WORLD of MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 16

WORLD of MUSIC

NOTES. Miss Maitla Hooker’s many friends in iiavvera will have read with the keenest interest of the great reception given to her for her playing at the municipal. concert in Auckland and the very appreciative remarks made by the Auckland newspapers on her work. This endorses the good opinion held by all who heard her in Hawera and in Timaru. Ivre.filer, who is to visit Australia in i9'25, attracted an audience of 8000 to his recital in June at the Albert Hall. The violinist was joined by'the famous English viola player.. Lionel Tertis, a Mozart’s double-—con'erto for violin and viola, a performance said to have given exquisite pleasure. Prior to the announcement from Berlin, recently, of the death of Busoni, it uas stateu t-nat whiLe he was dying from heart disease and nephritis the gieat piano composer had just completed a' new musical drama, entitled ‘'Dr. Faust.” -He had been ill for more than a year. Tlie musical* events at the National Eisteddfod at Pontypooi were subsidiary choral competitions and the competition for amateur orchestras—this last a newish feature of the Eisteddfod and a very (hopeful one (writes the Music Critic). In a large proportion of the competitions there Mas a Welsh niece. A. soprano song ‘‘Woodland Voices,” hy Dr. Vaughan I nomas, made a pleasant impression. Mr Hookin Evans’’ cantata “Kynon” was considerably pretentious. The concert M'as notable for the 'playing, under Sir Watford Davies, of the 'new Welsh Symphony _ Orchestra, which is an institution full of promise. This orchestra is clearly destined to do a gieat work among this passionately music-loving people. The central ceremony was. the chairing of the Bard. Twelve poets competed, and the subject M'as an ode of 600 or more lines “To the Unknown God.” The victor was Mr Albert Jones, the young Nonconformist minister, of PenmaenmauT, Carnarypi’shii-e, who at two recent Eisteddfods won the Bardic Crown. is the first time he has carried oft the principal honour. A surprising discovery is announced horn Germany, Dr. Kurt Sachs, of the umve:sity of Berlin, having succeeded in deciphering, a tablet in the State Museum, which the Prussian Academy ha& no hesitation in pronouncing “an epoch-marking disco'very in the historv of music.” This conclusion is based upon an inscription in cuneiform found m the nn ient capital of Assur. The inscription dates from about B.C. 800, and consists of three columns, of which the third has remained undecipherable until now. A tablet in the British Museum has been instrumental in arriving at the discovery. The first •’oliimn of the Berlin tablet supplies tne notes of the song written down in iSiimenan characters in the second column, and translated into faulty Assyrian in the third. The song is a religious poem, describing the creation of man out of the blood of the gods. Dr. Sachs conclusions may be summarised _’ntlor five hearings: (1) The Babylonian.? possessed a pentatonic music Without semitones; (2) their melodies u-ere not confined to the five-toned scale, but-were spread over 20 tones in loiir groups G f five tones; (3) the scale, M hich an he inferred from the niece of music under notice, comnrised two octaves and one fifth: 14)’the harp accompaniment made full use of double notes, octaves, double octaves, fifths fourths, and other intervale. The interest of the discovery (says the Loncon Observer) lies not only in the. fact that the Greeks made grateful mention of their Oriental masters in music, but that Chinese mrsic displays verv many characteristics Dr. Sachs believes he hoy now discovered. to be ancient Assynjui, “The Complete Works” of Slezalc a tenor, formerly well known at Covent harden, consists of a book of only 9.50 pages. A contributor to the Daily’ Telegraph. noticing the hook, which is in German, translated the story of a perform am e in London during the Boer War: \\ ben Mafelling was hesieo-ed a performance of “Lohengrin” took* place at Covent Garden, Slezak in the name Fn rt ' describes what happened thus: Ihe first act. was drawing to a close. I had clone my worst with -e .ninund King Heinrich had sung, 1 M-as finishing Telraimmd off when someone in. the gallery criecl out, Mareking is relieved!’ Whereupon the i.Boyalties present, including the then innce of Wales and the' Kino- of I Sweoen. and their attendants, and the entire audience, rose to their feet, the or-hestra played the National Anthem, un which the house joined. No thouo-ht more of Lehengrin ! The audience was I tar too excited, and streamed from the theatre, and the curtain fell.” Slezak [acknowledged that he Mas deeply hurt at not being allowed to complete the opera, and abruptly quitted England. Sir A K ESPEA RE’S MUSIC. That Shakespeare, who makes so | many allusions to music in the corpse oi his plays, was himself a singer, is the conclusion arrived a t bv Mr Arnold Mote, as expressed in a lecture which he delivered before the Shakesneare So‘■K*v of New South Wales recently. Mr Mote bases this conviction upon a close perusal of many passages relating to singing which* occur "in the great dramatist’s works, and in the course of the lecture cited several of there passages to show that they revealed an extensive knowledge of the singers art or that day. Shakespeare, i.e saul, preferred harmoip to melody, amd this «:'s one of the surest tests ol a imisi ian. ’Phis preference he rienrly manifested in ceitain lines in “lienry V.” “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” and the Eighth Sonnet. Again Shakespeare showed a close ae-q-’aintmice niih the sol-fa system, which had come down to this day from Gnido d’Arezzo in the eleventh century. Incidentally, the lecturer mentioned that some of the finest allusions to music in the pages of ShakespeareMere to be found in the tavern scenes, and he described in interesting fashion the three-part catches sung by the revellers, explaining that in’"the plays tlie unexpected introduction of a character who had no relation to the story was often due to tlie fact that a third voice was necessary to complete one of these catches. Mr Mote discussed the harmony and counterpoint of Shake spc;i‘e’s day.y'lid devoted a great part of his entertaining lecture, to a review of the dances of that period .notably He popular Morris dance, the pa vane, tlie round, and the hornpipe. !>. F\ R. Crouch gave valuable aid j in illustrating the lecture bv singing! wilh artistic taste several Shakesnear-j emi songs, including: “It Was a Lover and His Lass.” '“'Where, the Bee ~ ■> “rj Mi-nvfi:; Mine,” “Take, O Take Those Lins A wav.” “It Was Tn the Month of Maxing,‘” and “Full Fathom Five.” Mr Mote plaved many c V e c^'"f ' es °f that period, notably of these dance themes, a charming galliard. was sung by Dr. Crouch. °\

THE MARY WAKEFIELD WESTMORLAND FESTIVAL. The twenty-eighth Alary Wakefield Musical festival wr.e held with as much enthusiasm as ever. It is always a great occasion when the choirs from so many villages and hamlets meet again. Competitions fill the morning. Later in the day the rival choirs combine to rehearse the concert music they have been practising all the winter, and in the evenings come the concerts nith. orchestra and soloists, held in St. George’s Hall. It was a splendid idea of Mary Wakefield’s this festival which she founded in 1885. It is still bringing | the love of really good music into re[mote villages, into the lives of hundreds, some, at least, of u-hom have had no previous musical education at all, and inspiring months of patient study of music M'hose quality repays hard u-ork. The chorus master, Mr Alfred H. Willink, visits and conducts each village choir in turn, often several times over, during the winter. Later, as the festival time draws near, there are a few grouped rehearsals under the actual festival conductor, this year Dr. Adrian Boult. Study uith such teachers as those who conduct the festival, as well as the competitions, u’ith the valuable criticism of the judges, insures a constantly rising standard. There is also the children’s day. This year the first of the three festival concerts opened with Parry’s “Jerusalem,” sung in unison by the 500 children who filled the cfloras seats from the platform up to the great motto hung high' on *the M all, Martin Luther’s u'ords, “Music is a fair and glorious gift of God.” At the children’s concert there M’ere solos by Mrs Arthur Streeton (violin), Miss Elsie Suddaby, and Mr Osmond Davis. On one of the evenings Bi-ahme’ Requiem was given with the Halle Orchestra. The chorus sang (unaccompanied) a five-part by William Byrd. j On the folloM'ins night there was a different- chorus. The chief part of this I concert "’as Bach’s cantata, “God’s jtime is the heat.” A CHILD’S SONG OF ESSEX. Sing a song of Essex! Why, M'hat is there to sing? Why, fields where golden cowslips Weave each returning Spring, With buttercups and primroses, A robe fit for a king. Sing a song of Essex! Why, what is there to sing? Why, nightingales in thickets, And larks upon the wing, SM’eet songs of praise from earth and sky, As bells that ever ring. Sing a song of Essex, Of sweet desire to me! As ton'ards our Essex river, Beat sails from every sea, So from its utmost u-andering Homes still my heart to thee. —Donald Smith. MACHINERY SONG. &■ Clash, and clang, and ring—oh, Ride, and glide, and slide—ho, Back and forth M'here the oil is bright On the gleaming steel that shines in the light, Let her go, Let her go, Never a stop in night or day, Roaring onward—that’s our* way. By the droM'sy drone of the whirling wheel, ' a By the light that winks on the shining steel, You knou-, You know, The kind of u-ord Me do—so Listen to the song we sing: ’Cross the land and tide—ho— Clash, and cling, and clang, and ring Ride, and glide, and slide. —William Cary Sanger, in Tides of Commerce.