WORLD of MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 January 1925, Page 14

WORLD of MUSIC

ISTOTES AND COMMENTS,

A meeting of the ex-students of the Royal Academy of Music, London, ieI sideut in Dunedin, was held recently to form an ex-students’ association. The following committee was eleetecl • Miss Ida E. White (president), Mrs. R B. Lambert (secretary) Mrs. Ghas. Finlayson, Miss Mary Frazer, and Miss Elsie Ford. The committee hopes to hold a reunion of all ex- ; R.A.M. students throughout the Do- ’ minion during Exhibition time January, 1926. _ , . , The passing of Professor Frederick Nieeks removes from Scotland s musical life a personality whose scholar- : ship had earned a European reputai tion. ' It was on the invitation of .Sir (then Mr.) Alexander Mackenzie II —-at that time a busy teacher of the violin in Edinburgh—that Nieeks, a native of Dnsseldorf, came to Scotland. He held a church appointment in Dumfries for a short time, and then, largely through Mackenzie s influence, he became Reid Professor at the University of Edinburgh. Here he discovered bis true vocation. Possessed of a felicitous literary stvle. he was a valued contributor to \ ari- " ous musical journals. From journal- ; ism of this type to the making of hooks was hut a step. His ‘ ‘Life Chopin” has for long been accepted as the standard authority on Chopin. * and his “Programme Music” was One of the first, and remains still one of the most logical and valuable, commentaries on this very debatable «üb- ; ject. In his University work, apart •from his lectures to students, he appealed to a wider public in his estabmen't of the Historical Concerts, which are being carried on to-day with increasing success by his successor, * Professor Tovey. Handel received a good deal of handling—l was going to say “Han- ; deling"—last Sunday evening, when at > least four Christchurch choirs gave extracts from the composer's "Messiah.” St. Piaul’s, Trinity, Ingestre Street Baptist, and Cambridge Street Meth- ■ odist all gave more or less .extensive excerpts, Trinity Choir giving no less than six solos, fiye choruses and the Pastoral Symphony (the latter through the medium of two violins and organ). Mention of the “Messiah” .reminds ■ me that a few years ago I heard of a vocal quartette at a little church a few miles out of Christchurch which gave a rendering of the “Hallelujah Chorus” .at .a church function! Not only sp, but the alto of the party also - played the accompaniment on the harmonium. I hear (says the Chronicle musical critic) that a local choirmaster got a shock last Sunday morning when the •preacher announced that- the “Choral Symphony” would form part of the evening service. He felt easier in his mind when he realised that it was the “Pastoral” that was intended. * An otago Daily Times critic sf-ys: Dr. V. E. Galway, organist at the Fipst Church, on “Handel’s Detrimental Influence” —• Had Handel never lived, or had he never come to England, the world would have lost some fine music, which, with the exception of ■.“ The Messiah,” is now dead any-

way; but England might have had an unbroken line of composers i on the tradition of the Elizabethan era, and England would be istill permeated with" music, as she was in the days of Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh.—(The “New Nation,” Wellington, November 29.) Dr. Gjalwayi is fan accomplished musician of whom Dunedin may bo proud. Is it presumption in me to put in a Word for poor Handel? I can’t agree that outside of the “Messiah” all Handel music is dead. Sydney Smith after hearing “Israel in Efeypt” could joke about “five hundred fiddlers fiddling like mad to represent the Israelites crossing the Red Sea,” but the choruses ip “Israel” are no joke, as any musical society that has tried them, will admit. Yet they.only need singing to'.live again • ■and live till the end of time. So also in “Siamsori,” SO’ in “Judas.” Outside of the “Messiah” there are

Handel songs which, if only they could find a. dramatic singer, would - sweep ,the mawkish .Einglioh ballad ofi " ' the stage. “Honour and arms'’ is ' one; hut there needs an actor for the strutting braggart with his ■ chin in the air. “O' ruddier than the cherry” is another —the monster Polypi feme, in love with the" nymph Galatea, bellowing for a hundred reeds ,of decent growth to make a pipe for In capacious mouth, and then maundering with imbecile repetitions— O ruddier than the cherry, G sweeter than the berry, G nymph more bright than moon- > shine, night Like kidlings blythe and merry . . .

—while a Pan’s pipe accompaniment up in the treble mocks or sympathises as you choose to take it. All that wanted is a singer of dramatic - f force, and instinct. .It is true that musical taste changes, we know not why.' There was a time when Rossini could say of a Wagner score upside down on his piano, “I find it goes a<s well that way as the other.” And a writer in the “Nineteenth Century” tells that “Professor Corder once took a piano piece of Scbonberg” - •—an extreme modernist—“wrote it out backwards, and then successfully defied 'anyone to say which of the two versions was the right one.” But Handel’s music is broadly human, sane and intelligent, not in the least “dead,” nor to my thinking likely to die., . Diffidence is usually the reason for the confession of not classic music. Ail popular music is not classical, but most classical music is popular—when it is ably rendered — though some requires to be heard more than once to become so. All depends upon the hearer. There are strictly classical pieces that make an instant appeal, firstly by the beauties of their melodies. The elegant Adagio movement from the quartet in A maior of Schumann, as played by the Lener String Orchestra, is a case in point. Taste, in music is curious and elusive, but this selection from the classics has ’ in it all the elements that make for popularity with discriminating, yet not too musically advanced, possessors of a grnmophqne. The student of music will will find it full of beauties that will be % more readily perceived by the trained „ ear than the listener?- without such equipment. For him’ perhaps it will \‘ suffice to sit back and just enjoy the work. Where are they now, those old musical boxes, so fascinating to our '.fathers .when they were young? How ’brightly burnished was the. bristly cylinder and how leisurely did it revolve? and bow fairv-like was the music that it made as its points passed the fine steel comb. Eight tunes ivas thf usual capacity of these instruments, and if one Wanted to hear, say, No. 2

again, the whole lot had to be played until it was reached in its set order. A perfect imitation, rich in such tone colour as the-musical box was capable of, is to be heard on the gramophone through Leff Pouishnoff, the element Russian pianist. It is preceded hv a dainty little waltz, both pieces being composed by the artist. , There is an interesting story in the tragis aria sung by Dmitri Smirnoff in the Tschaikovsky ‘opera “Europe Onegin,” in which be takes the role of Lenski. In this charcter lie fights a duel with Eugene, and coming first on the field of honour is filled / with a presentiment of death. Held thus by the ill-omen, he is moved_to sing that fine aria “Distant Echo of Mv Youth.” Then comes the duel, and tlie fatal presentiment is fulfilled. The Smirnoff recording will be here at the end of the month. The Minster Choir has been recorded in a number of Christmas offerings — “Sweet Christmas Bells” (Stainer), “Christmas Bells” (Bridge), “The First Nowell,” “When the Crimson Sun has Set” : the Wesminster Cathedral Choir in- ‘Adeste Fideles,” “Come to the Manger,” “Ring Out with Jocund Chime.” “Good People-All,” “Arise, Sbjue,” “To Us a Child is Born,” “An Old French Carol,” and “Nazareth.”

“GOD SAVE THE KING.”

ORIGIN OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. It has been said that the authorship of “God Save the King” once excited as much controversy as the authorship of the Letters of Junius, says a writer in the Weeklv Scotsman. Many believed it to have been composed by Dr John Bull for King James I in 1667. In endeavouring to arrive at the date, we may derive a little help from the Memoirs of Madame de Grequy, wherein it is stated that “God Save the King” is bn almost literal translation of the Cantique sung by tho demoiselles de f>t. Syr when Louis XIA r entered the chapel of that establishment. The words were attributed to M. de Brinon and the music to Lully:— Grand Dieu, Sauve le Roi, Grand Dieu, yenge le Roi, vive le Roi!

Que toujours gloreux. Louis vitorieux, . Voye ses ennemis, Toujours sounds! Grand Dieu, Sauve le Roi, Grand Dieu venge le Roi, vive le Roi! . . There is another claim to the author ship—namely, that of Harry Carey, who died in 1742 Chappell, in his notes to his collection of old English airs, records that about the year 1796 George Saville Carey asserted his father’s claim and made a journey to Windsor in the hope of obtaining some pecuniary recompense from the King. It was by no means Carey’s wish, though he claimed the authorship for his father, to prove also that the anthem was written for King James, as that would have defeated his hopes of reward, and it has been suggested that his ..concealment of the fact tended to throw a suspicion upon his statement. It was immediately proved upon,concurrent testimonies to have been sung “God Save Great James Our King”; and from that time, may be dated the endless discussions on the subject. Tlie song did not become widely known until 1745. Partly owing, perhaps. to the fact that it had Iveen originally been sung “God Save Great James,” the Jacobites adopted it with enthusiasm. Whether the French version wns adapted from a pre-exist-ing English form, or whether the English form was adapted from a preexisting French form are interesting topics of speculation.

MUSIC HATH CHARMS. It was a. very hot day and there was not one man among the company that was drilling on the parade ground who did not heartily wish himself—and the drill sergeant —eleswhere. Suddenly the N.C.O. called out: “All men who are fond of music must take two paces forward!” Instantly 1 half-a-dozen soldiers with visions of getting a cushy job in the regimental band, stepped forward. “Now,” roared the sergeant, “you six men bring that piano down from the fourth floor of the officers’ mess and put it in the basement of the sergeants’ quarters.”

TOWN HALL ACOUSTICS. “Music Lover” writes : The news of the impending visit of numbers of great artists, including Kreisler, •GalliCurci, and Middleton, has given me more pleasure than I can adequately express—a feeling which, I am certain, is shared by every reader of your interesting and instructive age. However, there is the usual fly in the ointment, and this time it is a particularly large one. I refer to the “echo” one hears so persistently in the Town Hall, With your permission I will give my own experience regarding this, an experience which I find has been shared by numbers of others. The artists heard by the writer, in the Concert Chamber, are Lipkotskaya, Lenghi-Cellini, and Charles Ha'ckett. (I am referring more particularly to vocalists as, although the definition of the notes produced by the violin and piano was also affected, the fault was not quite as noticeable as in the case of the singers). The former artist (a soprano) was heard from the body of ;he hall, and the effect in her case was noticeable, but not sufficiently in evidence to sooil the concert.

With the two tenors the results were very much worse. They were heard from the balcony, and I was lust beginning to congratulate myself on the fact that none of my neighbours were talking Or knitting during the opening instrumental number, when the singer’s turn came and all my anticipations of a feast of good s’ocaiism were dashed to the ground. The tone was in each case woolly and colourless,' and the effect of “climax” was lost through had definition, due in my opinion to faulty acoustics, resulting in a superabundance of “echo.” My impressions are based on the •'act that T am familiar with the sing:ng of Lenghi-Cellini having heard him ung on about thirty different ocea sins iji various “mixed” concerts in London. Manchester, and Glasgow, and i would never recognise his voice as heard in the local hall. Hackett had been heard on three previous occasions, once in opera and twice on the concert olatform. and the critics’ description -if him as “a firstlclass tenor” was c ullv justified each time. As heard hew he was distinctly second-class—if that. Both the above artists are ex-.-xmeiits of the “open throat” method >f voice-production, and consequently their voices are fairly free from

“edge”—hence they would be more likely to suffer from the “fogging” effect of echo than voices of the “hard,’ thin, and penetrating kind. During the coining winter we will be unusually fortunate in regard to visits of really great artists, and their performances should give much impetus to the musical life of the Dominion. It is too much to hope that we can hear them under the best possible conditions? No. one who appreciates music objects to paying for it when rendered by good artists under normally good conditions, but paying for music mutilated by “echo” is ,a very different matter; the tragedy of it all is that it is the more beautiful and delicate examples of tonal colouring, and other details distinguishing the great artist from the “secondrater,” which are most likely to be lost through faulty acoustics. Writing on the possibilities for 1925, the Christchurch Press says:— “It lias been announced that Madame Galli-Curei. the famous soprano, will include the Dominion in her Antipodean tour, and that Fritz Kreisler, the equally famous violinist, will also visit this country. Madame Galli-Curei is a claimant on the crown which Melba, after years of undisputed sovereignty, is relinquishing. She is a wonderful singer, and is said to be still in her prime. Herr Kreisler is the acknowledged greatest living piaster of the violin, and occupies a unique position as player and composer. If the coming year brings visits from these two artists it will be rich in performance.”

RUBINSTEIN’S WAYS. Rubinstein was one of tlie most eccentric of the older musicians. He was dining one night with a large number of other guests at a fashionable house, when lie suddenly pushed his plate away, jumped up, exclaimed desperately in Germane “I can’t stand this! ” rushed into the hall, seized his hat and coat and dashed out of the house, leaving his host and hostess petrified with astonishment. PEPYS ON MUSIC. * “Musique,” said Samuel Pepys in his famous diary, “is the thing of the world that I love most.” And, indeed, h© was extraordinarily fond of it. He tells, more than once, of the heroic efforts he ma.de to make his wife into an accomplished musician. “Before dinner, making my wife to sing,” he says. “Poor wretch! Her ear is so bad that it made me angry till the poor wretch cried to see me so vexed' at her that I think I shall not discourage her so much again, but will endeavour to make her understand sounds and do her good that way.”

POPULAR MUSIC. At the English Tonic-Sol-fa Association’s meeting. Mr. T. Dunliill gave a lecture-recital on “The Elements of Popularity in Music.” He said it seemed almost as unpromising a field of inquiry as did Burton’s “Anatomy of Melancholy” ; but his lecture was full, of thoughtful, -if at times challenging, observations, and. his illustrations, many and finely rendered, amply proved his various points. The attractiveness of a melody was not always a safe test, but if it persisted iu its allure it might be considered as good music. in his category came folk music, song or dance, and as illustrations were given “Greenlcaves,” a Cornish version of “Dabbling in the Dew,” two Scotch airs, and a very fine arrangement by Percy Grainger of the- “Londonderry Air,” Sometimes extraneous influence or irrelevant ideas contributed to or brought about the popularity of a song. Purcell’s harmless little air for harpsichord had some words set to it, and thus was produced the great revolutionary song of 1688, “Lilliburlero.” In our own day something of the sort occurred in the case “Tipperary,” which became just’ by accident the marching song of the army in the Great■ War. Banal as the original was both in words and music, it ‘has inspired Mr. A. M. Goodliart, an Eton master, to write a. set of variations on it in the styles of different musicians, scholarly, musicianly . and humorous. By. the way, Mr. Goodhaft has played Sullivan to Dr. Alington, headmaster of Eton, who has the librettos of two comic operas of Gilbertian flavour to his name and fame. Mr. Dunrill mentioned also that Sir A. C. Mackenzie thought “Knocked ’em in the Old Kent Road,” one of Chevalier’s early songs, a good tune, and Dr. Vaughan Williams confessed to a liking for “In the Shadows,” a Herman Finck inter-mezzo. Sir Hubert Parry, in his factors which help in securing popularity among ordinary average audiences. These are “the cavalier treatment of the leading note, a prominent use of the tri-tone, and the music-hall cadence.” Other factors are frequent use pf repeated notes (“The Lost Chord”), and, of course, all unfamiliar sequences are taboo. Sullivan’s popularity largely depended upon the inevitableness as it were of the melody’s suitability to fit the word. (“Of that there is no possible doubt,” etc.) A large selection of illustrations culled from songs and dances of an earlier generation gave due point to the truth of these generalisations, and Mr. Dunhill concluded by pleading for tolerance in the superior person towards popular music, for undoubtedly it gave pleasure to many who otherwise would never come at all within music’s appeal, and, further, the composer could always learn something of value from the public attitude to bis art.

MUSIC OF LABOUR. The London Labour Choral Union, which was formed not long ago with Mr Ramsay MacDonald as president, fixed its first concert and contest for the Shoreditch Town Hall. Local Labour choirs were to sing for mastery, and Air George Lansbury, M.P., had promised to distribute the awards. It is all" to the good that Labour should discover the charms of music, if only to lend variety to the strains of that hackneyed anthem, the “Red Flag.”