Song, Stage, and Story.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 271, 14 November 1896, Page 3 (Supplement)

Song, Stage, and Story.

The Amateur Opera Club brought their season of "The Gondoliers " to a c'iOss on

Thursday evening. The play has been a brilliant succees, both artistically and financially, and tho Club deserves the highest praise for their performance.

The Dolobery, Craydon end Holland Variety Company have returned from the South, and have been appearing this week at the City Hall to tair business. Mr Bland Hole's elaborate production, 'In Sight of Sfe. Paul's,' was ab latest advices still drawing crowded houses in Sydney. Bland (says the Mieferee') has in this play the least ' fat' part that he evor took in any piece he has played in. Mdlle. Antoinette Trebelll, who has been einging for some months past in Australia, passed through Auckland thia week, on her way to Wellington. Pollard's Opera Company commenced a season in Christchurcb lasb week with ' Paul Jones,' and drew large houses during the racrng carnival. Mr George Ri&nold revived 'Heary V. ' afa the Melbourne Theatre Royal during; Cup week.

MrG, H. Snazelle was at latest advices at Douglas, Isle of Man, with his entertainment, ' Music, Sony, and Story.'

The Godfrey Company were appearing in Chriatchurch this week.

Mr George Lauri appeared in ' DjinDjin ' at the Princess's Theatre, Melbourne, during Cup week, taking Mr Elton's part. The 'Age' says that 'Mr Lauri was in every way a worthy successor of Mr Elton, and made all the points which a none too brilliant part allowed him.'

Mrs Potter and Mr Bellew returned to Sydney from their Queensland tour on the 29th ulb., and produced ' She Stoops to Conquer 'on the 31st. ' Rotueoand Juliet,' ' Forseb -mo - Not,' ' Francillon,' and ' Thereae Raquin ' were also announced to be staged during the nbort season.

Mr Harry Furniss, tho famous caricaturIst, baa been engaged by Mr 31. S. Smytbe for a lecture tour through the colonies.

Maggie Moore's 'Trilby ' soason ends iii Sydney on fche 2'2nd inst., after which she leaves by the mail steamer for San Francisco.

Bucalossi, tho popular composer of fiance music, was (ho has boen telling tho ' Evenitie: Xews ') conductor of tho orchestra at the old Prince of Wales' Theatre when tho 'My Queen ' waltz made mm facaous. lie wrote it for ' The Colonel,' then running there, and thought very little about it whon ho put ir, in the programme. The name of the waltz was not even on the bill. 1 Within a week of 6he production of tho piece,' ho says, ' I received dozsna of letters from strangers amonj; the audience asking me, as uiu?ical director of tho theatre, the name of the waltz and of its composer. Soon afterwards " My Queen " was published by Messrs Hopwood and Crewe, and 250,000 copies of it havo been »o!d. That shows you what opportunity doe.". I might have slaved my life away for the cbanco that came to rue by a fluke. How many youngsters are there in London to-day who only want opportunity that may nevesarrive? Success depends so much on ihis. Talenb without opportunity is as useless as opportunity without talent.'

The forthcoming marriage of M. Jean d-3 Reszko with the Countess Mailly-lNef'le ;s paid to bo creating quite a sQu^ttion in France. Tho countesa belongs to one of tha mcab aristocratic families, and, in *pl o of the opposition of her friends, determined upon marrying the great i.enor, Tii-ir engagement has ia.-tcd seven years. Tlis

counter h beautiful lv.d wealthy, and passionately fond of ruu-ic. After tha marriage Iv.J. de Ile-zko wiil fulfil iho ensscemenfc? ho has already :n.idy with M. Grnu, and sing thia winter b ah in London and America, whan he will retire from the ptage and tako up his position a6 a wealthy landowner. Lulli was the inventor of the baton used by musical conductors. Prior to its introduction orchestral leaders were ia thu hubib of beating time by phirupiay with the feeb or clapping their hande, or by striking two shell.- together in imitation of the Greeks. None of theso methods pleased Lulli, and ho began to u?e a stick ?ix feot longr, with which he pounded the tioor. One d-iy lie accidentally brought it down on hi* foot. The bruiso feemed trivial, bui. it resulted in b'ood poisoning and the death of tho celebrated coir.poser. The baton then gradually became what it is to day-a harmless toy, LITERARY NOTES. Gilbert Parker has made the FrenchCanadian times a special iield for his pen, aad he has produced several good works of fiction with the eeat of the plot in Canada. One of the tiv^b recently published has been issued i;i Muthuan and Co.'a Colonial Library, and has reached us through Messrs George Robertson and Ce., of Melbourne. It boars the title of 'The Seat 3of the Mighty,' and is perhaps the best book by this author which has yet com© under our notice, combining, to a large extent, with a charming thread ot romance, historical facts of the war resulting in the capture of Quebec by Wolf, and ultimately in Canada becoming a British possession Mr Gilberb Parker works out an excellent story. In none of his feminine character*-, perhap?, has he been happier than in that of Alexo Duvarney, the principal li^ure of the story, and the other characters arosucv. as to live in the mind of the reader. Several old blocks of ecenea of the date- of the plob form appropriate illustrations. Dv Maurior's 'The Martian,' which begins in ' Harper's' for October, seems fclip-alop stuff, but may improve. Tf.o portrait of Mr Broasard introducing to m^ schoolfe!lows Barty Jossclin wiil easily be recognised as our old friend of 'Punch,' Sir Gorgius Midas. Mr Arthur Vincent, whoso 'Twelve Bad Men ' attracted some attention, has now com pi loci a companion vo'uuiu en fir/. I ' Twelve Bad Women.' The book douis with Alice Ferrers (fcho paramour of [Oilwar '< III,), Alice Arden (Shaksporo's typo of a bur) woman), Mary Frith (Moll Uatpnras), the Countess of Somerset (Sir Thns. Overbury'a murderess), Barbara Duchess of Cleveland, Mary Young (Jenny Diver), Teret-ia Conetantia Piiiilip3 (Walpole'a Con.), tho bigamous Duche?* or Kingston, the crunl Mrs Brov.'nri££, Elizabeth Carmine, Mary Bateman ('The Yorkshire Witch ') and Rlary Anne Clarke (a frieud of ' the brave old Duke of York,')

Neither aa regards appearance rsor contents does Mr Silas Hocking's ' Temple Magnzine catch on with the public, who expect a good deal for sixpence nowadays. Lob us hope Hubehinson's ' Lady's Realm ' may be more fortunate. The Marchioness of Granby has permitted a profcraic drawn by her of the late Duchess of Leir.ster to be used as a frontispiece for the first numbe>', which will be issued this mouth. Tan probrait is the last for which the Ducbe^a gave sittings. Among other contributors to the magazine are the Countess of Warwick, the Duchess of Somerset and ' Violets Fane,' who writes about the Sea of Marmora, Messrs Hutehinaon will also next month publish •As Tangled Garden ' by Mrs Fred. Reynolds, the scone of which ia laid in Wales.

Mr Jacob, the well-known cnriositymonger of Simla, supposed to be tho original of Marion Crawford's ' Mr Isaacs,1 is dispersing his famous collection, and hia mart will soon bo a thins? of the past. 1b is asserted by the London correspondent of the 'Manchester Guardian,' rhab owing to the action of tha Indian Government Bince the Hyderabad diamond case, ib ia virtually impossible for him to carry on business any longer with the Maharajaha of native States, who have hitherto been his principal patrons, so he has resolved to retire upon his laurels. A gentleman who was re.

cently shown over Mr Jacob's private apartments states that the description contained in Mr Crawford's book still tits the drawing-room exactly—'lt seamed tome that I was suddenly transported into the subterranean chamber whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in quesb of the lamp. A soft but strong light tilled the room, though I did not immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did 1 think to look, so amazed wa3 I by tho extraordinary splendour of the objects thab met my eyes. In the first glance it appeared a°> if the walls and ceiliuga were haed with gold and precious stones, and in reality it) was almost literally the truth.'

Fiction has become an approved medium for depicting society at diflerent periods of tima and in many lands, and thera is no good reason why the power of vivid pourtrayal which is exercised by the skilful story writer should not be employed in illustrating those scenes and incidents which our religious faith has rendered sacred. In sacli stories as 'Ben Hur' we sea fiction put to its highest) use—the quickening of the spiritual sense. To the same order of composition belongs * Titus, ■a Comrade of the Cross: A Tale of the Christ,' by Florence M. Kingsley. This work has been an enormous success in America, where over a million copies have boon sold. Ward, Lock and Bovvden, Ltd., have lately published an edition in hand3omo cloth binding and beautifully illustrated. The author employs what ia known of the manners and customs of dwellers in Palestine at the time of Christ to give to come. of the Gospel incidents a life-like colouring. The treatment evinces deep religious feeling, and the Btory when it treats of events in the life of the Saviour adheres closely to tha Gospel narratives. Nothing but good can accrue from the judicious use of such a bcok in imparting Scriptural instruction to the young. The volume roaches us from the publishers through Wlldman and Lyell.

Six well thought oub lectures by Professor Duniop, D.D., of Dunedin, have appeared in collocbed form, beaming bhe itnprin6 of the N.Z. Bible Tracb and Book Society, represented in Auckland by the trade manager of the Auckland Sunday-School Union Book DepoJ, Wollesley-streeb. In these days of abounding controversy and agnosticism, tho Professor's concise epitome of some of the chief grounds tor asserting religious certainty may be regarded as opportune. In tho course of hia addresses, he considers the; arguments from the world's order, from intelligence and conscience, the internal witness of the spirt*, and bhe self-evidencing power of the Christ of fche Gosdols.

'Truth' pooh-poohs what it cidls the 'hysterical paroxysms' in which the logrolling fidmlrors ot Robert Louis Stevenson have been indulging during tho la3b few months, and doubts whether any of his book;! will be ' alivo ' twenty yearn hence. Can anything (' Labby ' inquire.*) be more crack-brained than Mr Andrew Lnng's description of Stevenson as ' the chief\ literary glory' of Scotland, after Burns,' Scott, and Cariylo? Lonyo inlervallo, one; m:\y nay. As a matter of fact, no clear- j headed and competent critic would place Stevenson on a level with Hume or Smollett, much less above them. Was not Gait a ' literary glory,' and is anything of Stevenson's equal to that writer's ' Annals of the Parish ?' Thero is also Drummomi r.f ITawthornden, to say nothing of John Gibson Lockhart, Francis JoOrey, and poor Jamea Boawoll.

Wo have received through Messrs Charapkaloup and Cooper, "An Australian Handbook of Obaseric Nursing,' designed for the use of tnidwive* and nurses, by F. Mi ford, M.D, a Sydney practitioner of thirty ve::r.;J standing, who for a long period li'i'^i 'ho office ot lecturer i:j surgery nr, tho Udivur.-iiy of Sydney, The author has endeavoured to do d with a technical hubjecbin terms so clear and explicit that anyone can understand his directions and explanations. In thi* eii'orb he is materially assisted by the 92 illu»trabion« which are incorDornled with tho text. The work ia pub'l-hed by Messrs Angus and Robertson, of Sydney.