WORLD OF MUSIC

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 2 April 1927, Page 16

WORLD OF MUSIC

LOCAL SOCIETIES. In every society which is formed and run in the circle of music or any other form of art in a community, there are times in the year when there is a special stress of preparation leading up to the public performance. This naturally occurs at different periods of the year, but the present is one when that activity is becoming apparent and increasing all the time. Some have -gntered the period a little time since, while others are just getting there. In all there is much to be done, amd communities are bending all their energies towards the work that lies ahead. It is a time when strenuous effort is needed.

OPERATIC SOCIETY. Matters have moved fast in the operations of the Hawera Society since the decision to produce ‘'The Arcadians" was made, and members are looking forward very keenly and enthusiastically to the beginning of practices, for the period between the cessation of work in one season and the resumption in the next seems very long to the members who have —and this includes the large proportion —a real interest and enthusiasm. They are all glad and anxious to get to work again. The selected opera is a bright, tuneful work from a musical point of view. Bright interspersed orchestral sections lead up to and connect and conclude the various sections. There is a series of dances for orchestra which have all a distinct style. At the end of Act H. there is a movement typically descriptive of a race, and the work of the orchestra in the finale to Act 1. is specially good and interesting, while, in the chorus describing the approach of the aeroplane to the land of Arcadia and the dipping of the hero in the Well of Truth (Veritas), the instrumentalists have an opportunity for much effective expression. Of the concerted work there is ample. One of the most interesting is the quartet for solo voices, “The Simple Life," with full vocal accompaniment, and another capital number is the quartette “The Joy of Life," solo voices. Of the solos probably the best known is the great and ornate air, “Pipes of Pan," with its florid runs and generally artistic effects. “Come Back to Arcady," “Light is My Heart,” and “Arcady is Ever Young" are three of the most attractive, but all are good. These are just a few of the gems to be found in the opera, and will serve as a spur to know more about the general run of the work. The libretto is clever and engaging and full of point, while the scenes and situations are unusual, interesting and amusing. These serve to link up the music of the opera and to make it take its right part in the story of the people of the fabled land of Arcady, where “life trips along as lightsome as the Pixy throng who sport beneath the greenwood tree."

AMATEUR ACTIVITIES. The Te Kuiti Operatic Society gave a performance of “The Mikado" at Te Awamutu on Monday. The Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society will produce the musical comedy “Florodora" in May. Mr Harison Cook is producer, and Mr Len Barnes musical director. The chorus numbers 70. At the annual meeting of the Hamilton Amateur Operatic Society the report showed the society to be in a strong financial position, the result of a successful season. The net profit from the production of “The Runaway Girl" amounted to £154. It was announced that the society had received the rights for the production of “Katinka," and arrangements for its staging would bo made shortly.

CHURCH CHOIR WORK. The choir of St. Mary’s have for a number of years put on a cantata suited to the occasion of the Passion Week. "The Crucifixion,” "The Way of the Cross,” "Olivet to Calvary,” all excellent works, have been done several times, and this year the choirmaster, Mr G. A. Burgess, ever alive to maintain the interest of his choristers, decided on another work of Dr Challinor's, "The Cross of Calvary.” It will be the first performance in Hawera, and musical people will be interested to know it is a composition abounding in very line choruses and chorales, with a narrative told mostly in recitative by two solo voices (men’s). The whole forms a work that is giving great pleasure to the members of the choir and is certain to be appreciated by all who hear it performed.^ In the "Olivet to Calvary,” to be sung by the Methodist Choir on Tuesday of Passion Week, the soloists will be Mr Eric Pacey (baritone) and' Mr J. Fraser (tenor). Mt Fox, the choirmaster, has got together a strong and efficient choir, and the work is going well and promises a fine performance of a musically attractive work.

ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY. The personnel of the Orchestral Society has been considerably augmented since last year, and the strings especially will be much stronger. A fine programme has been arranged for the first concert, and this is already well under way and promising capitally. DeputyConductor Barley has done good work and given valuable preliminary training which the conductor (Mr Fox) will appreciate. THE CHOIR. In discussing the origin of the musical term "choir,” the Etude asserts the spelling of that word to be "a most unnecessary outrage upon the language,” and declares that it was derived from the French "Choeur, ” and was brought into England during the reign of Charles 11., who not only introduced Cambert as "Master of his Music,” but found a place for the "four and twenty fiddles” also. Previously to that time the word had been spelt in many ways, e.g., Wycliffe had "queer”; Morley, the Elizabethan musician, has "quier,” but in 1662, at the passing of the "Act of Uniformity,” this became "quire,” which form agreed with the Miltonian spelling common to that period. And so we still have, in the prayer book, "In quires and places where they sing.”