WORLD of MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 12 September 1925, Page 3

WORLD of MUSIC

A visiting musician .says that jazz is- merely a passing phase. The trouble is that it takes an unconscionable time in passing. In the People’s High Schools, of Denmark, besides the ordinary syllabus, it is said that great importance was attached' to tlie singing of folk and national songs. A lecture was always preceded .by community singing. In the Wellington competitions Eileen Kinibell, formerly of Hawera, has scored very well. She had a win a week ago, and on Monday was placed first with her pianist for vocal solo and accompaniment. She scored 80 points,, and the adjudicator said, that Miss Kimbell chose a long and difficult song, which she sang well. An interesting point was made by Mr. Rumucles- in the couvio of a httle talk on composition. He said that in every work, of all schools of composition, there was to be found a scale of some form or other, and it was interesting and of value to look for this .in any •performance. It wasi to be found if only the student would look carefully for it, and it would add wonderfully to his interest in the work of the composer. A- meeting of the Waipukurau Operatic Society was held- last week, when the recommendation of the management committee that “Th© Mikado’ be staged was confirmed. Eleven new members were nominated. Owing to the increase in membership (says the Hawke’s Bay Herald) there is a possibility that a selection may lie necessary, but it is hoped that such •will he avoided.

ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY. , . . Practices are going ahead 'well for the next concert., The programme is exceptionally good, and the. people of town and district may look forward AVith confidence to a fine performance. OPERATIC SOCIETY. Tlie' chorus is in the midst of the active work, under the control of the tliey are making rapid) strides. The producer, Mr." Theodore Tresize, and cast isi all chosen, and prospects are. excellent. 4 ‘The Toreador’ ’ is going to maintain the high repute made by the> society, .FORMER SOCIETIES. The music in the old Foresters’ Hall recalled to the minds of some of the older residents the work done by the Hawera Choral Society a good few years baek under Mr. Robert Foster. Their numbers, were small, but they made up for this by' enthusiasm and ability, for with only a small chorus and orchestra, they gave very creditable performances of the “Messiah,” “Creation,” “Atlialie,” and similar works, and) their funds would not allow them to import soloists. The hall also recalled the work done foy. the old Operatic Society and the Dramatic Society. The former staged several of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas ' and the latter many good plays. MUSIC IN SCHOOLS. Writing of the work among children, the Sydney Morning Herald says that it is quite common to see children * engaging in a composition concert, ind orchestral music spreading everywhere through the schools of the States. In Sydney, with the school concerts' at itlie Conservatorium, we have now commenced the task of taking orchestral music to the children, and have thus joined in a movement which has firmly established itself in America, and nas , been taken up with the greatest enthusiasm in England. Though the woik lias [begun her in a small way, there is no reason to suppose that it will not develop steadily, and yield admirable results, ”

The Roval Christchurch Musical Society, for its next concert will give Sir “Edward Elgar’s cantata, “Caractacus. ’ ’ The cantata, which is being performed for the* first time in Australasia, is considered by musical critics to be the composer’s best. work. The Auckland Competitions Society made a loss of £BOO on its first festival, and a big drive to secure a thousand members is advocated. Apparently the- competitions did not take with the people, for it is recorded that only 7000 people attended in contrast, with 62,000 in Christchurch. A big meeting of prize-winners over sixteen is to be called also to consider the position. Air Roland Poster, commenting on a letter protesting against Ins remarks that the Dominion had not yet produced a song composer of distinction, and drawing his attention to the claims of Mr. Alfred Hill, says: Air. Hill is a. New Zealander by adoption, but not by birth, and I especially put him aside on account of that tac-t. His songs are comparatively few m number, and are not known all over the world as those of such composers as I have referred to. I am not making a slight or slur on New Zealand, as you will see when we consider that its musical history is only in its infancy, while countries of which I have spoken have musical traditions extending back to five and six centuries of development behind the work of then composers Their me n are musical o-eniuses. Unfortunately, in a country like New Zealand, there is not much scope for musical geniuses. If one did arise he would, in order to get a fitting outlet Tor his powers, have to go to the great musical countries m the Old World, whore he would gain recognition more. -speedily than is possible” in his own country.”

THE SAVAGE 6LUB. The musical institutions of more or less recent growth are noteworthy in that they show what a fine fund of talent and humour there is in Hawera and district, and one of the most marked is the. very young Savage Club, only a few weeks; old, yet in its methods and its entertainment it seems to, have been like Aphrodite and to have sprung full-formed from the waves, The annual ladies’ korero on Wednesday was a great evening. Song and story, drama and tragedy, wit and humour — all flashed from the performers at intervals during the evening. Everything was on a high level of excellence —-orchestra, strong and good; tribal haka, ‘worthy of Rotorua, under the capable and fierce leadership of a wellknown Maori, Hauphroa SVliareaitu, whoso father was one of the best known leaders on Fraser Road; songs and instrumental solos equal to those heard in much larger centres; character sketches full of humour and point; drama, with clever topical allusions and local application; Maori history and legend that is ably given and full of interesting allusions to early days; making up a repertoire sucli as will fill a good programme at any time. And the club was fortunate in the visiting savages. There were two whose contributions were extremely The club lias been fortunate on previous occasions, and will be' so again, for Wellington have promised to collie up some time when arranged. They are well known for their capabilities. INTERESTING HISTORICAL REFERENCES. Writing of William Byrd, aeknow* lodged as England’s greatest musician —only two others, Purcell and Elgar, can be. held as rivals—a correspondent to T,P. ’a Weekly tells of his hard, almost poverty-stricken, life! But a reference to a part of Byrd’s life gives very striking sidelights on the' times and also his generous treatment by Queen Elizabeth. This writer says, inter alia: —“During tlie lean years—indeed, throughout most of his life—he was an organist, sometimes with and sometimes without a.salary; a teacher, being ‘seollemaster in liisartte ’ to the daughter of the Earl of Norhtumberland; a printer and seller of music; and, of course, a composer. But it was as; an organist that he' first Avon fame. Now, it isi a strange thing, but

we don’t know so very much more about William Byrd than we do about William Shakespeare. There are many hard, unimaginative facts to go on, but they tell us little of the man himself. Yet something of the man is to be gleaned by putting one fact against, another —e.g., Byrd was a staunch Roman Catholic, and yet he was employed as the organist at the Chapel Roval in the service of the bigoted Protestant, Queen Elizabeh. “He Dearly Loved a Lord.” “Byrd must have been a strange creature, for there can be no doubt whatever that his religion was sincere. But he dearly loved a lord. Still better loved he his Queen. Before he was thirty-eight Elizabeth had granted him at least two direct favours, but at .the age of thirty-nine he did not hesitate to petition for another. ' He asked the Queen for a* lease in reversion for twentv-one years of the yearly value of £4O. On What- grounds? Hedid not. hesitate to state them. He had come to London from Lincoln, where, lie says diplomaticaly, he was <well settled,’ meaning, of course, that he was eajning a good income. (But this is probably untrue.,) He adds that now, having to attend the Chapel Royal daily, he could not- teach as before and in that way suffered, monetarily • ’ consequently ‘through great charge of wife and children, he was fallen into debt and great, necessity.’ She granted his petition -without hesitation or blush. No doubt the great Queen and the poor musician, understood each other, for- at an earlier- date Byrd and Tallis had publish edand dedicated to Oriana a collection of original motets.” AN “ARMY” OPERA. Dame Ethel Smyth, a daughter of the-British Army, has written a little comic opera, or operetta—“ Entente Cordiale”—about British soldiers and their ways in a French village during the Armistice. The first performance was given at> the Itoyal College or Alusic by the students, Dame Ethel conducting. „ , . ... „ ~ It was (writes. “B.C. ’ in the Daily Mail) the homeliest little piece. It was just the sort of thing—apart from the solid worth of the music— which in the old days Divisional ‘concert parties used to concoct at I operinghc of Arras. The fun depended on Cockney English (laid on thick) and. the French of Stratford-atte-Bowe. ]f Corporal Erb lggins, of the Kith London Bridge Regiment, had known the shade of difference between “penile” and “nonlet” it would not have happened. As a 1919 corporal he was rather a siihpietoii. It uas more like <x lDlo* misunclei st/ciiicliiig. Anyhow, lie- wUntbd a receipt for a chicken bought for the mess. And he was noaxecl into signing a marriage contract with tile merry French saleswoman (the “poule”). then Mbs. J uo-ius turned up, and SO did * the ‘‘poule’s” husband, but the* Entente Cordiale survived. A really good Divisional concert party would perhaps have kept the tun going rather more briskly. But they would, of course, never have had such good music. There are delightful things in tlie score, notably an overture beginning with the “cookhouse bugle-call and weaving together cunningly several old familiar strains, and also” ail intermezzo, charmingly musical. The piece is a farce. The music touches on romance. The corporal ot Ah- Robert Gwvnne stood out for easy humour. The orchestra was rather roil °*li Dame Ethel also conducted her. oneact opera, “Fete Gal ante;” in which we had a capital, sonorous bass, Mr. John Andrew's, a promising, though still rather throaty tenor, Mr. Trefor Jones, and a. pleasing baritone, Air. -Karl Alelene.