MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 966, 5 November 1910, Page 9

MUSIC.

(By Treble Clef.) Through German Spectacles. Writing in the "Musical Times," Professor Theodor Muller-lleuter, of Crofeld, records his impressions of musical lifo in London, gathered from a stay of a month, during which time ho attended a number of concerts, etc. A careful observer, ho says, cannot fail to notico that for many years there has existed between England and Germany a musical reciprocity, which could only have been made possible through increased musical activity in England. A generation of native, highly capable musicians has sprung up, and conspicuous in tho forefroirt are artists able to compete with tho best that Germany and the Continent can produce. Contemporary British composers are making their foothold in Germany ever surer, but- English virtuosi and singers are not so well known, to German audiences. Tho writer has much to say in praise of the London Symphony Orchestra, which is to all intents a British orchestra; he was also delighted with the performances of the other concert orchestras as well as the opera orchestras of Covent Garden and His Majesty's Theatre (Beccham Orchestra). Ho was impressed by the wonderful orchestral tono, which, without doubt, exceeds that of German orchestras in its round, full quality. Summing up, .he says that English orchestral performances aro on a very high level, English composers are well able to hold their own, and the rising generation of English virtuosi and singers is moro than very' capable. , Taken altogether, a German musician can today learn a very great deal in London. A New Symphony.

The English Symphony of Gustav Mahler, conductor of the . New York Philharmonic Society, was produced for tho first time at the Munich Exhibition last month. The composc'r himself, conducted. The music hall of the exhibition was packed with an audience of 4000 people, who broke into a storm of enthusiasm as tho last chord of the work fell. The critics are not, however, at one as to the merits of the composition. Some are as unreservedly enthusiastic as the audience. Others suggest that the success of the symphony was due rather to the immense volume of sound produced by a thousand instrumentalists and vocalists, including a special children's choir of 30Q voices, than to its genuine musical inspiration. The "Symphony of the Thousand," as it is everywhere called, is said to be predominatingly choral rather than orchestral. A German musician, who has examined the score, describes the work as a "Symphony with a vocal obbligato, wherein human voices blend with the instruments in an altogether novel and harmonious fashion." It consists of .two parts, the first being based on tho bymn, "Veni Creator Spirftus," composed by . tho Archbishop of • Mayence, while the finale reveals a setting of the closing scene, of Goethe's "Faust." In the ranks' of the choir, numbering SSO singers, were the three choral societies of Vienna, Leipzig, and Munich. There was an immense orchestra of eighty-six strings, very full wood-wind, celesta, harmonium, organ, mandolines, and many instruments of percussion.

All that is Needed. Musically speaking, if not from other points of "view, tho Englishman' is a complex and interesting individual. He is essentially music-loving, as opposed to musically minded (remarks a London critic). In his adoration of melodious sound—and its modern equivalent—ho yields place to none. And ill his almost general lack of discrimination he stands alone. Whether it arises from want of training or from tho musical parallel of the worn proverb that an Englishman loves a lord, wo as a nation exhibit a tolerance for inferior or inartistic performance which is truly amazing. Let tho coming appearance of a performer who bears a Continental reputation bo placarded about the streets, a programme of works wo have heard an uncountable number of times be announced, a few titillating details of his domestic life be bruited abroad —such as his preference in waistcoats .or how he parts his hair —and his concert-room will ho filled to suffocation.

Notes. i\liss Dorothy Brunton, daughter of the: late John Brunton, has developed a good soprano voice, and has gono to Adelaide to join the Williamson No. 2 Comic Opera Company. She will mako her first appearance on the comic opera stage in "A Knight for a Day." Mr. Walter Kirby, the New Zealand tenor, for so long in England, has made quite a sueccss in Sydnoy. An opera sjnger named Zorka Tanitch, on tonr in the provinces of Servia, lias been awarded £5 damages against Ristomir Nikolitch for giving publicity to a remark of his six-year-old son during her performance ill Yalievo. "Toll her not to howl any more, papa," said the child; "the man who is shaking the stick at lier is only frightening her. He is not near enough to hit her." Zorka said that she was leaving Yalievo bccausc tho repetition of this story had exposed, lier to ridicule.