MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10413, 10 April 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

Dβ Haks Richteb bae addressed the following letter to the editor of the Times :-Sir,-Both ia the columns of the Times and in those of other English papers, the growing influence of Richard Wagner's eon, flerr Siegfried Wagner, in the management of the feitiva! performances at Bayreuth, ban been animadverted upon in a tone which ie T ery severe for tbe promising young man, and unjust toward the able and con•cientious managers of the Festspiele. Nevertheless, I should not have thought it necessary to join in the discussion confident as 1 am that time will fully justify the high opinion Frau Wagner entertains other eon's abilities, bad not my name been introduced in a manner that almost makes it look as if there was at least a latent opposition between the leading factors of Bayreuth and myself in respect to Herr Siegfried Wagner's participation in the artistic world. I beg permission to declare publicly, through the medium of your esteemed journal, that this is not the case. I was present at the rehwsala led by Herr Siegfried Was.": ■ 'f his performance had been in anj ■ unsatisfactory I would not have faiim., a we of the oldest friends of the family, 10 express my most decided opinion against Lis being intrusted with such a heavy responsibility. I have heard Herr Siegfried u agner conduct, and I have seen him at work as stage-manager. In my humble opinion he is a competent, and even a remarkable leader, and he is a stagemanager of great promise. Mr. George Rignold has been playing "Tommy Atkins" to excellent houses the whole of the week. His season at tbe Opera House closes next week. Says the Bulletin in reference to floral presentations to males :-The flower business over man is ever a nausea. Any actor in the last generation would have regarded id as an insult.

A new come'iy company, with Titheradge as manager, is spoken of as probable in succession to the Broughs. It would be popular. Tho very latest theatrical novelty comes from Chicago, where a manager stages a sausage-machine in full blast. The hog appears on the stage alive, and departs in the form of sausages, distributed among tbe audience as "souvenirs." Harry Poulton took to the stage 36 years ago, and made his first London appearance in 1867. Bub it is quite possible that Young Australia will cotton to Paulton's humour, which U much lew ancient that Johnny Toole's "funniness." Phil Stuart will open bis Tivoli Gardens at Perth (Western Australia), some time in May, and is now preparing a great inaugural splash. Albani does not come to Australia, simply because she has been offered more to stay in England.— Bulletin.

It is reported from Mew York that Madame Melba's essay into the higher realms of Wagnerian opera has not proved g signal success, and it i 3 noo likely the Australian cantatriee will be in a hurry to renew the experiment. The occasion was the production of " Siegfried," in which she appeared as Briinnhilde, but with such indifferent results, that she forthwith resigned the part to Madame Litvinne, who appears to have met with no more success. In London (says the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News) we shall bear Madame Nordica, and perhaps we may have the best of the bargain. Report) also has ib that the arduous quality of Wagner's music is having an ill effect on Jean de Keske's vocal powers. To more completely realise the character of Siegfried the popular tenor sacrificed his moustache, which one authority tells us " makes him look ten years older." Calve had created a marked impression by her performance of the illstarred heroine in " Faust," and the Marguerite of Madame Eumes has also been much admired. Calve departs from tradition in the matter of "business," and Eames does the same with regard to dress, which ebe makes representative of the period. Thero is also a talk of a performance of "Figaro" with Eames as the Countess, CalviS as Cherubino, and Melba as Susanna. London opera-goers of thirty years ago' may remember having seen an even better cast, which was composed of Mesdaines Titiens, Keilson, and Kellog.

Sir Charles Halle in his Life and Utters just published tells the following anecdote : —" Once the performance of ' Don Gioyanni' was enlivened by an amusing incident. In the first act when the Commondatore steps out of his house to chastise Don Giovanni, and gets killed for his pains, instead of being accompanied by servants with torches, he only carried a candle, which he let fall when drawing his sword. This unfortunate candle kept burning on the ground in dangerous proximity to the side scenes, but nobody perceived it except the dead (tommendntore, who being the director of the company and proprietor of all the scenery, etc., tried in his anxiety, by grunts and whispers, to draw the attention of somebody to the impending danger, and, not succeeding, deliberately sat up, put the candle out with » wetted finger, and lay down again, dead as before" A monument will shortly be unveiled over the grave of Franz vou Suppe. It is a handsome piece of sculpture, tlio work of Herr Richard Tautenhayn, surmounted by the bronze bust o: the composer, underneath which are the concluding bars of the song •' 0 Du Meiu Oesterreich," by which the fertile composer of operettas will probably be longest remembered. The seventieth birthday of Herr Julius Stockhansen was signalised recently at Frankfort- on - Maine by numerous sympathetic demonstrations from far and near. A reception was held at Saalban, in the course of which a cantata, specially written for the occasion by Paul Heyse , , and set to music by Max Bruch, was performed under the composer's direction, while Dr. Max Priedlander, the well-known musical author, delivered a festal oration. Amongeb the gifts was a purse of 50,000 marks, bestowed by the great baritone's pupils past and present. The German Empress conferred upon him the large gold medal for art and sciences. Our London correspondent, writing on February 26, says:—The musico-dramatio event of the week has been the production of a new Savoy opera called "His Majesty." No; alas! it is not by Gilbert and Sullivan —worse luck ! Yotib is by very good menthe play by Burnand and Lebmann, the music by Sir Alexander Mackenzie. But it is a decided "frost." The play is tedious and tiresome. The words as a rule are poor and pointless, the jokes stale and laboured, and the action bangs fire terribly. There are some rather bright and witty verses, bud they are few and far between. The music is always good; sometimes too good for the situation, and occasionally humorous, But I fear the verdict) must be one of failure. Oddly enough, the adverse result was largely contributed to by the virtual failure of the chief star among the performers, namely, George Grossmith, usually the mainstay of Savoy productions, who in this instance apparently through sheer, unaccountable nervousness, did nob "come off" ab all. There was much " booing" from the gallery at the close after three and ahalf hours' duration, but this hostile demonstration was devoted to the librettists, the composer being pointedly excepted and even receiving gome applause: Bub " what a falling off is there" after past experiences of GilbertSullivan "first nights." Poor dear old Simi Reeves! Ab seventyfi»e years of aga and after a life of brilliant Success he has to go through the Bankruptcy Court, with liabilities £1060, assets £3. Hβ explains that his bankruptcy has been caused by hie having imprudently signed an acceptance in blank for his brother-in-law, which was subsequently filled up for an amount greatly larger than anything he had any idea of or had the means of paying, even if he felt himself morally bound to do so, which he didn't. Secondly, be had furnished money for household purposes which had been otherwise applied—noli by Mrs. Sims Reeves he expressly states—and so now all the tradesmen are down upon him. He estimates his present income at £800 a year. Poor old man! He may have been imprudent, but it is very sad for him to be made a bankrupt at his time of life. Tschaikowsky's "Pathetic" Symphony je the musical rage of the hour, and although it occupies fifty-two minutes in performance, it is being played again and again in London, and never fails to draw large crowds of delighted listeners. Indeed, the cry is being raised that it is in danger of becoming backneyed. It in unquestionably one of the greatest orchestral compoiitioM .' arir bestowed upon the world. Mcsico-Dbamaucus.