established four military bands, and took the No. 1 Band on tours throughout Ireland. He organised schools concerts, founded the Dublin Symphony Orchestra, the Dublin Philharmonic Society, organised and conducted symphony concerts in Dublin, did extensive broadcasting. He became a Nazi sympathiser but as an Irish army officer, was not permitted to become involved in politics.)) The latter was a band conductor of high rank in Berlin, whom the Free State brought over to train the Irish bands. At first he met with the greatest success, making extraordinary artistry from very raw material. His tours round the country with the No. 1 Band brought programmes of ‘Tannhäuser’, ‘Parsifal’, ‘1812’, and other great works to all the towns, and did immense work for the musical education of the people. Still, it appears, it was all sensationalism. When he gives a high-class concert now, the hall is only half full, and evidently he is beginning to despond. He was to come to Cork in a few weeks, but has put it off. Pappy’s choir always took part in his concerts, which were a great success.
