SINGERS AND PLAYERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 16, 18 January 1913, Page 14

SINGERS AND PLAYERS.

Madame S_poffs_, w-bo is now a member of the Opera Company, made her first appearance with "at, combin-vtion at Birmingbam as 'Aharguerite in "Faust." Tbe loc_ Press referred in high terms to her work, and also expressed the hope that she might ■take a foremost place on the concert platforms of England. Madame Clara Butt and Mr. _ennerley Rumford were to have made tneir An-_—il debut in Boston on January 5, and on January 7 they were to appear at the Carnegie Hall, New Xor-., with the V<Ape Symphony Orchestra, under Arnold Volpe. After touring America and Canada, giving 50 concerts, they will sail (in April) for Austraha. In an intervresr before she left London, Madame Butt said:—"l have received some tremendous offers to appear in vaudeville. Only a short time ago the Palace Theatre made mc an offer ot £2000 per week for eatl eiga-r, weekengagement, but I did not accept it. 1 do not for one moment think it would be derogatory to my art to appear in a music hall, but I might possibly offend certain people, and that is the last thing I should like to do. It was hard to refuse such a sum, but I would rather accept a little less m a few years' time than appear now in music hall at the zenith of my career.

Sir Hubert Parry has w*ntten anew symphony which was produced in I*° nQ °* Et month at a Royal Philharmonic Society's concert. The new work is in four connected movements, which are labelled respectively, "Stress. Love "Play," and "Now," and apparently ne has sought to portray tbe varied emotions suggested by some of these strange titles. One critic declares that there is an almost Tschaikowskian depression in the beginning of the opening movement, but the music is thoroughly Parryesque in its vigour and comparative manfulness and bustling activity. "Love ' on the other hand, is in the beginning of exquisite tenderness, and the struggle, or entanglement, never gets out of handBut witty and amusing—even exhilarating—as is "Play," with all its vigouT and joviality, it is not very striking. Its witticisms and fancifulness seem so remote from Life that not even the quasitrio in this scherzo student song can bring it nearer—and the whole movement is butterfly-ish and Midsummer Night's Dream-ish. The busy, bustling contest in "Now" between Content and Hopefulness seems to show Parry to be a delightful optimist; but even his optimism is enclosed in an almost impenetrable covering of pessimism. The symphony was well received (even cordially), having regard to the notorious carefulness in this matter of the Royal Phflhar—onic's audience.

Fritz Kreisler, the well-known violinist, played 32 engagements during the 31 days of October, a record, it is said, that no other violinist has ever equalled in one month, observes the Berlin correspondent of the New York "Music— Courier." Last 6eason Kreisler was heard in public no less than 210 times, and that, top, constituted a record in .the annals of violin playing. Krei—er, at a recent concert in Berlin, played the Bach B minor sonata, the Vivaldi concerto in C major, a very effective Tartini fugue in A major, two charming Slavic dances in E namor-and A major by Dvorak, two caprices in E major and A minor from Wieniawski's "Ecole moderne," and Smetana's "Aus der Heimat." The audience remained in a body, inaidng insistent demands for encores, but Kreisler granted only-two.

From all accounts, the opera season at the New York Metropolitan has opened brilliantly enough. The campaign's prospects, as indicated by the subscription list—a well-nigh infallible test—are certainly rosy, the amount received from this source, it is stated, being about £200,000. This, it will be admitted, is something like a "subvention." And clearly the subscribers, to say nothing of the public generally, cannot complain of any neglect on the part of Mr. GattiCasazza—whose third year of management this is at the Metropolitan—to provide them with the best performances—so far, that is, as the engagement of star artists can secure that ideal. Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" was the opera chosen for the opening night, and in it Caruso seems to have repeated hk past triumphs. In the title-part an excellent impression was made by a newcomer, Lucrezia Bori, a Spanish soprano, who is described as possessing ."a petite, dainty figure, comeliness of features, and graceful gestures and carriage," She is also credited with charm of voice and temperament. Mr. Scotti was also in the cast, and a distinguished success is recorded of the new conductor, Giorgio Polacco.

Herr Slapoffski, in an -endeavour to arrive at a reason why Australians have never failed to generously support Wagnerian operas, ventured the opinion during the month that it was because of the "materiality of the great German's music." "Jhe Australians are very material," he said. "Both Wagner and Tschaikoweki are very satisfying to the senses without people quite knowing why. i n this respect they always pro° vide what ought to be termed a musical meal.

A once very brilliant Belgian "colatura" singer, Mile. Bernadine Heratackers, has just died in a Brussels hospital, friendle— and in great want. She went to Pans (says the Brussels correspondent of a London journal) when she was very young and attractive, and her star rose and fell with that of the Third Empire. She was one of the notabilities of Napoleon Hl.'s times, the admired and spoilt of all, and making money so fast that she spent it faster. Her extravagance was notorious. When the 1870 war broke out she returned to Brussels and sang at the Monnaie till 1880, when she retired. The late Qneen of the Belg\at who loved music, gave her a small pension, on which she lived, but when Queen 6 _* no one Rubied to took after her protegees, and Bernadine Hermacfcers tasted to tbe bitterneas of -the cup of life. .During the Royal Philharmonic SoZ 7 * J??*" B*™8 *™ Performance™ _l Messiah " in Sydney on Christmas Jftlr e_-r-e e oi ea „ _***. example of absence of mind, states the Mornmg Herald" After singina"eaTlv aUhaspart with music_- V t P lo- D be the recitative wh-*T Win! ia Heaven." TheTr tist had been silent for some tlrnf a on rousing himself to thHL___ _? cons— ou— y went + K ,^? cae -">a mi--2aaZhß__}£<2>2 and once more the ___L °! d •S - ™' dec-imed "He'wus'cufgT_ r tad" ley's baton switched through tj, • ,^ d " the lash of a y__7 %l_ g - th * •* kke deed, "cut oVf&t * perience *nnt „„ vj * >ur v' , -ed the exSS3VS -et*T P u_» and ever recorded in PnZ-_Sz£-_^ ea