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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1974-12-12, Page 4PAGE 4 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1974 A 'not -so -happy' Christmas! They weeks of December which precede Christmas are tradit- ionally the "happiest time of the year"-- at least according to the song writers. This year, however, these same weeks are likely to be the unhappiest in a generation for many Canadians and Americans. Mass layoffs in the North American auto indust- ry have already triggered countless thousands of cutbacks in other industries which are indirectly affected by the slowdown in the car business and a widespread sense of apprehension among other workers who fear that mass unemployment may have been triggered by the woes of the auto trade. It certainly is an unfortunate coincidence that there will be no pay cheques for several hundred families, just when they want some extra cash for gifts and holiday festivity. People who lived through the grim years of the thirties know the feeling all too well. What has happened in the auto industry was inevitable. With the cost of housing and food skyrocketing, lower and mid-level wage earners have been forced to make some firm decisions about the priorities in their spending --and they have rightly decided that food and shelter are more important than a new car every second year. However, such a major proportion of our economy has been dependent upon the sale of cars that repercus- sions from its temporary slowdown are felt in every corner of the continent. Central to the entire problem is the fact that car manufactur- ing plants are so specialized to their own type of production that they cannot be switched to the manufacture of the countless other items of consumer goods which are in desperately short supply. Once we have weathered the initial months of unemployment we should see a healthier trend in the economy as more diversif- ied industries turn to filling the need for typewriters and wash basins and baby buggies --or any of the hundreds of items which, for many months, have been back -ordered. With a dropping interest rate we may see new life injected into the housing trades and the industries which supply building and home equipment needs. Much more importantly, a period of deep anxiety about pers- onal incomes may also be followed by a more enlightened attit- ude on the part of working people. Keener appreciation of steady jobs and adequate pay cheques may replace the greed and carelessness which have characterized so many areas of employment during the past decade. Pride in sound workmanship and solid value for the consumer's dollar would certainly be an encouraging sign. Most of us have been living pretty high off the hog for a long time. The bitter truth that it cannot go on for ever will not be easy to swallow --but it may cure some of our most deadly ailments in the long run. (Wingham Advance Times) Rule changes may help to curb violence! It seems that nice guys may not always finish last, that hockey will become a game of skill and science again. And that is certainly a tremendous upward step from the sad burlesque combination of roller derby find professional wrestling that the sport has become in recent years. The Ontario Hockey Association has done a fair amount of soul-searching and of polling its members' opinions. They have come up with alternative solutions to the proposals offered in the recent McMurtry Report on hockey violence. And it is to the credit of the OHA that the alternative solut- ions are imaginative and progressive. For some time the OHA had seemed almost a reactionary group more interested in blood-letting than in goal -scoring. The organization, with its latest proposals, seems to be talking sincere and positive steps to curb hockey violence. The OHA put into effect a series of rule changes November 15 that include the aggressor in a fight receiving a 10 -minute penalty for his action. The aggressor's club will also play short-handed for 10 minutes regardless of whether a goal is scored. Two minutes of short-handed play will also be imposed on teams whose players receive five-minute misconducts. A game misconduct and suspension for two subsequent games will be imposed for a player receiving two major penalties of any kind in a game. The penalty for high -sticking is increased to five minutes if the stick makes contact with another player above the shoulders. The fourth player into a fight will receive a game miscond- uctiand a two -game suspension (Except in senior hockey where the teams are too short of manpower. There the fourth man will be fined.) Players who begin a second fight while a first fight is under way will be thrown out of the game. Head -butting will call for a five minute penalty (10 minutes if injury is incurred) for Major Junior A teams and it is hoped that will later be expanded to all leagues. The most important of all aspects in the OHA's changed stance however, is a focus on referee upgrading. It has been said in this space before that the rules are already there to curb violence and it is a question of enforcing the existing rules. (Windsor Star) ZURICH Citizens NEWS PRINTED BY SOUTH HURON PUBLISHERS LIMITED, ZURICH HERB TURKHEIM, Publisher Second Class Mail Registration Number 1385 ®�e '° Member: CNACanadian Weeklyr Newspapers Association iln'Z COntario Weekly Newspapers Association �1!!� Subscription Rates: $5.00 per year in advance in Canada; .$6.00 in United States and Foreign; single copies 15l International Scene (by Raymond Cannon) HANDEL AND THE MESSIAH It used to be that one of the first signs of Christmas was the traditional Santa Claus parade. Now one of the indications seems to be the preparation of Handel's famous oratorio, the Messiah. I dont know how many advertisements I have seen lately about it and here in London, it is being presented twice in one week by two diff- erent groups. I really couldn't ignore it if I wanted to since my wife is in the Fanshawe choir practicing for the event and, in addition to the performance in London, they are going to put it on in Stratford and Chatham as well. I don't mind going to hear it as I really enjoy the music; I have listened to it since I was a child and, as far as I am con- cerned, it is a type of music that one never gets tired of. Perhaps that is just one sign of greatness of any of the classical music that we listen to. Anyway I thought that I would tell you a bit about Handel and the Messiah since I have found that, while many people go and listen to the music, they don't really know too much about it nor about its composer. This is unfortunate since Handel is rather unique when it comes to the great writers of music. To begin with, he is a Ger- man who spent most of his life in England and wrote most of his music there. In German his name is spelt Haendel but when he was living in England, he himself spelt it without the "e" so I guess that is good enough for most people. He lived about two hundred years ago and when he came to London in 1710, he was entering what amounted to a close soc- iety. This does not seem to have bothered Handel who was never known for being the quiet diplomatic type. He took this society head on and in no time at all had run up a goodly numb- er of enemies. However, he could do one thing that the others could not and that was compose music so his enemies were soon rivalled by his friends, It was most definitely difficult to remain neutral about Handel but he was there to write music, not win popularity contests. One thing in his favor was that Italian opera was all the rage and he found no difficulty in turning out one after another. So successful was he that many of his admirers considered him to be the greatest musician that had ever lived. Since people like Beethoven had not come along yet, there may be more than a little truth to this claim. To be honest, most of the Italian operas that Handel wrote have been long forgotten and, of those that remain, only a few songs are ever played. One you probably know is his famous Largo which has been played untold times at piano recitals and the like. It is a beautiful piece of music, n evertheless, and comes from the opera " "Xerxes." If you wonder how to pronounce this name, it sounds like Zerkses. It's the name of a famous Persian general by the way. Getting back to the Messiah, The oratorio was composed in a very short time for, when Handel got inspired, he really went to work. It was first pres- ented in Dublin in 1741 and London had to wait about six months before its turn came. it was a success right from the beginning and, whatever may be said about the success of Handels other music, it has been popular ever since, and has been translated into many languages. There is one interesting custoir of which you may be aware. Outside of our national anthem, the Hallalujah Chorus is the only other song where people stand as it is sung. The reason for this is obscure but the most acc- eptable one, at least of those that I have heard, is that King George 1, who was in attendance at a performance, suffered from gout and stood up at the beginn- ing of the chorus to stretch his leg. Nobody wanted to offend the King and, as a sign of respect stood up too and remained stand- ing until the selection was over. Actually the one I like best is that the King wasn't going to scratch his leg at all. He just wanted to go to the washroom and exercising his royal perog- ative, decided to go when he felt like it, not caring what anybody thought. He was so surprised when everybody else stood up too that he remained rooted to the spot and never did get to the washroom. You can use whichever version you like. 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