MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1144, 3 June 1911, Page 9

MUSIC.

(By Theble Clef.) The Municipal Orchestra. Tlio weather was execrable on Tuesday night last, wiien the Municipal Orchestra occupied the platform, and a thin assemblage of patrons were present in the auditorium of the Town Hall. I am convinced that these concerts are not being managed in the manner thev should be to get the best results. To the public ol Wellington —which cannot boast a large section of those who have been trained to appreciate orchestral music by decades of such concerts, as in the Old "World cities—the concerts are just as much a "show" as are motion pictures, and, to roach the nublie. they must be advertised with the samo enterprise and enthusiasm. It is not suiikient to barely notify three or four days ahead that a' concert is to be given. The programme should be published in full, and matter detailing the meaning, purport, and history of the works to be performed should'bo supplied to the press day after day for at least a week beforehand, so" as to prepare the public loi what is to be submitted to them. It may bo that the Orchestra is coming too frequently before the public, as it is noticeable that many of the items are repeat numbers, which have been heard at the preceding concert. Mr. Maughan Barnett appears to be wedded to the organ and orchestral concert, whilst still maintaining the even tenor of his much-appreciated Saturday evening recital. It would be a pleasant variation of the order to have vocal solos interpolated occasionally between the orchestral numbers—if the artists are obtainable. That is the difficulty in Wellington, as is well known, but it may not be an insuperable one, as singers'of merit often pass through Wellington to tutlil engagements m dinerent parts of the Dominion, and could bo secured at a comparatively small cost for the purpose. These hints are thrown out for two reasons—(l) that the character of grand organ music is akin to that of the orchestra, and (2) the idea would tend to popularise the concerts, and at the same time train the car of the general public to the luauty and charm of good orchcsti-.il music, which, after so long a sleep in this city, needs to be served up to the awakening consciousness carefully. Finally, it is onlv fair to Mr. Barnett and the Orchestra that the concerts .should be advertised much more effectively than is at present the case. Realism Extraordinary. ' Miss Farrar's live geese and the- animals in Mozart's "Magic Flute" and Wagner's operas will bo simply "nowhere" when Nougues's sensational grand opera, "Quo N adis," is produced in English in New York next year by Wcrba-Lucscher. The, managers expect to follow the realism 'of Sienkiewicz's original story with more fidelity than was dono when tho opera was sung in French recently. For instance, m the famous Coliseum scene, where the Christians are slain for the amusement of Nero and tho Roman mob, a roaring bull will be introduced with the girl Lygia bound to its horns, as in tho novel. There will be a battle royal between the giant Ursus and the animal in plain sight of the audience, exactly as performed when tho opera was in ■Vienna. Following this thrilling episode, and when Nero orders tho Christians thrown to the wild beasts, the management expects to have real lions loose in the arena, providing a realistic spectacle never before attempted in the opera or in tho dramatic production of "Quo Vadis." Andreas Dippel has sailed for Europe to secure tho English singing artists for the WcrbaLucscher production, and arrange with Hagonboek for the "Quo Vadis" lions. He also expects to engage, in Vienna the bull that has been specially trained for its part in the Coliseum spectacle. A Great Improviscr. Concerning the late Alexandre Guilnuint as an improviser, Clarence Lucas writes to the "Musical Courier": — ■In 1?8B, while 1 was a pupil at tho Conservatoire in Paris, a friend took me one Sunday morning to the Trinite Church organ loft and introducced me to tho great organist, Alexandre Guilmant. During the service a singer in the. choir, at tho other end of the church from the solo organ over which Guilmant presided, sang an aria which did not meet with Guilmant's approval. Ho shrugged his shoulders, took up a picco of music paper, and jotted down a few bars of the singer's solo. "It is something Italian," said he, putting tho theme on the orjan. When the service- was finished and the congregation began to go, Guilmant took up this fragment, and improvised a fugue on it. Whether that fugue would have stood a close inspection had it been written down on paper, I cannot say. But in so far as I could judge by the ear, the fugue had all the essentials of that severe form, subject, answer, inversions, strettos, pedal points, and so on, and, in addition, was melodiously smooth and musically interesting. This was a feat which I think all musicians will consider remarkable. "Natoma." Victor Herbert, who composed "The Fortune Teller" and "The Serenade," has written another opera, "Natoma," which is founded on a North American Indian theme. From tho notices to hand it seems that Mr. Herbert is still afflicted with a capacity "for just not getting there." ."What ails the opera?" asks Mr. Arthur Hornblow. "A tedious and endlessly long and generally uninteresting first act; a brilliant, but light and rhapsodic second act, and an ineffective tiiird act That is a catalogue of its ills in general. "And yet there is much in this music to recommend it. It is certainly tuneful, it is ably and brilliantly orchestrated, it has a variety of 'colour,' and is not lacking in climaxes. But it lacks a distinctive charm and a redeeming forcefulness. Victor Herbert is one of the cleverest writers of operettas now living, and as he is a most excellent musician, it is reasonable to expect that with a good libretto he can writo a better grand opera than 'Natomo.' There is some pretty love music in the first act, the prelude to the third act is also very effective. But at first hearing tho second act is the most impressive, with its big choruses, its dances, Pico's attractive song, and the final dagger dance. But in this act the plot is foolishly weak, so that there appears to be little cohesion between one musical incident and the next, hence the effect of this entire act is fragmentary, and its end is anti-climax." Miss Mary Garden and Mr. John M'Connack were included in a splendid cast.