MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10407, 3 April 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

Mr Geobgh Ricsold and hie company have been drawing large audiences at the Opera House with the " Lights o London, one of the beet representation* of its kind «en in New Zealand. " Tommy Atkins" Z I "Cheer Boys Cheer" will be played The Greenwoods play at the City Hall at Easter, in musical burlesque and operatic M The present is Frank Thornton's fourth Australian tour, and it promises to be the most successful one of all. From a return made to the London County Council recently it appears that of the £7830 voted for music in the Council's parks £7021 has been expended. Of the balance, £48 baa been put aside for the purchase of new music. The sale of programmes resulted in £236, and £399 was derived from letting chairs. The coat of hired bands amounted to £2149. The total number of performances given was 798. The Chinatown Company have arrived at New York, and speak of Australia in the highest terms of praise. The opinions of visitors concerning Australia depend entirely on the business they do here. Mr. Nat Goodwin on his last night, here stated he could not say " Good-bye," but "simply the softer an rtvoir," and yet when he got on the other side of the pond he grossly misrepresented everybody and everything Australian. But such pettiness can be taken for what it is worth; or, in Other words, treated with contempt. Paderewski, according to all reports, has been making a very handsome sum during his American tour, some £40,000 being Bet down as the result of 75 recitals. Well may the poet of St. James , Gazette tune his lyre to the following strains ;— Orpheus with his lute could raise Towns (ruin stones, anil trees uproot; Sale through Plato's kinedoin strays Orpheus with his lute. Ah: be»UitsnonaiUys Plutu-, seeking golden fruit; Dollars take the place of bays. So, to rightly sin» his praise, And the modern style to »iiir, We must alishtly change the phrase— " Orpheus with bu loot."

In this connection a pathetic little story, 10 quote the Triad, haa recently been told, iphich is more likely to be true than many ather anecdotea which have been recorded of the eminent pianist. "You must be a happy man," Eaid one to him. And this was the reply: " You are perhaps not aware that my wife died some years ago, and that my only child is an incurable cripple. Ho is all f have in the world, and my wealth and fame can do absolutely nothing for him. My only motive in Etudying for the career of a public artist was that I should at last be able to obtain the best medical adrice for my boy. Alas ! I have found it an idle dresm. And when the public, which is always so kind to me, applauds me, I think of the little fellow lying on his couch in the house by the sea which I have taken for him, and I feel how poor and how rain it all is." It is said, by the way, that Paderewski has commissioned his countryman, Jean de Reszke", to purchase for him an estate in Poland, upon which he intends to build himself a chateau in view of his retirement from public life. The designs for the monument to be placed on Sir Augustus Harrie's grave in Brompton Cemetery has been decided on, It will be worked entirely in white marble, and will take the torm of a life-size bust. On one side of it will be a figure .of fame crowning the bust with a laurel, and on the other an emblematic rendering of music and the drama. "Charlie's Aunt" was the first female character impersonated by Frank Thornton. He did it in such inimitable fashion that the character has hung to him like a leech, and that particular line of business has since been considered his specialty. Mr. Toole, while descending the main staircase of his hotel at Brighton recently, narrowly escaped aseriou3 accident. A lady, who,was following, slipped, and jostling against him, pitched him head foremost down the remainder of the flieht. Mr. Toole's fall was broken by a visitor, who happened to be at the bottom of the etairs, and caughb him, and he sustained nothing beyond some severe bruises. He is now none the worse, although be baa been far from being in good health for some time past. According to an imaginative contemporary, that quaint tinkling instrument), the spinet, which seems to be synonymous with the Golden Age, and all things dainty and lovely, is owing to the favour in which compositions of the last century are now held, a fashionable instrument. Unfortunately the number preserved is very limited, so people who do posseea one must now treasure and bring it forth. A spines player ought to drees accordingly, in a high-waisted, very " skimpy" skirt, sandal shoes, and white stockings. She should wear a string of corals, and do her hair high. Kate Greenaway pictures will supply models. Mr. Albert Williams, who for four years has been bandmaster of the Royal Marine Artillery at Portsmouth, has been appointed bandmaster to the Grenadier Guards in succession to Lieut. Dan Godfrey. The distinguished-Professor McKendrick, of Glasgow, we read, has made the marvellous discovery that deaf persons may be enabled to hear music. His invention has for its basis tho phonograph. This is placed as near to the stage as possible. Connected with the phonograph are highly charged electric wires. If the wiree ore placed between the teeth, protected by a piece of some harmless substance, the deaf person will hear. But this is conspicuous and deprives him of the power of ipeech or of moving while the music is going on. So the wires are passed into a saline solution into which the deaf place their hands. The result is that they hear the orchestra and all that transpires upon the stage. This method of hearing is accounted for by several reasons. One is that the skin of the hands is stimulated to the oxclusion of the resb of the body. All the nerves leading from the bands are on the alert. The sound passes through the internal auditory canal by a lystem of telegraphy from the finger tips to the ears. Here ifc affects the maleus or drum of the ear and there is sound. Assuredly we live in wonderful times. Had the discovery been made earlier, we could imagine the afflicted Beethoven listening to bis later symphonies, not with his glorious mind, but with his ears. Herr Anton Seidl is to conduct the Wagnerian performances at Covent Garden next season. Dr. Seidl has achieved considerable reputation in New York as a Waenerian ehtf d'orcheslre, and his ability is admitted by reliable English critics who have heard him in America. Herr Seidl, it will be remembered, had charge of the scratch presentations of the "Ring" ac Her Majesty's in 1882. The appointment is a concession to the Wagner public, who have been pressing for the engagement of a German conductor, and the Grand Opera Syndicate, which comprises a strong German element, has yielded to this demand. The repertoire will be increased by the addition of "Siegfried," with the two De Roszkes, Lieban, Bispham, Heink, »nd Madame Nordica; and very possibly tho "Damnation de Faust" (Berlioz) and "Evangelimann" (Kienzl), a great success ja Vienna, in both of which Van Dyck would appear; possibly also " Messidor" (Bruneau), a work announced as being in active preparation in Paris; and " Andr6 Cbinier," the most recent success of the young Italian school. At a sale ot musical copyrights, a song called " Saved by a Child" brought £310, while Mr. Hamish MacCunn'e entire grand opera " Effie Deans" realised £1014s 6d. Mdsico-Dramaticds.

' There is a good story going the rounds concerning the newly-appointed Chancery Judge— Justice Byrne. 16 refers to the judge's early electioneering days in Walthamstow. Mr. Byrne was busy canvassing, and in the town of Walthamatow met a young farmer. " Ob, my dear sir," said Mr. Byrne, " how is your father! 1 hope I may count upon his support and interest." "He is dead, sir," replied the man of agriculture; "but you shall have my vote." " Many, many thanks," said the politician, warmly pressing his hand. Later in the day, Mr. Byrne was in the neighbourhood of Woodford, when a member of big committee stopped the eame young farmer and remarked, " Now, Mr. Byrne, this, man's family warmly supports the Conserve cause in Walthamstow. Ad- ■ .dressing him, Mr. Byrne eaid, "Ob, yes, my . dear fiir I know your face well. How is I ' v' vonr father?: I *»*•!- will do his best for M me " ■ With a pained expression in his fa<* 4^Se tiller of the soil thoughtfully answered, '^r-B^aitiil dead.eir.'V' '«■..