WORLD OF MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

WORLD OF MUSIC.

GOSSIP OF THE PLATFORM.

FROM FAR AND NEAR.

(By ORPHEUS.)

Dvorak's opera, "King and Charcoal Burner," supposedly lost, has been discovered in Prague.

Plans have been definitely drawn up for the erection of a new London concert ball. The site chosen is in Belgravia, near Hyde Park corner.

In speaking of the changes that have been occurring in the orchestra during the last decade, an American writer sums up the present state of affairs thus:

Sir Edward Elgar has written' a* new composition for the choir of St. George's Chapel Koyal, Windsor. It was performed in December, and was conducted by the composer.

We have just passed over the centenaries of Beethoven and Schubert, and the next great occasion of the kind is the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Haydn. This is to be celebrated by an international exposition of "music and drama at Vienna in 1932.

De Pachmann, the famous pianist, is reported to be very seriously ill at his home in Rome. He has refused to submit to a slight operation advised by his physicians, and, until confined to his bed, continued to play for all visitors and to work on his memoirs. «

A new and unusual arrangement has been made at La Scala Theatre, in Milan. Henceforth the salaries of the chorus and orchestra will be paid by the city of Milan, while the principals will be paid by the management. In Italy, apparently, they take their music seriously.

The committee of the Royal Auckland Choir has decided to make a change in the practice hall. Hjtherto, rehearsals have been held in the Kitchener Hall, but in future they will be conducted in St. Andrew's Hall, Lower Symonds Street. Three concerts'will be given this year — in May, August and November. Rehearsals will begin on the first Monday in March;

Mr. Reg. Newberry, the New Zealand tenor, has gone from Italy to Vienna. In this centre he will etudy under Professor Ulanowsky, Director of the Conservatory, who is well known as having trained some famous singers, and who is responsible also for the production of various operas in Vienna. Mr. Newberry i 3 hopeful of making his appearance before long'either in opera or on the concert platform. 1

As far as may be gathered, the Society of Musicians has not definitely fixed the date of the Music Week, beyond Betting it down for August. It would be advisable for the society to appoint the exact date as soon as possible, and to circularise the musical societies of the Dominion, in order that they may prepare for it. Most of the societies arrange their concerts at the beginning of the season, and book their halls accordingly. If the date of the Music Week could, be fixed immediately, -and the musical bodies informed, it would assist them greatly in making their plans for the coming season.

Last week I referred to the evil effects of too many musical examinations. In the "Dominant" for November, the editor, Edwin Evans, one of the best known of musical writers, has an article in which lie protests against the standardising effect of examinations. He i gives an example: "There is, I believe, a procedure peculiar to these islands, known as 'examination counterpoint,' Examinations, a superstitious affection for which is a common trait of the English-speaking communities, demand a certain degree of standardisation. That is why the rest of the world lias so little regard for them where any of the arts is concerned. It was necessary to establish a standard counterpoint for the purpose of holding certain examinations. What is the result ? It is studied for tbn sole purpose of passing those examinations and afterwards never used again." .

A protest has been made in a letter to the London "Times" against the unsuitability of the music played during the Cenotaph service on Armistice Day. The writer is Dr. C. W. Saleeby, a well-known authority on medicine and sociology (and a leader,V among other things, in the movement for the reform of men's dress). He points out that at one of the most solemn moments in the memorial service the massed bands played a trivial serenade by Pinsuti, and that the other composers represented on this occasion were Gounod, Sullivan, Tchaikowsky, and a gentleman described as the "Rev. Cecil." Dr. Saleeby urges that better and more fitting music be played at future services. "Is there no music for these sacred monuments? If we must go abroad, why not Bach or Beethoven, instead of sec-ond-rate writers ? Better would it be to go to Handel and Purcell and Parry and Elgar." ;. v -

Mr. B. H. Coltman has been appointed as the successor of Mr. S. J. Harbutt, who recently resigned from the position of honorary secretary of the Royal Auckland Choir. Mr. Coltman has been a member of the choir for the past six years, and since 1925 he has acted as assistant secretary.

Stringed instruments have been a subject of inquiry ever since the artistic subversions of war time, the supremacy of the fiddle family in the community of tone being questioned by radicals and defended by conservatives; and while no special conflict, or even general debate, lias arisen, the violin has been forced into a somewhat apologctic position in the orchestra. Certain advanced composers have aimed to dispense with the strings altogether in their symphonic scores, or have subordinated them to instruments of wind and percussion, and reactionary ones have done all they could to keep the "quartet," as they like to say, retaining a historic designation, in prominence.