SINGER'S RETURN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 133, 8 June 1939, Page 18

SINGER'S RETURN

CONCERTS IN EUROPE

NEW ZEALANDER'S SUCCESS

Flicking over the thin yellow pages of her leather-bound Press book, and turning to notices written in Italian and Hungarian with their English translations alongside^ Madaone Mac Brodie, who arrived at Wellington yesterday by the Wanganella from Sydney, proved,"when interviewed early in the afternoon by a "Post" reporter, that her stay abroad had not been without success. Madame Mac Brodie, who was met by her husband, Mr. Ross Brodie, in Australia, left last night for her home in Rangitata, South Canterbury, where she will meet her two children, whom she has not seen for just.on two years. A comparatively short stay in the Dominion is planned by the traveller, whose progress after specialised study in singing is regarded as exceedingly promising by critics on the Continent. She plans to give concerts in Wellington and Sydney later in the year, and later in London. Madame Brodie has already given large concerts in Rome and in Budapest, and in Italy her name is listed with many of world repute, as a mezzo-soprano who is recommended as a singer throughout the nation. UNEASY MOMENTS. During her eighteen months in Italy the New Zealand singer lived with an Italian family in Rome, and learnt the language from a popular opera singer, Signora d'Anisi, whose sister, now the wife of Maestro Kost, was once herself a fine dramatic soprano, singing constantly in opera until her marriage. j Madame Brodie did not leave the country at the time of the crisis, though she confessed she did have some uneasy moments. Her stay coincided with the visits of Hitler and of Mr. Neville Chamberlain, when she witnessed sights of extravagant enthusi- j asm. At no time was she antagonised by her British nationality, but met with much warmth and consideration j wherever she went. ) HUNGARIANS' JOY. Her last concert was given just two months ago in Hungary, the singer said. There she had heard constantly of the high esteem in which the then newly-elected Pope was regarded and of the joy the Hungarian people felt in his election. Though in Rome at the time of the pontifical rites she had not attempted to see any of the ceremonies as the crowds in the streets were so dense that at times a spectator was liable to be severely crushed j when caught in its depths.

She had met many people famous in the musical world, and had collected autographs which were not available to the "man in the street." One of her outstanding impressions of music on the Continent was that of an outdoor performance of "Faust," which had lasted for four and a half hours and which had been conducted by one of the most famous men in Europe.