SINGERS AND PLAYMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 167, 13 July 1912, Page 14

SINGERS AND PLAYMS.

Paderewski, in spite of his recent experiences in South Africa, will again visit Australia. ■Miss Viola Tree will make Iter de_R_t in grand opera, in the tit-.-part of Verdi's "La Traviata." The important event •will take place in one of Italy's chief towns —not Milan—the precise situation of which has not as yet been revealed. There were some unrehearsed effects during the production of "Tannhauser"' at Melbourne last week by the Quinlau Grand Opera Company. The overture, magnificently played, still held the audience spell-bound, when a man's voice was heard in the stalls sayiug: '"'Very, very nice.'' The orchestra were dumbfounded, and the audience were angered. A few minutes afterwards the voice interrupted again with an ironical cheer, and steps were taken to eject the offender, but he could not be found. From the dress circle a voice demanded a little later that one of the principals should sing clearly. Apparently the interruptions were organised. When, presently, from the gods another singer was told "to chuck it off his chest" the trouble looked serious, but the offenders could not be located or detected. Members of the audience accused neighbours of being guilty, and the assertion was in every instance indignantly denied. The opera proceeded without any more interjections. The explanation was that a ventriloquist had merely been trying jilts tricks on lovers of grand opera. In- ! stead of barring babies, theatre managements will have in future to advertise '■_\o ventriloquists admitted." The latest musical and dramatic news from London records the success at Covent Garden of a new Violetta, Mile. Lydia Lipkowska. We read of her that, besides a lovely voice, she "puts one or two of the rather stout old stars out of court by being really young, slender and graceful." Mr. John McCormack was the "altogether i delightful." At the rival house Mr. Hammerstein heard a new tenor, liked I him, but let him go, and then, owing Ito the illness of someone on the salary ili-st, caught him just as he was getting i into the boat for Paris, and put him up lat three hours' notice in "Trovatore." jllis name is Gennaro de Tura, his voice !is brilliant and powerful, and all 1/indon is talking about him. lie was 'quite a well-known singer elsewhere, j notably in Italy at La Scala and San Carlo, and abroad at, Buenos Ayres. Mme. Carreno has been warmly welcomed back to London at Queen's Hall. "We all know this great artist plays." exclaims one critic, and music-lovers 'here can echo the remark! At the Lyric Theatre a new comedy from the | German, "The Five Frankforters," has ! be-en produced- It is a good, simple, yet unconvincing piece, all the good of which is in the first act. It is supposed to allude to the house of Rothschild in 18__, and a sincere study of Jewish life at that date should have been made, instead of which the play lacks colour. An old-time favourite actress here, Henrietta Watson, is unanimously praised for a. delicate and touching portrait oi ! the charming old Jewish mother of the j Frankforters. The Vienna correspondent of the London "Daily Telegraph" writes concerning the first performance at the Vienna Imperial Opera of Siegfried : Wagner. opera. "Banadictrich": —The ..public, however, do not show themselves very enthusiastic admirers of symbolic [art, at least when it is presented upon , the stage. Imperfectly understood j motives and too complicated stage action ;puzzle the audience; moreover, they are 1 not calculated to display to the best ndI vantage the finer side of Siegfried I Wagner's musical talent. Nevertheless, the second act, rich in grotesque and amusing scenes, was abundantly apj ph-udeel. The pleasing pastoral aria in '(.'. the duet between the Devil and old i etc. and, above all. Wittich's "Hymn to i the Sun and Love." sung by the tenor ; Muller. were unusually well received. iSieg.ricd Wagner appeared after each 'act in response lo loud calls from his a.d- ---| ntirers. After the conclusion of the perj formance the composer expressed himself as follows:"The reception given to !my 'Banaelietrieh' has very much gratiI lied mc. When one lieurs the name of i Wagner a certain degree of diffidence '.attends one's efforts, anil in this way ■one has greater difficulties to overcome! I I ban either musical composers. I hope, I however, that in the course of time this ! distrust of my own efforts will disappear. 1 now go to Bayreuth, where on June 20 the final rehearsals for this I year's festival. which will occupy • twenty evenings, will take place. I'Parsifal' will be conducted by Dr. I Muck, the 'Mei. tersinger' by Hans ] Richler, the 'King' by Michael Balling, .and I myself will act as conductor. The ! seals for each representation have been taken since last October. The artists | will be nearly the same as those of last j year. Messrs. jjayr and j.reuor, and ! Madame Mildenburg. from the Vienna j Opera, will assist. The next Bavreuth j festival will be held in 1014.*' The climax of the musical season in I Berlin was reached, somewhat late, with the three performances of Gustav Mah- ! ler's Eighth Symphony. This work, which, iby reason of the number of persons conj . ielered necessary for its adequate renI dering, is popularly known as "the Symi phony of the Thousand," constitutes a i class to itself, for it was the first of its j kind, and so far ha. found no imitators. Vuni! practically throughout, it consists of two sections, for which the old Latin hymn, "Veni Creator vSpiritus," and the i closing act of the second part of Goethe "Faust"' respectively supply the I text. The organic connection between ! these two components is not among the ' clearest features of the composition. | No other musical work demand- anyi thing like the same magnitude of apparaI lus. The score calls for eight vocal soloI ists, three separate choirs (two of mixed land the other of boys' voices!, and an I orcheritra of 1.10 instrumentalists, as well as organ, harmonium, piano, celesta, and —strange intruder into this tonal complexmandoline. A detached force of trumpets and trombones is also prescribed. But. in spile of these exacting requisition-, the work, which was first produced at. Munich in September. MHO, under Mahler's own conductor .lip. has | since been given in half a deizen different j towns, and litis s.j won fur its composer la vogue, if mil .i fame, which he never ) enjoyed during his lifetime. To what ex- | tent pure musical appreciation, and to what megalomania in responsible for its popularity, the future alone ran decide. Leoncavallo has composed a new opera, 'Tveginctta delle Rose" ('"Little Queen of 'of the Rose"), which is to be produced in | Turin and Rome, and afterwards in LonI don and New York. The heroine is a | London flower girl, who becomes the j bride of a prim -c, and thus a queen in a foreign kingdom described as Portowa. j The last act includes? a coronation cereI mony, the music of which is said to be gorgeous. The librettist iTSignor GioI acchino Forzano. 1