WORLD of MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 April 1925, Page 10

WORLD of MUSIC

PERSONAL. The musical people of Ha.wern ami district will have bpen -m.ferested to leam that Miss G\ Reilly, ol Haw era. will be travelling to Lendno in a. weeUvia Sydney and Suez. Miss Rei 1> has by her attractive personality am. her’ability:as a singer, made herself very popular, and her many n «m will wish 'her bon. voyage and a. safe return. She intends to take a sene_ of tenons in singing and piano when in London. . Hawera, musically, will he the gainer by her return from, this .tour to the Old Country. A programme of great mterest Hawera people is to hand from Miss Glenn from London. It is that of a praetiee noneert at which V altei 1« pell was one of the performers, singa series of Schumanns songs. “Dichitcrliebe,” with accompaniment by Harry Isaacs, of Dunedin. ( Miss Glenn, adds in. a note:_ »he programme sipeaks for itself—-his nrs r>,ppearanoe, and he aecnutted himself nobly, quite the best dinger on the programme to my (perbajis brassed) ears T was deiichted with, die result ’ and so, was Mrs. Bennett, who was with me. CHUR,OH CHOIRS.

The week before, Easter will be very 1 p«y at the ehurcb choirs, and all are looking hard for success. St. Mary s ji i*e doing Hr. Oha-llinor s cantata, “Passion of the Cross’ ; the' Methodisu •Choir Stainer’s wonderful “Crucifixion, and the Pr*sbyterion Choir a series of .selections from Messiah. All •should prove - very interesting and progress! ami enterprise on behalf of the members and conductors. MALE CHOIR. The choir, under Mr. C. Howe, are busy .putting the last touches to their fi.r?,t concert of the season. Their progress is. good and solid and they expect to give as good a, programme as has been put on by the choir. MUNICIPAL BAND. It will be interesting news to the town that the band have once more permission to perform in public, am* that t)hev lid 1 ! he at the Par'' *rimorrow (Sunday) afternoon. Under their enthusiastic conductor they had made groat strides a'nitl were rapidly reaching a pom; when their appearances were eagerly anticipated. The people of the town will he. glad to see and hear them again. ILIE NEWCASTLE. BAND. A WONDERFUL COMBINATION. The .whole' work of this great world famous band was an object, lesson to ai Lbn li'dsmen and a- real de I iglit to all who love good, music. Their playing was on such a plane as is rarely given to New Zealand people to hear, good •as is the work of several of the leading New Zealand hands. Tt was interesting to. note that in the opinion of Lieut. Fox, who has had experience at Bellevue and Crystal Palace, there could he - selected a body of players from the Dominion bands who could hold their own' and give any-.of the leading bands at Home a good run. He paid ah eloquent tribute to the visitors. when he said that to heat the best at Home a hand needed' to he of the very highest standard, ancl that was the standing of the Newcastle Band. He added that Australia and New Zealand should he proud of them, anel that it spoke volumes for the energy, enthusiasm, ability > and capacity for organisation of those responsible for the outstanding success they had achieved. NATIONAL SONGS. - WELSH CONCEPT. It k good to see the folk songs of all the countries being revived, several well-known artists jn various centres having made this a feature of their work. Recently in it Christchurch a Welsh national evening was held' at. which nearly every item was Welsh. The whole affair was a great success. SCOTCH SONGS AND MELODIES. Mr. Wm. Heughan has made it a mission, to encourage a love of Scotch songs of every. period, and his concert last week met an. enthusiastic response. The old, old melodies and descriptive songs were possibly the most popular of all the items rendered. He is likely to come back and should not be, missed by tanyone. “BLUE-BLACK” RETIRES. P. C. David Flavin, who is retiring after 30 years in L Division, at Kennington, was a police minstrel for over 20 years and sang before the King.

STR ADI VARIUS VIOLINS. Violin-milking is one of the most personal and delicate trades in the world, though oeensionnH.v one comes across ah instrument with a good tone that 1 has been made, at least partly, by machinery. Age, too, has a double effect on violins ‘and other similar instruments, so that while it improves the best of them it wears out others, and sometimes even wears out'those which it is most desirable to preserve. Not all violin makers have been.ns busi-ness-like as the great Strndivnrins, of whom it is known that he made — chiefly with his own hands in all parts, but also in some degree with the assis. tance of his. family and other assistants, 1,116 violins, besides violas and violinoellos, while of these only 602 are known to exist to-dav. Probably some others are knocking about the world and being played by people who do not recognise their qualities; others are not even good enough, to be recognised, while quite a large number have been destroyed or worn out.

AT A BURMESE MUSIC HALL

(Daily Mail.)

, The performance has begun. A low throb like the beat of a giant’s pulse vibrates through the air, soft eyes yet persistent, and all the world moves slbwly in the direction of the sound — a, Burnie.se world, fluttering lightly down the street jn vivid colours. Thet'e is no lilt of music, no provocative invitation, but the appeal of the low-toned drums inevitably draws iis into, the laughing stream of the theatre-goers, and, without a backward glance, we leave the shadowed stillness of a palm grove whose slopes lean to the Irrawaddy for the hot glare of a lamplight shed, writes Lebur.y Smith, in The Daily Mail, On the stage a group of dancers pirouettes slowly in harmony with tie and there is exotic rhythm

in their movements that makes a drum seem the only possible accompaniment. Looking like mermaids, in their little wired out jackets and the swathed skirts that swirl; into a pool of silk at the ankle they twist themselves into three right angles and turn and turn on one foot with even swing. The same old story lias held the stage for immemorial years. A king and queen, a prince and princess, whose true love takes any time from twentv-four hours to a week to conquer all difficulties, a pair of comedians, and a group of dancers are the central figures in a drama that varies to'suit the comedians. whose jokes are always carefully localised. And "the audience? To European yes. perhaps, the most interesting part of the performance! Squatting on the mud floor jn grouns, the shrouded figures have all the mystery and aloofness of the monks. Black and white, orange and bronze, the sharp contrasts move 1 and change like a kaleidoscopic view. | The women draw their scarfs about j their heads, the men wrap themselves |in cowl-like hoods, and the children I run from group to group, thread their way among musicians, and stand in rows at the foot of the stage, their little black heads silhouetted'against the footlights. . A friendly nonchalance characterises the arrangements; the audience lives .in the theatre while the performance [lasts, sleeping through the dull turns, [eating, smoking, and moving about I The actors who are performing walk ! backwards and forwards across the 1 stage, or sit in a corner and eat urn. concernedly, and in front of the audience the musicians are scattered about, ! beating witli individual zeal and persistence, their muff-shaped drums.

RUBENSTEIN AND THE THIRSTY DOUBLE-BASS PLAYER.

Rubinstein, not content with being the world’s greatest pianist after Liszt, pined to be known as a great composer. He wrote incessantly in his desire to eclipse Wagner, of whom he was very jealous. At the rehearsal of a new opera he had written he was so pleased with the work of the orchestra that he promised them a champagne supper if the opera was a success. Unfortunately the opera was a failure, and the audience so unentliusiastic that, in disgust, Rubinstein, who was conducting, handed over his baton to a local conductor and, returning to his hotel, went to bed. Just on midnight there was a knock on liis ■ door. “Who is it?” he shouted angrily. “It is I, Herr Rubinstein, the double-bass player from the opera orchestra.” “What do you want?” “ I’ve come for the champagne supper.” “Nonsense!” replied Rubinstein, “the opera was a ghastly failure.” “'Well, Herr Rubinstein,” said the ’ thirsty double-bass player, “I liked it!”