MUSICAL NOTES.

North Otago Times, Volume CIV, Issue 13656, 26 August 1916, Page 3

MUSICAL NOTES.

(By Minim), i" *-" There are ia this loud stunning tide Of human care auil crime Willi wlioiii. Hie melodies abide • Of tli' everlasting chime; Who carry music in their heart Through dusky lano and wrangling marl, Plying their daily ■task with busier feet Because llieir secret souls a holy strain repeat. -Kcblc. * * * New-autographed pictures of. Puccini are being sent by tho composer to the singers who created the leading roles in his operas. . * *■ * ' , "A successful priimi donna," declares Feme Sogers, "seems to'consist in ability to sing an entire programme in English without the audience being able to understand a word." . * '# .. * One of the -youngest (toctors or', musk in England, Ik Prank Eadcliffe, of Saddlcworth and Stalybridgc (recently organist at Grantham Parish Church) has been wounded at the'frout. "The Huns managed to hit my arm with a rille grenade, The. doctor, I think, will be able to put it right, and then I am off again to get my own back," wrote Dr ltadeliffo to a friend. *•'■*--.•■* People who hesitate : to believe, in wondcrcful feats .of memory are reminded of the fact that iu the realmof music similar instances can be quoted. Every famous musician,' bo lie. a violinist, pianist, or other instrumentalist appearing before the public' in a concert will always have liis, music memorised, and it. is, : a' welMc'iiown fact that these men have, a repertory of. hundreds, of, pedes before 'venturing to appeal' in'public, Visitors to the Metropolitan "Opera House (says the New York Sun] may have noticed that the 'famous Italian conductor, Arturo Toscanini, .conducted all his opera's without.a score, and.what,mado this feat all the more wonderful is flic fact that lie not only conducted light. Italian and French operas, but also the modem operas in Italian and French and those most famous of Wagner's operas,-"Die Meistersinger" and "Tristan aud Isolde." The following incident, which happened many years ago, when Toscaniiii was quite a young man, shows the .phenomenal memory of this Italian musician,'creating quite a furore at the time. Everything was in readiness for the rehearsal of a new opera, which was first to'be performed' that very same evening at the fiuno'ns Theatre do Seala in Milan, when the director announced'that some accident; had happened to the. conductor, and he inquired of the gentlemen in the orchestra whether any of them would undertake to conduct the opera. At first there .was silence, but seeing the. despair of the director, tho.lirst -'cellist said. that, he would'tiy, as'fie thought he knew the score and the libretto- of tlio- opera by heart, having been present at every previous rehearsal,'' Without- much ado, and after closing the score of the opera on the conductor's desk, he went' brilliantly' through tl/e. rehearsal and achieved tremendous success at the performance* in the evening, Si ne'e that time Toscaniiii has.been eon.sidcrcil the greatest mjisjcaJ' conductor, of,flio.'age..' ', ' ',.'./'■'' In his plea for musical amateurism in America,' Fritz Kreisler remarks that most famous musicians' have been the children of amateurs, not professionals. He might have added tliat the majority of professional musicians would hesitate to encourage their children toward a similar career. Yet the world's truly great artists' have remained amateurs m spirit, and the child whose love of music grows naturally through its environment, unquestionably derives more joy from the art than does tho laborious performer to whom it is only tho means of making a living. ' $ • # $ "Half educated people are generally unable to discover more than the expression of grief or .■joy, and perhaps melancholy, in music without words; they are deaf to. the finer shades of passion—auger, revenge, satisfaction. -quietude;- etc; On this account, it is difficult for others to understand great masters like Schubert and' Beethoven, • who have translated almost every condition of life into the speech of tones. I have fancied in certain 'moments musicales' of Schubert's that I could perceive a certain Philister-liko vexation in them, as though 'he were unable to meet his tailor-s accounts. Aud Eusebius. declares that when he hears oho of his - marches he sees the whole Austrian Guard pass before him, precedod by their bag-pipefs' aud ...-carrying sausages and hams on the points of their bayonets. But this is. really too absurd."—Schumann. *.. .. *. .*- ' Quartet playing was at one time practically confined to contest'ors. But how there are quartet parties in hundreds of bands which never contested, aud it tends to make these better- bauds (says a Home band periodical).. The growing taste for quartet playing is one more example of the good influence of contesting oyer all the movement. Bandsmen who, found themselves left in depleted bands evidently took to quartet playing, and thus provided entertainment for themselves whilst the band was rearing fresh players. Then the bandsmen iu the new armies carried with them their Jove of quartet playing, and scores of parties have been busy using their talents for the entertainment of their comrades, both at honfe and abroad. All quartet playing feuds to make players more refined'and more reliable, Every band should introduce, it among their players as a means of' improving the band. Besides there, are littleservices,which the quartet '.playing band can .render at functions in which a full band would be out of [dace. We hope to sec (lie practice grow still'more, **_ ' * Miss'.l'aulii Scherek, the clever young violinist, daughter of Herr Benuo Selicrek and Mrs Scheldt, who now live in New York, has left for New Zealand, her intention being io live in Uiiiicdin with her brother. * * * The Musicians' Union o-f Australia has served a new log of wages and conditions on every employer iu the Commonwealth, and the increases sought range up to 30 per cent, on the existing rates. It is'expected that the log will come before tho Commonwealth Arbitration Court in about a month, The union is asking that for grand operas or ballets.casual engagements shall be paid for at the rate of. til Jls (Id, while fur weekly engagements the rates shall , lu: Co per week of six consecutive per-formam-i's. five shillings for each rehearsal during the day are sought, with His for rehearsals after li p.m. The union is ;ilso claiming that for general I heat res -and picture- shows the player uf an instrument ■with' mechanical; or orchestral elTcets shall be paid'not less than £11) per week of six consecutive perfovniiiiires. A minimum of £7 per week i< sought for conductors. A time limit of two and 'a-half hours is lixed for picture shows. For pianola players ;, mi ill iniiin of fji |icr week is asked, while fur circus performances the mini- - ''"""' at U .nar-wflflfc. :