POPULAR MUSIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19291, 1 April 1926, Page 7

POPULAR MUSIC.

Sir, —Damei Clara Butt's fame as a singer is scarcely likely to be dimmed in* any way by Mr. C. Cachemaille's letter. Her vocal supremacy in all branches of her art, remains unquestioned, as all "who attended her Auckland concerts must testify. It is inevitable that world-famous artists should include in their programmes many classical and popular numbers which have become " familiar as household words." The general public practically demand these, and would be disappointed if they were not included. Students also benefited largely by such authoritative renderings of the numbers, " Caro Mio Ben," "Ombra Mai Fu," Beethoven's "Creation's Hymn," and others. No# long since I "sat next to a Philistine, who, after listening with yawning to a celebrated cantatrice as she revelled in the musical mysteries of some high-flown aria, turned to* me and said: " It may be high art, but I wish she would sing something the. people know." In summing up the vocal work of the great Jenny Lind, it was once said that probably her chief claim to fame lay, not in the skill with which she sang some great operatic aria, with its wonderful embellishments, but in her ability to sing a ballad superlatively well. Was it not much the same with Madame Patti. whose unrivalled singing of " Home, Sweet Home," attracted many to the concert hall'! Dame Clara Butt certainly made us acquainted with many new numbers, including the five Biblical songs by Dvorak, when she was last here, l>ut thp demand for those ballads with which her namo has been associated for years past was insistent, and many requests for these were sent • , > ' CONCERT-GOEU.