STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 78, 1 April 1922, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

Yel another piano with a double keyboard is offered as the invention of Pierre Ilyis, a Belgian musician and engineer. The instrument is designed to do away with the black notes and is claimed by the inventor to have many admirable features calculated to aid in interpreting works of s;real technical difljeultv.

The Hon. Mrs. Henry Kdwards entertained v number of friends at her house in Herbert Orescent to hear Miss Dorothy Murdoch, a young Australian, sin;,' i writes the "Star's" London correspondent!. "Miss Murdoch." who was ■ rained by Dame Nellie Melba. with whom she'ha- been on tour, possesses a line contralto voice, and she san_ a number nf -tours very beautifully. Dame Nellie Melba is returning to Knghind in 1 In- i arlv autumn." A temporary "tiler prohibiting ainutci.r radio sending sialions from "broadcasting" iniisi.- and addresses until some system is worked out to eliminate interference, which has been causing trouble since ihe boom in this form of wireless communication started aboiit three months ago. has been issued ' v the Department of Commerce at Washington. The order docs not affect professionals who hold commercial licenses, but they have been advised that they should work out some programme among themselves if action by the Government is to he withheld indcfyiitrfy. it is estimated that there arc more than 14.1HM1 amateur radio sending stations scattered about the country. The law provides that all sending stations must take out licenses.

'"nie fifth year of the revolution,'' says "Musical America."' "finds Petrograd and Moscow, as before, the chief! centres of Russian musical culture. The destructive forces which these years unloosed spared the musical life of the two capitals. The best opera houses I the former Imperial opera houses) remains, and performances proceed as usual, in spite of considerable changes in the personnel of the companies. Symphonic and chamber music continues to be beard, but the concerts have pa-ssed from the hands of private managers and musical societies subsidised by the Czar's government wholly into the hands of the State. The government recognised the accepted standards in opera and drama, limiting itself to the suggestion that some pieces of a revolutionary character should he included in the repertoire.

Although it is customary for concert stars from Europe or America to commence their tour s in Australia. Miss Rosina Buckman has decided to commence her tour in her homeland, and Mr. E. J. Gravestock, who is directing it, has arranged for the famous prima donna to give her first concerts in Auckland towards the end of May. Almost as important a star as " the talented soprano is her husband. Mr. Maurice D'Oisly, the well-known English tenor. Mr. D'Oisly has been to Australia as first tenor with the Quinlan Opera Company. He is a big attraction at all the important concerts in England, and a great feature of the New Zealand concerts to he given by these popular artists will be operatic duets, which never fail to arouse extraordinary enthusiasm.

A certain young man by. the name oi UmbArto Rota, a tenor,'in Italy, has developed a knowledge of feminine psychology. Realising that he was comparatively unknown, and that consequently his concert would not bring in sufficient to keep him in food for more then twenty-four hours, he inserted an advertisement in the personal column of a Roman paper which stated that "an independent man of good appearance and excellent health desires to marry a young woman even if poor. Will be in the stage box of the Adrian Theatre on Saturday." This he signed with his name. There was nobody in the stage box, but the house was crowded with the prettiest women in town. Presumably, they were also as poor as they were pretty, but they had all paid to get in. so Umberto Rota s-a-npr before an enthusiastic audienov, and has enough for three meals a day for some time to come.

A correspondent writes to the editor !of "Stageland" in the Christchurch ''Sun from Paris of the tercentenary celebrations which were given in the'month of January to honour the memory of Moliere, the greatest of all the. French dramatic writers. The festival started at the Odeon with the production of ''L'Etourdi," and other plays staged there included "Georges Dandin." "Le Mariage Force." "L'Avare," "Be Malade Imaginaire," "Les Femmes Savantos." and "L'Ecole dcs Femmes." But the Comcdie Francaise, as the leading French theatre, took the most notable"part in the celebrations. This great theatre is sometimes known as the "Mai-son de Moliere" and in it the Moliere tradition has always been preserved. On January 14, the President of the Republic received French and foreign delegates in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, where discourses were pronounced. On January 15 there was a reception at the Palais de I'Elysee, and free matinees were offered by the Government at both the Odeon and the Comedie and in the evening there was a gala representation of "Le Bourgeois Gentilhommc." They certainly encourage the love of the drama in France.

One of the most interesting operatic performances witnessed by Mr. John Prouse during his visit to Italy, was at the Milan arena, a sports ground temporarily converted into an immense amphitheatre for the production of big works. In this novel opr-n-air auditorium, reminiscent of Wagner's al fresco theatre at Bayreulh, he saw a wonderful performance of Ponehielli's chef d'oeuvre "La Gioconda"; 750 people were engaged, and the audience consisted of between 25,000 and 30,000 enthusiastic people. He could not help reflecting that on the other side of the world, under similar conditions, an even larger concourse of people was assembled to witness a less cultured exhibition of art—the Dempscy-Carpentier fight. The open-air festivals were conducted with municipal assistance, and the expenses were very heavy. The most striking performances he had seen, however, weTe at La Scala, where the opera was complete and beautiful in every detail, both of music, scenery and costuming. Something like i 1 30,000 had been spent in improving and renovating the b.uilding, which was now used as a repertoire theatre purely and simply, being equipped for about seventy * different operas. The acoustics were as perfect as human skill could make them, and everyone in the audience had as good a view of the stage" as his neighbour. The orchestra, in accordance with the ideas instituted by Wagner, could be raised or lowered as desired.