ARIAS FROM OPERA

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 214, 10 September 1935, Page 5

ARIAS FROM OPERA

DOMINION CONTEST. ADJUDICATOR'S COMMENTS. ARTISTIC INTERPRETATIONS. Included in the Wellington Competitions was a new and important class for singers of arias from grand opera. The first prize winner, Mr. C. TTanklynBrowne, of Wantranul, as has already been reported, is entitled to a free trip to Australia to compete for a very valuable prize at the competitions to be held at Ballaiat and Melbourne next month. The second place was awarded to Miss Chrissie Talbot, of Fairlie, South Canterbury. . , Some interesting comments are made by the adjudicators, Mr. T. Vernon Griffiths, M.A., Mus.B. (Cantab.), and Mr W. E. Fowler, L.R.A.M., A.R.C.M. "In our work as adjudicators," they Bay. "we endeavoured to keep constantly before us a standard which would be accepted generally by cultured musicians in England. Generally speaking, the outstanding feature of Hie candidates work was the artistry and musicianship shown in their interpretations. "It has been said that the interpreter must start with four possessions, perfected technique, magnetism, sense ot atmosphere, and command of tone colour. Of these the" first can be acquired by anybody, the second is a pure gift, while as regardfe the other two the singer can either be born with them or assimilate them successfully by study and 'imitation. Among the competitors in this test, some have given rather colourless interpretations, others have perhaps erred in an overemphasis on sentiment. Some again have relied chiefly on beauty of'tone, while others have devoted their energies chiefly to a study of interpretation before they have acquired an adequate technique. In regard to this last, another authority says that the student must always try to obtain a "ood, pure tone. At first it must be his sole aim. It. must have clearness, ! smoothness, roundness, volume and intensity—but not force, there is no necessity for it."