SONG, STAGE, AND STORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 270, 12 November 1892, Page 3 (Supplement)

SONG, STAGE, AND STORY.

The phonograph is ab present the chief at. traction in the 'show' line in Archibald is showing Edison's marvellous • talking-machine' at the City Hall. There has been another 'split 1 in the Italian Opera Company, , now in : the South. ': ■■'•.",' Mr Jude is to leave Auckland shortly for Australia. ■«* •■■ TheFisk Jubilee Minstrels ..will be here from the South in a few weeks. Oar London correßpondenb writes, under date of last English mail:—' The mosb remarkable feature of the Three Choirs Musical Festival at Gloucester, seems to have been Dr. Hubert Parry's oratorio •Job,'which carried the critics fairly off their legs. The ' Times' pronounced it a wonderful piece of work worthy of Purcell at his best, and sure to become widely poDular. This choice treasure is brief, lasting barely an hour, and containing no part for a female voice. Its plan is wholly unconventional, for ib has only two formal solos, one being a delightfully fresh pastoral ditty for a shepherd lad who watches Job's herds and flocks, and the other a very energetic air for Satan who bids the storm and tempest destroy what the Sabean hordes had left. The bulk of the oratorio consists of Job's ' Lamentation,' a bass solo lasting 17 minutes, and ' The Almighty's Remonstrance,' which the composer, with admirable judgment, has assigned to the chorus. Both these sections are said to be full of extraordinary effects, every idea being couched^ music of a curiously graphic characte^ There is not, another enthusiastic ..entio avers, a ghost of a fugue in the oratorio and ib ends with a recitative. Another novelty ab Gloucester which with general approval was Mr,-Lee Williams's church cantata ' Gebhsemane," a companion to his •LaßbNighb at Bethany.' Tho libretto (by Mr Joseph Bennett) is a skilful mixture of Scripture texts and original verse,, and the music is studiously simple and devotional. The composer holds the position of organisb at Gloucester Cathedral. On the other hand Professor Bridge's 'Lord's Prayer,' and Miss Rosamond Ellicott's 'Birth of Sone,' receive much modified praise. Of the vocalists engaged. Mr Plunket Greene scored brilliantly in •Job.'

'A surprisingly smarbcrowd(for tho time of year) put in an appearance ab tho Trafalgar Square Theatre lasbSaturday evening when London's newest playhouse was opened for the firsb time to the public. In appearance and arrangements the Trafalgar is much the same as the Lyric, the pittites aa usual being far better off than their 1 superiors in the upper boxes. The opening bill consisbed of an operetta or rather a pasticcio, the work of two librettists and four unknown composers called ' The Wedding Eye.' The book is based on an old Breton custom, which obliged an engaged couple to undergo an ordeal of examination in the old Casblo ot the Nightingales on their wedding eve. A ridiculous 1 Seneschal (firsb cousin to the Baillie of the ' Cloches de Corneville') obliges a venerable smuggler, on pain of death,' to give him the hand of his daughter Yaonnette in marriage. The young lady's peasant lover, Eernoe, resolves to release ncr from the odious bond, and to do so practises on the Seneschal's superstitions on the wedding eve. Disguised as an astrologer, Kernoe predicts Yuoanetbe will have two husbands, and tbab No. 1 will die within a week, Naturally, the Seneschal resolves to be No. 2, and paves the way for the union of the heroine and the man of her choice. There is a not-improbably-designed resemblance ■throughout in tho work to the popular • Cloches de Corneville.' Tho composers have supplied a rather pleasant melange of Lecocq-and-water- cum ■ Sullivan - and-milk. Bright little Decima Moore is Yuonnette, and William Elton (very cordially received) the Seneschal. Miss Kabe Chard {grown fab) makes a lusty Landlady, and Joseph Tapley warbles sweetly as Kernoe. The' Wedding Eve' may possibly draw, bub I should nob, were I Mr Levenstein, be too sanguine. He haa certainly nob captured another 'Dorothy.1 Mention of the latter reminds me a children's 'Dorothy1 is in preparation here for Christmas. ' For the Grand National Sfcepleehase scene in the up-to-date sporting drama of 'The Prodigal Daughter,' due ab old Drury to^mprrow, Sir Augustus Harris has engaged the services of a botta fide winner of the Liverpool, to wit, the veteran Voluptuary, who captured the crosscountry Derby in 1884, and as the old song says, ' has never done anything sinoe.' Like many failures in life, Voluptuary haa now taken to the stage, which the ancient gelding, no doubt, considers better business than dragging about "ansom kebs' or seeking the seclusion of the knaoker'a yard. 'Despite the desperate puffing of Warham St. Leger's endless friends, his .and Mr Haydn Parry's ' Cigarette' won't draw. After a whiff or two the audience are quite ready to ' give it away,'and advise againsb the brand, which will never—one may safely predict—be pub on the Australian market. The music hall star of the moment is Dan Leno, a genuine eccentric comedian, with a finer faculty for making bricks without straw than anyone on the variety stage. Geb his songs, 'The Shopwalker' or 'The Waiter,' and you'll pronounce them drivel, but see Leno's acting and hear his patter and (like Lord Dufferin and Ada Rehan) you'll go away * enthused ' with the little man's genius. Chevalier's coster. I notice, begins to pall. He'a sung 'Liza 'Awkins' and 'The Old Kenb Road' for 80 long now. The latter must be qaite eighteen months old. A popular serio-comic song now bears the title ' That is Love.' It has a charming melody and the words are quite comrne ilfaut. Godfrey's (Charles Godfrey the singer, I mean,) ' Inkermann: A Tale of the Fusiliers' can also boast a stirring melody set to spirited words, and will doubtless be an Immense favourite ab penny readings and smoking concerts.

Two new boy's papers made their appearance on Wednesday last, one called ' Boys' and the other 'Chums.' The latter is brought oub by Cassoll's.and if boys are the same kind of creatures they were thirty years ago, ought to do. its article on ' Steeplejacks' and description of ' Life at Harrow School' by a fourth form boy, de* serve special mention,

The Moore and Burgess Christy Minstrels will to-morrow complete their twentysevonth year in London. On Monday the ' veteran ' Pony' Moore resumes his position as 'Bones,' after an excursion to America to witness the Corbett-Sullivan fighb. There always strikes me something extraordinarily quaint in this patron of tho prize ring, whose vocabulary even amongst pugilists is considered phenomenally powerful and sulphurous, singing pathetic ballads like ' Mother Wipe My Other Eye' or ' Tiny Tinas Tender Tummy,' to the highly rospectable audjence of clergymen, ladies, and children,'who frequent St. James's Hall.

Next Saturday is.fixed for the firsb nighb of the new Savoyfopera 'I(addon Hall.' Mr Courtice Pounds, Mr W. H. Denny, and Miss Lucile Hill will play principal parts. The Lyceum reopens on bhe 24th with six performances of' The Bells,' Irving still recognising ' Mathiaß' as his masterpiece and being anxions.thab it should not be forgotten. As soon as ' The Prodigal Daughter' ab Drury Lane is fairly launched. Sir Augustus Harris will turn his attention to Covont Garden where an autumn opera season is iv contemplation. A strange story reacheß me to the effect thab Mr Alberb Van Dam, who was for many years Parisian cOrrespondenb to the * Globe,' claims to be the author of thab remarkable book ' An Englishman in Paris.' He states, I believe, that ho sold the work to Chapman and Hall for about £100, and thab the firm have made £4,500 oub of it. All sorts of strange and wonderful things occur in this world, consequently I shall not say more than thab Mr Van Dam's tain requires corroboration. Ji He undoubtedly knows his Paris well, bub one wonders where a Bohemian of bis calibre could have picked up tho extraordinarily intimate and (as the cognoscenti admit) accurate knowlodge of the Imperial Court and its circle in the sixties. Tho casual pressman is nob often on terms of familiarity with emperors, princes, ambassadors, and the old noblesse. Amongst notable new editions may bo mentioned Grant Allen's 'Duohess of Powysland'(nob one of this author's ?bosb works) and Clarke Russell's ' Alone on V tho ..Wide Wide Sea," a readable sample of a monotonous series. '