MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7824, 18 December 1886, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

A college for the training of actors ha 3 been founded in Berlin. A newspaper for dramatic amateurs is to appear shortly, and deal principally with tlie non-profesaional matters of the st.ice, club gossip, &c, for all whom it may concern. Mr. Joseph Jefferson,<the Rip Van »> inkle of Boucicanlt's pl«y, has long been known as a clever artiet. He is now wsid to be writing ft book dealing with memories of stage life. Miss Mary Anderson spent the autumn with Mr. and Mrs. William Black among tt-e picturesque scenery of Oban, which her host has bo graphically and charmingly immortillsed* It is stated that Miss Mary Anderson intends to visit India next year, and then to retire into private life. She has sent the Lord Mayor £525 for transmission to the sufferers at Charleston. Mdme. Marie Roze, consequent upon her great success in "Lohengrin," baa received invitations from operatic managers in Paris and Vienna to take the part of Elsa in those cities ; bat her engagement with Mr. Carl Kosa necessitates her declining all Continental visits for the present. M. Henri Rochefort, of the " Lanterne" celebrity, is the author of a new Irish drama which is to be produced at New York directly. It will presumably be extremely political, and it will be carious to hear what opinions M. Rochefort expresses upon the relations between Ireland and England. Mrs. Bernard-Beere has had a genuine and unmistakable success with her provincial tour of "Jim the Penman." At Edinburgh her triumph was witnessed by the author of the drama, Sir Charles ¥oung, whom Mrs. Bernard-Beere led before the curtain to receive the congratulations of the audience. The Italian Ministry have directed that the great collection of musical works which formed part of the Municipal library in home shall be transferred to the Academia di Santa Cecilia. This collection has been described as the richest of its kind in the world, and the catalogue of musical works which it contains aa the most complete in existence. Liszt's memoirs, which his heirs are about to give the world, are said to be remarkable for their collection of stories. The maestro has delineated with considerable vigour the faults and foibles both of his enemies and of his friends. The book is full of portraitsketches of " men of the time," but there is said to be not a breath of scandal In it. The book is to bear the title, My Life." Mdme. Sarah Bernhardt contemplates a rather lengthy tour in the other hemisphere. After leaving Valparaiso, &he will play in most of the important towns on the Pacific side of South America. She will then cross Panama and visit Havana. From there she ■will journey to Mexico, and thence to Washington, where she is expected by Feb. 28 next. A week later she is due at Philadelphia, where she has an engagement at the Star Theatre to play in " Fedora," Theodora," "Frou-Frou," and the "Maitre des Forges." The ingenious German gentleman who recently invented the melocipede has opened an entirely new chapter in musical history. "We may shortly expect to hear of sewiog machines performing a choice selection of folk song, of automatic cradles giving forth varied lullabies while rocking, of steam cranes heaving up their loada to the accompaniment of "The Anchor's Weighed," and of treadmills which exercise ft deterrent influence upon convicts by grinding out a series of "sonatas, fugues, and ops." Can it be that the mclocipccie is designed to emphasise the 'expression of Kentish fire? Royal amateur fiddlers are not unknown ; but a real live Princess playing the violin at public concerts, and getting'money for her performance, is somewhat of a rarity. The Princess Doigorouky, now in Paria, eeeme, however, in a position to claim that distinction. This lady was originally the Senora Lola Cazuas, a Spaniard by birth. During a professional trip to Russia she met with the Prince Wladimir Dolgorouky, won his affections, and married him. The Prince is a very rich man, and his Princess had so occasion of course to return to her fbrmei professional avocations for pecuniary reason*, She has done so hecausu flu- apparently liktt the excitement of the artUlSi life, and pref-.i ► it to the monoti it of a ;;.vrici;iri exi> tenet. In the imscwl-iic- F > i■<:.'> .-.'iMieiiees, by tliots enthusiastic a}>piiu<><, arc {{ivtug her no cause to regret the iUv she I'ftt taken.