MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10419, 17 April 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

Mr. Geo, Rignold has concluded a long season at the Opera House, and left for Wellington. Altogether the season was a fairly successful one ; in fact, it is said Mr.' Rignolds intends returning to Auckland before leaving New Zealand, and that should speak well. Miss Ada Delroy and her Company, after • successful tour south, have armed in Auckland.

Bristol's Equescurriculum, or school of educated horses and mules, to be piloted through Australasia by Professor Kennedy, caused snch an excitement in Honolulu, that the crush was too great for anything in the way of restraint. The committee charged with the organisation of the forthcoming Donizetti centenary celebrations at Bsrgams have hit upon the eomewhat unconventional idea of offering a prize of 2000 lire for the most approved painting taken from one of the composer's operas. Minor prizes, consisting of medals and diplomas, are likewise to be awarded. The widow of Capellmeisber Langenbach has placed some valuable hou=e property, together with a sura of fifty thousand marks, at the disposal oi the municipality of Bonn for the purpose of establishing a home for the widows of musician!, irrespec tive of nationality, who have professed their art in Germany. One of tho oldest living German musicians, Herr Leopold Alexander, completed the sixtieth anniversary of his installation Bβ a member of the orchestra at Dii-«el-dorf. The artist, now in his eighty-first year, made the acquaintance of Mendelssohn in 1813 while in London, who formed a high opinion of the young violinist's talents; and on hii assuming, two years later, the Diisseldorf conductorship, Alexander followed him there, and the acquaintance ripened into close friendship. Johann Strauss' new operetta " Waldmeistcr" was given for the fiftieth time at the Resident Theatre. Berlin, an altogether unprecedented "run" there for a work of that kind.

Richard Strauss' just-completed new lymphonic work, " Thus Spake Zarathuetra," is to be performed shortly at one of the Museum concerts, Frankfort-on-Main, under the composer's direction. Two important vocal compositions with orchestra (set to verses by Mackay and von Bodmaun), by thie productive and most "modern" of fierinan composers, are also about to be published. Herr Anton I.utz, probably the oldest operatic chorister on record, lias had a decoration conferred upon him by the Grand Duke of Weimar, on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. Commencing his career as a choru.s-singer at the age of twenty, he was engaged at the Court Theatre, Weimar, in 1855, by Liszt, and still remains one of the pillars of the chorus at that institution.

The sum of £400 lias been placed at the disposal of the Faculty of Science, Paris, by an anonymous donor, for the purpose of defraying a two-years' course of instruction in musical ;e-thetics and psychology. Plenty was crammed into the matinee giren recently the "other eide," in aid of the Distressed Actors Fund. The curtain of the Princess Theatre (the use of which building was given by the "firm") rose at 1.45 on the first act of the " Village Priest" by the Brough Comedy Company. Half-an-hour after Mr. W. J. Turner's Exhibition Concert Company came on ; then a one-act play, "The White Stocking," followed at 3 by Harry Kickards Opera House Coinpauy. At 3.30 the third net of the " Prisoner of Zenda" was performed, and at 4.15 the trial scene from "Pickwick." The last-named alone must have been worth all the money, when the witnesses included Messrs. Bland Holt, Robt. Brough, Kyrle Bellew, W. F. Hautray, Henry Bracy, Pete Hughes, and other well-known men. The programme bore the autographs of all who took part. Signor Pacini, a baritone, was cast into prison at Caracas, Venezuela, recently because he declined to respond to an encore demand during a performance at the Opera House. Tho audience rioted upon Pacini's refusal to re-appear, and money was reEunded to save the building from demolition.

In spite of the fact that Sir Augustus Harris, the man who made the fortunes of Covent Garden, is dead, the famous opera bouse still prospers. The subscription for ». the ensuing season will be the biggest for .many years past. When tho last mail left there had been more applications than there were boxes, and there was a heavy demand for stalls.

Speaking of Miss Florence Young, who takes a complimentary benefit in Sydney on Saturday, a Sydney paper says:—There is no one in this country who combines her piquant energy, her beautiful voice—which seems absolutely impervious to climates, sickness, and other bad influences that affect most singers at one time or another—and her consistency in doing her beat. How greatly the theatrical business tins been overdone in this city lately (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph), is indicated by the circumstance that four managements have cried content, and in the aggregate a handsome Eum of money has been lost since Christmas. A week ago there were no lees than six theatres open in the city. Nob only was that a greater number than could expect support, but one of those theatres housed such a powerful attraction ae "Matsn." jNexb week there will be only four, which is much nearer the mark of paying possibility. It seems that Rubinstein has left a volumiuous work, containing not only his opinions on musical subjects, but also reminiscences of the more important events in his life. It consists of aphorisms and brief accounts oi his experiences. The last sentence of the book runs thus: "So long as I felt that I was better disposed on the platform than at home I played in public. But as Boon as I felt that the contrary was the case I ceased to do so." The eminent pianist entitled his book " A Basket of Thoughts," and commissioned Herr Wolff, the Berlin concert manager, to publish it, omitting everything referring to persons etill living or calculated to hurt the feelings of their descendants. This, says the Triad, will probably be a somewhat difficult task, and we need not be surprised if the publication of Rubinstein's "Basket" is

delayed. Bismarck has been giving his views on music. He does not care for " music that is paid for," but there is nothing he likes better than music at homo. Once he could play himself, and he is sorry that he did not keep up the accomplishment, for" music ie a faithful companion in this flie." But what interests him particularly in music is its power on tho masses; and he think that German song Mas one of the greatest agents in bringing about German unity. " Our alliance with Austria would not be so intimate if flndyn, Mozart, and Beethoven had not lived there, thus creating a true artistic bond between us." Speaking of Wagner, Bismarck remarks that in earlier daya the Germans were too modest, even when they had done something good. Wagner, when he was introduced to him by by Varnbiiler, gave him a proof that in this respect a refreshing change had taken place ; in other words, that Wagner showed himself to be full of self-conceit.

Some good Americans are wroth because foreign artists take so much money out of the country, The Nw York Sun has been at the pains to collect some statistics on the matter. They are as follow in dollars: -Paderewski, 280,000; The De Reszkes, 200,000; Maurel, Calve, Melba, 325,000 ; Scalchi, 18,000; Plangon, 30,000; Sarah Bernhardt, 120,000; Henry Irving, 70,000; Ellen Terry, 60,000; Shop Girl and Artiet'e Model, 200,000; Chevalier (three months), 18,000; Yvette Gutlbert, 24,000. The remedy is, of course, simple enough: America must get eingers, pianists, and actors of her own equal to those in the above list; or she might try a tax on the earnings of immigrant artists. The New York Herald has interviewed Jean De Reszke on the matter, he aske, when managers make a good profit on them, should not artists get as much as they can and as little as anyone can be got to fill their places for. He points out too, that living is more expensive, and work harder in America than Europe. Mosico-Dkahatious.