THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 181, 1 August 1936, Page 13 (Supplement)

THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

NOTES OF THE DAY.

FROM far and near,

(By ORPHEUS.)

In all probability, the thr,ee concerts to be conducted in Wellington by Dr. Malcolm Sargent will be broadcast on relay bv station IYX.

The Auckland Society of Musicians will hold its next monthly evening on August 10. Competitive half-hour programmes will bo presented by three groups'.

According to advices from America, there is a possibility that Lawrence Ti'obett, the famous operatic baritone, may undertake a conceit tour of New Zealand and Australia in the near future.

Dr. Malcolm Sargent, the eminent English conductor, who is to arrive in Auckland by the Aorangi to-morrow or Monday, will be given a civic welcome in Wellington at 5 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, August 5. This will be bi oadcast.

At its second" concert of the season, to bo given on August 20, the Royal' Auckland Choir will have the assistance of Miss Girleen Clarke, soprano, Mr. Vincent Aspey, violinist, and the Mount Albert Grammar School Bovs' Choir.

Miss Eileen Joyce, the celebrated Australian pianist, will arrive in Wellington on August 18 under engagement to the New Zealand Broadcasting Service and is expected to spend about ten days in each centre. It is to V hoped that this line artist will give some public recitals during her stay in the Dominion.

Mr. Michael Head, the well-known song writer and pianist, who is now in the Dominion examining for the Associated Board of tlio Royal Schools of Music, London, is to present a pianoforte recital in the Lewis Eady Hall on Tuesday evening, August 11, under the auspices of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Society of Musicians.

The first performance of a composition by an Auckland composer should be an interesting feature of the Bohemian Orchestra's next concert. This work, which is entitled "The Mystic Isle," is scored for full orchestra and will be conducted by the composer, Mr. W. Henderson, a well-known flautist, who is also a member of the orchestra.

The, complete "cast of soloists for the Royal Wellington Choral Union's performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah," to be conducted by Dr. Malcolm Sargent on August 15, is as follows: —Soprano, Miss Beatrice Pugh (of Brisbane); contralto, Miss Christina Young (Wellington); tenor, Mr. Ernest Rogers (Christcliureh); baritone, Air. Sydney de Vries (the Dutch singer now touring the national broadcasting stations).

The following soloists have been engaged for the Auckland Choral Society's concert production of Gounod's opera, "Faust":—Madame Vita Cornwall, soprano; Miss Phyllis Hazel, contralto; Mr. Leslie Russell, tenor; Mr. Len Barnes, baritone; Mr. Robert Summers, baritone; and Mr. S. Stephenson, bass. This performance will be given on Thursday evening, September 3.

The following programme will be presented at the Auckland Chamber Music Society's third concert of the season on August 20: —"Trio in B Flat" (Dvorak); a group of trios arranged by Herman Sandby from Swedish and Danish Folk songs, these being "Necken," "Song of the Dale," "The Riding Messenger" and "Dance" (the first two are Swedish and the sccond Danish); "Piano Quartet in A Major" (Brahms). The players taking part are: Helen Gray (violin), Lois Walls (viola), Lalla Hemus ('cello) and Kathleen CLeary (piano).

For its second concert of the season the Bohemian Orchestra Will present on August 13 a light and varied programme in which will be included the overture to Cherubini's opera ballet "Anacreon" (or "L'Amour Fugitif"), Svendsen's 3rd, "Norwegian Rhapsody," Weingartner's arrangement of Weber's "Invitation to tlie Waltz," "Theme and Six Variations" by Sir Edward German, Percy Grainger's "Handel in the Strand," and "The Carnival of Animals" (Saint-Saens), in which the two pianos will be played iby Mrs. Charles Prime and Mr. Harry Woolley. Miss Gwenda Weir and Mr. Robert Simmers will be the assisting vocalists.

It- is somewhat unfortunate that the night of August 20 will see three concerts given in Auckland, for this clashing of dates will very likely mean that the attendance at each may suffer. The concerts are those presented by the Royal Auckland Choir, the Auckland Chamber Music Society, and the committee organising the valedictory concert to Mr. A. B. Thompson. A combination of circumstances has made this [ unsatisfactory state of afTairs unavoidable. The choir's concert had been fixed for this date early in the year and the hall engaged for it; the players taking part in the Chamber Music Society's recital find it difficult to get away from their regular professional engagements any other night; owing"to the nearness of Mr. Thompson's departure the choice of dates is necessarily restricted, and the hall could ,be secured only for this particular evening. The trouble seems to ibe that every socicty wants to give its concert on a Thursday night—and apparently there are not enough. Thursdays in tlie week to go around.

Considerable space in the July number of "Music in New Zealand" is devoted to a report on the work of the British Music Society in Wellington and other parts of the southern portion of the Dominion. Musical doings in Dunedin and Ghristchurch are reported at len'gth and something is said about concerts in Nelson and Wellington. As regards music elsewhere in New Zealand, the rest is silence. Mary Martin contributes an article, "The Art of the Critic," Arthur Fieldhouse writes about "Playing from Memory," and there is a reprint of an article, "In Memory of Franz Liszt," by Dr. Ludwig Karl Mayer, which appeared originally in a German monthly. The editorial is a eulogy of the late G. K. Chesterton and refers, inter alia, to his "sanity," that "biases out to inspire all those who believe in the rights of the individual and in the truth of Chesterton's faith." What connection this has with "Music in New Zealand" is hard to see. If the editor is hard pressed for apposite subjects to write about, here are two —"That instead of taxing musical societies the Government should subsidise them" and "The benefits to be gained from the visits to the Dominion of musicians j such as Dr. Malcolm Sargent." '

_At the conclusion of their tour of the New Zealand national broadcasting stations, Madame Florence Austral and Mr. John Aniadio will sail for U.S.A., where they are to present a number of recitals. Later on they will be associated with Josef Szigcti, the eminent violinist, in a concert tour in England.

According to the "Christian Science [ Monitor," Professor K. Lark-Horovitz, of Purdue University, believes he has at last solved the mystery of how the violin makers patronised by the old masters chose the correct kind of wood for rare Amati or Stradivarius violins. ! high-class violin makers examine the wood structure of spruce, pine or maple used in their best work by means of the X-ray, but the question of how sixteenth century violin makers were able to tell one wood from another has always been a puzzle. The top of the violin must be of spruce or pine and must possess a distinct fibre structure. Then in order to have a good tone, the back is of maple, and is almost without structure. Professor LarkHorovitz discovered tiny neerily brands which indicate to him that hot branding needles were used on wood surfaces, which were given a slight wax coating, If the wood was without grain the melting wax made a nearly perfect circle; if grained, the wax formed an ellipse. ;

Commenting on the life of Sir Frederic ' Cowen, who died on October 6 last, thf English musical journals mention that this at one time prominent musician was almost entirely forgotten in his old age. Frederic Hymen Cowen was born ' in Kingston, Jamaica, on January 29, 1852. He was brought at the age of four to London. Three years later he became a publisher (Mr. Punch remarked of his "Pet Polka" and "Daisy Waltz" that even seven can make a score). The boy rapidly developed as a pianist and gave a recital when he was twelve. He studied at Leipsic and Berlin and in London soon made a name for himself as a pianist and then a composer. On December 9, 1809, his first symphony and piano concerto in A Minor were given at St. James' Hall, with the 17-year-old coinposer as pianist. That was 00 years ago. Later came his conducting. It is said that had Cowen never played a note he would still deserve to be remembered as one of the most hardworking conduc- ' tors of his time. He is still remembered in Melbourne for his work at the Cen- ' tennial Exhibition there in 1888. He was knighted in 1911, the reward for a long and honourable career, and was made a Doctor of Music by Cambridge University in 1900 and by Edinburgh ' University in 1910. He was best known ; by his ballads, in fact the billboard heading announcing his demise ran "Death of the Composer of 300 Ballads," his symphonic works and cantatas apparently being overlooked. The best known of his songs was probably "The Better Land.'* In * the Dominion he will be remembered best perhaps by this song and also his virile setting of "Onawav! Awake!" One of his cantatas, "St.! John's Eve," has been given several times by the Auckland Choral Society. J