MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 223, 13 June 1908, Page 12

MUSIC.

[By Teeble CLEr.]

Return of itoalba. Sir. John Lommona received a letter from Madame Melba last month, in which she confirms her arrangement (made with Mr. Lemmono before- leaving Australia last February) to visit Australia early next year. This will probably bo in April and via America. It is understood that the great magnot is Madame Melba's father, now in his .eighty-first year, and the wish to sing all over Australia whilst' still in her prime. Madame Melba's secretary finds these two causes a strangely powerful attraction with the prima-donna. And he writes:—"What a strange world this is. Here aro both New York opera-houses claiming her services; India offering her a season at a guarantee of £800 a night; Canada a season at £500 a night and a percentage • South America, after a six years' wait, still ready with £1000 a night; and the! whole Continent clamouring for her reappearances; yet she will listen to nothing but Australia." Kubelik, The musical critic of the "Australasian" writes iis follows of Kubelik, the violinist:— Jan Jlubelik was born'at Michlo, near Prague, in 1880, so that ho is now 28 years of age. He was a pupil of Sevcik at the Prague Consorvatorium, and since his debut in 1898 haß ■ been universally recognised as the greatest living virtuoso on the violin. He made his first appearance in Melbourne on Friday, evoning of last weok in the Town Hall, and was enthusiastically welcomed by a litrge l audience. He is a little man, not more than sft.,6ii). in height, and is very slightly built, 110 is clean shaven, and bis great shock of black hair gives the impression that. Ills head is much too largo for his body. Ho has a curious, f&r-awaj, wistful expression,' and. nov6r rfelaxes its intense seriousness, oven in tho. midst of the tuftiultuous applause which ,his wonderful playing evokes. His stylo is quiet and restrained at first, but as the music lays hold .on him his body sways : to its rhythm, and his face lights up with a sort of ecstatic rapture, though he keeps his eyes half-closed, save for an occasional flash of passion. He has none of the tricks of pose and action with which inferior .players sometimes try to win applause. His tone is not big, but has a peculiarly fascinating quality ; his fortissimo effects are gained by contrast with his ( somowhat restrained normal tone rather than by,over-forcing. He never gets that jarring, metallic rattle of the G string, which results from anxiety to get more volume out of the instrument than it is able legitimately to give, and his pianissirnos "are as delicato as the fluttering of a fairy's wings, or the twittor of, awaking birds at sunrise. Ho is an absolute niaster of . technique, and nothing in bowiilg or' fingering is too hard for him. In Wieniawsici's " Carneval Russo," the last number on Friday's programme, he gave a perfectly miraculous exhibition of his unique powers in this direction. It consists of a series of variations a dozen in number, on a qtiite simplo Russian folk song, each one illustrating some new problem in technique. Notos. Yet another musical association in England the Sooiety of Theatrical Musicians, which has been "formed with the object of raising tho standard of orchostral excellence gonerally, and particularly to centraliso the loading professional and to gain the confidence of our citizens and theatrical managers tq" the faot that we are achieving a long-evident iieed." The secretary (Mr. J. V. Maling) writes:—"At our concert' we will present a full opera orchestra, representing the cream of our theatre orchestras." According to tho New York papers, Selma Kurz, the famous Vienna prima-donna, has been guaranteed 40 appearances at tho Metropolitan Opera House next season, and is to recoive 80,000 dollars—or about £16,000." Who would not be an operatic "star"? Mine. Tetrazzjni, now appearing at Covent Garden, has signed a contraot for five years with Oscar Hammorstein, of the Manhattan Opera House, New York. Franz Lehar, the composer of "The Merry Widow," has completed another 'opera, which is entitled "The Prince's Child." The sceno of the action is laid in Greeoe. Once moro the librettists are Messrs. Leon and Stein, Lehar states that ho would gladly deal with a specifically German theme, but that he. is dependent in this matter on his collaborators who so far have offered him no subject of the kind. The composer has had a splendid offer fpr. a tour in the United States, which ho has, however, refused, preferring to work quietly at Ischl. Two promising tenors appear to have boon unearthed at Belgium. M. Swoop, of Antwerp, has been engaged by Felix Weingartner for tho Vienna opera, while M, Godard, formerly a minor, is to sing at the Paris Opora.