DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8270, 31 May 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

Tre St. Maur Dramatic Company are still nlaving at Abbott's Opera House to good luKcncc*. They are about to produce a new play by Mr". David Christie Murray, "Chums," for the first time. Wirth's Circus Company have completely transformed the Interior of the Columbia Rink, and have commenced a season there ' The building is crowded mghtl>. The following: regarding '»' Auckland musician is from a Melbourne paper:"Mr. F. flotsam, a voung singer. with a promising tenor voice, has recently come to Melbourne from Dunedin. with the object, of undergoing some training in vocalisation under Madame Simon«en. He is a brother of Mr. George Glut-Aim. a talented pianist, who travelled with the Amy her win who travelled with lUP *""•> : . Company on their Eastern tour, and is now I ompany on their ha.-tern u in London.'' Mr. F. C'lutsani sang at the Dunedin Exhibition, when he made an exceedingly favourable impression. He was scored for " The 1-ast Watch. A brilliant ?ncored for " Ihoi.i.-t u." f * • .- .„i i-.„. him, and many " re f is predicted 101 '•""• will be the *. * i ;„.! ,» aiv that he will be the impotent to judge s.ij tn.u rlut<am leading tenor of too colon • - Ml ; l hn* been exclusively under the tuition ot •vis been exom.-noi\ uuui. »i* mother, who is at present Auckland. and who has train, .1 him with great, care. He sail" at the Alexandra Palace, London, ,vbenoulv eleven years of age. He was hen called "the phenomenal hoy tenor. The -rear tenor Tamagno, who gets £20 000 & for fifty performances, and has Other valuable perquisites, including eight soil- every night he ring*, has a brother whoring*' in'the chorus ■the blent income of £3 1* per week. The brothers Ho not travel together, neither do they have tmy associations save when the stage business demands. It is understood that Mrs. Brown-Potter contemplates visiting this colony and than Mis- Nellie Stewart, whose production of '•Paul Jones" has been such an immense success in Melbourne, will also tour New Zealand. When Elton, of the Opera ( ompany now in Wellington, was plaving in " La Mascotte, he was'given and seized an opportunity of introducing a joke of his own. Away back in the family circle a fond mother sat inirin«r & sweet 'babe—a leather-lunged talkative infant, who will be an election candidate when he grows old and wicked. At a most exciting period of the play, when His Majesty was discussing atlairs of State with his First Lord of the Treasury, the child lifted up his voice, and for a Heeling second or two the players were silent, and the noisy elements were hushed. When the voice had died away. Lament started. "The voice of nature:" he said, approvingly; "a little thing like that amuses me." ' D also amused the audience, who gave vent to one prolonged roar of laughter. . The testimonial concert given by people hi°-h in the musical world of London for trie benefit of Madame Arabella Coddard, realised £300, and. added to the subscriptions raised from other sources, a total sum of £1200 will be reached. The audience was not so large as might have been expected. This' was partly due to the high prices charges for scats in St. James Hall, wh : ch was the room chosen, ana partly because Mr. Henry Davison, Madame GodiLirrl's son, had previously issued a statement that her relatives were willing and able to help her. There is vet another claimant to the list of wonder-children in little .Miss Rene Lee, a Sydney juvenile pianist, pupil ot Heir Kretschuiann. The little prodigy, v. ho promises to be verv distinguished, was heard recently at a musical party, and greatly astonished and delighted her auditors. The Gaiety Company are coming to Australia again" bringing with them Messrs. Sims and Petit new burlesque on " Carmen " and "Kuv Bias and the Bias Roue. Miss Nellie Barren and Mr. Leslie will as before lead the company, who may this time include New Zetland in their tour. The irascible manager of the Opera House at Hamburg. Signor I'ollini, fell out j with one ot the musical critics on account. j of something he had written, and gave j orders that, he should he ret used admittance to the theatre. The critic brought an ; action against him. and the court held thai the manager's act was Illegal. Pollini was sentenced to pay the plaintiff a fine of £23 for each night he had been excluded from the theatre.

According: to the Australasian, Mr. Charles Warner has accepted an offer sent by cable from Mr. Augustus Harris, of the Drury Lane Theatre, London, to create a part in a new original drama, with which it ha? been arranged that, the autumn season at 1 )rury Lane shall be opened. The acceptance of this offer has somewhat altered Mr. Warner's arrangements in the colonic.-, and his present season at the Theatre Royal will terminate at. the end of this month, when he will leave for England. It. is understood, however, that this will not be Mr. Warner's final appearance in the colonies, for if pending arrangements can be satisfactorily concluded, he will return to Australia during the course'of next year, and take up the management of a theatre in Melbourne.

The Australasian says :—Mr. Charles SantJey, the eminent baritone, has returned to Melbourne, highly gratified with his "New Zealand tour.' In every town which he visited in that colony he met with the heartiest reception, and always sang to large and demonstrative audiences. An amusing feature in connection with his journeying? was the large number of persons of both sexes who consulted him with regard to their voices and their chances of success in the profession. The majority considered themselves heaven-born singers, and the task which Mr. Santley had of telling them plain honest truths was often a difficult one. One gentleman who waited on him with assuring manner startled him by announcing that lie had a baritone voice with a ranjfe of three octaves. A singer is generally satisfied with two octaves, but *his gentleman was (juite prepared to enter into friendly competition with a bassoon in regard to compass. When Mr. Santley sat down to the piano to take the three-octaved gentleman up a scale, he found that he could sing about eight, notes. The wouldbe singer, however, begged to be heard in xjme of his favourite solos, and, to Mr. Santley's horror, produced the music of '• Honour and Arms" and "Ruddier than the Cherry," through which he iianted in a manner which was enough to make Handel turn in his grave. Mr. Henry Stockwell, the tenor, who accompanied Sir. Santley, anil has also come back to Melbourne, created a most favourable impression at all She towns where concerts were given.

Signor Majeroni and his wife are touring the-Chinese ports. They purpose returning to Melbourne tti rent', for the Cape. The eignora was recently suffering from the effects of severe indisposition.

Speaking of the Sarasate find D'Albert conceits in Boston, a newspaper of that city .nays that " the last time a worldrenowned violinist and pianist joined forces in Boston was when Wieniawski and Rubinstein performed such works as the " Kreutzer Sonata" to empty benches. At that time a Boston lady, in the greenroom, ventured to say to the great violinist, with ill-judged effusion, 'Oh, Mr. Wieniawski, I do hope you will stay in Boston a long white yet !' whereupon the witty artist made a significant gesture towards the empty hall, and replied, ' We. should be pleased to, but that we fear to lose the habit of playing in public.' "'

At a concert in Dresden in J 840 the King of Saxony requested a lady to give Mendelssohn a theme for extemporisation. She named Uluck's " Iphigenie," which bad been given on the previous evening at the Opera. Mendelssohn said. " Your Majesty, till last night I have not heard that opera for seven years, but I comply with your Majesty's command-." He extemporised in a wonderful manner, not omitting one of the important airs in the opera—a wonderful tour deforce. What he once heard he never forgot.

Bristol is obtaining a reputation as a musical city. Besides its well-known Madrigal Society and Orpheus Glee Society, it boasts a festival choir of 400 voices, another choir, newly formed, of 500 voices, four new choral societies with an aggregate of 700 voices, a new male voice choir with 90 voices, and a similar body of A). in addition there is the society of instrumentalists with an efficient performlog membership 0 160 , and there is now a movement on o °i. to revive the "Monday Pops, which had been discontinued. Musico-Dkamaticcs.

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