WORLD OF MUSIC.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 July 1923, Page 4

WORLD OF MUSIC.

A very commendable enthusiasm is noted in the work of the various societies in Hawera, and progress generally is reported. The Male Ohoir have before them a big work in tackling Faust, and it is hoped that they will secure generous -support in their great effort, • "The Geisha" shows continued good progress, and members are specially urged to do their very best to back up their conductor and committee, especially now that the time is getting near for the performance. It will need all the energy and enthusiasm of which they are capable. Known as "o]e Luke," Mr. Luke Derslow, fiddler, of Oterford, Somerset, has died. For 50 years he played in farmhouses, kitchens, barns, and club rooms. A negro in West Africa, was made to sing into a gramophone so as to get the words of the hymns for mission purposes. His lung-power was so trethat he blew the machine to bits. ConrWinw ?. lecture'on B:lh\ music to Sunday school workers..the direc'tovs of the Religious Educafon Training School maintained that music ought to be included in the divinity course, oecause very ieaaer of the people ought to be able, co interpiet mus.c. In a concert recently in Sydney, included in 'the programme were two Chinese tone-poems by John Alden Carpenter, a Chicago composer noted for his "Perambulator orchestral symphony. In. both instances the eccentric nature of the accompaniment provided the Chinese colouring (of which a little goes a long way!), and both were clever, and admired as curiosities. The lyrics were translated from poems ■ by Li Po, 705 8.C., and Confucius, 551 j "R.C: • In the latter a girl asked her lover in tones of scandalised grief, "What would my parents say? What would the world say?" showing that the social situation of to-day between the sexes is exactly the same as it was ' about 2500 years ago. i ' Like many other musical geniuses, Puccini, the famous composer, had many days of adversity. In fact, when h°- tv<vs writing his first ope>*a, "Le Valli," he was so pooF that he was obliged to live for four months on r^-erlit at a tiny restiurant in a Milan slum. TTltimfto'lv the Italian Govern- i raont allowed Puccini a charity pen-v sirm of a few francs a week. With two or th^ee father -er-thti pi a ptie mti piclovers, he lived in humble lodgings, but they were so poverty-stricken that they were often oblie^-d to pawn their .'ov*t. coats and boots in order to get a little **eidv money for everyday necessities. PI axing; the piano at cafe concerts, ■teaching at a franc, a lesson, and copvin<r. manuscnn'S,, such was the drudgery which Puccini w^nt through before h<» earned fame and fortune with his famous operas.