THEATRICAL NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22030, 9 February 1935, Page 10 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES

theatre and concert hall NOTABLE BROADCAST ITEMS A recording of Brahm's Violin Concerto, Op. 77, played by Fritz Kreisler and the Berlin State Qpera Orchestra, will be the major work to be broadcast from IYA at 2 p.m. to-morrow. At 9 p.m. Miss Dora Judson and the Studio Orchestra will present Schumann's Piano Concerto, Op. 54. IYX also has several items of considerable musical interest to-morrow evening. At 8.4 p.m. Mozart's " Jupiter " Symphony will bo broadcast, and at 8.34 a presentation of a 8.8.C. recorded version of Mendelssohn's oratorio, " Elijah," will be made. At 8.30, 2YA will commence the broadcast of a recorded version of Bizet's opera, " Carmen," A SaintSaons recital is to be broadcast from IYX on Tuesday evening, commencing at 9 o'clock. Chamber music, including Schubort's Quintet in C, Op. 63, will be broadcast by IYA from 8 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday. From 8 to 8.40 the same evening, a selection of works by Beethoveil, including the Sonata in E Flat Major (" Les Adieux ") will be given from 2YA.

The D'Qyly Carte Opera Company, direct from London, has been giving the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas to crowded houses of New York. Best of all, they havo been preserving tho true Gilbert and Sullivan atmosphere, " a decided relief from the modernising which American producers of these operas seem compelled to indulge in."

Alfredo Casella has stated that, though in tho first decade of this century about sixty per cent of the scores submitted to the International Society for Contemporary Music were atonal (without a fixed key) in style, only about five per cent of them are now written in that medium.

Dickens lovers will be interested to know that Albert Coates, the eminent and fauciful English composer, is completing an opera in four acts, with twelve scenes, with tho immortal " Pickwick " as the central figure. His score is said to be "a huge fresco of Victorian life . . . differentiating the characters appropriately with leading themes."

The famous Halle Orchestra concerts, of Manchester, England, are announced with a series of guest conductors. Sir Thomas Beechain will lead for one third of the season and the other twothirds will be divided among John Barbarolli, Edward C. Bairstow, N. Malko, Malcolm Sargent, Karl Schuricht, Forbes, Szell and Szenkar. Of choral works, the " Messiah " will be given under Bairstow; and Bach's " Mass in B Minor " and Ethel Smyth's "The Prison" under Beecham.

The Shanghai Choral Society has made its first public appearance, with the assistance of the Shanghai Municipal Orohestra. And it Rave not a few oratorio choruses and part-songs, but the monumental Mass in B Minor " of Bach. The programme bore a pago of analytical note>s, said to have been " better than their equivalent in certain London programmes," and presented the text of the mass in Chinese, English, French, German, .Russian and Japanese. The " Choral Symphony " of Beethoven ia announced as the probable second offering.

The origin of the tune to which the British National Anthem is set has often caused controversy. It is nowknown that the tune was borrowed from the German " Heil der in Siegerkranz," of which the melody is identified as that of " Dieu sauve la France (" God save France,") written by Lulli about 1675 i in honour of a visit of Louis XIV to St Cyr. Now coines up an English antiquarian, Edward A. McGinty, who establishes the identity of the melody (with some variations) with an ecclesiastical chant of the ninth century. With apologies to Shakespeare, " Lord, what cheats musicians be."

Ethel Morrison, who gives a delightful study of the charming old modiste in the J. C. Williamson musical production, " Roberta," at His Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, was born in Wellington, and made her first stage appearance with the Amateur Operatic Society in " The Gondoliers." Strange to say, it was in this Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company that she made her first appearance under the J. 0. Williamson Limited management ati His Majesty's, after she had appeared with Marie Tempest at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. This was, of course, after she had made a name for herself on the stage in England, America and South Africa. Miss Morrison's performances in " As Husbands Go," " The First Mrs. Eraser" and "Let Us be Gay," put her in the front rank of Australian stage favourites.

John Dudley, the popular young Melbourne tenor, who, alter a successful career on the concert platform, was euguged by J. C. Williamson, Limited, and made a big success, at short notice, in the title x - 010 of "The Student prince." and consolidated his popularity ill M Tho Dubarry," with Sylvia Welling, intends to leave lor London on. May 28. Mr. Dudley, who is at present appearing with Madge Elliott and Cyril ltitchard iu " Roberta " at His Majesty's Theatre. Melbourne, intends to study in London, but ha* not yet decided whether he will embark upon <* career in pictures, opera, or musical comedy. " It all depends on how my voice turns out," ho explained. " 1 have loved my stage work," he added. " lb has been most congenial, and I have had tho most wonderful help and cooperation from my fellow artists. It will be a great wrench to leave Australia."

The renewed hold that comedy and drama lias taken on the London stage is reflected in Australia, where "Fresh Fields," " The Old Folks at Home " and similar plays staged by J. C. Williamson, Limited, have been attracting largo and appreciative audiences. In view ol' their success, the J. C. Williamson management has decided to extend their plans, and a new English company has been engaged to present throughout Australia and New Zealand the latest London successes. The first of these ventures will open at tho Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, 011 February 23, when the company, which includes James Raglan, Hilary Fisher White, Betty Bowden, Vernon Kelso, Ella Daincourt, Cyril Vernon and Sybil Davidson, with Gabriel Toyne as producer, will appear in the first production in Australia of " Sweet Aloes," a play which all London is flocking to see. This company will present a succession of London comedy and drama successes, including " Laburnum Grove," " The Shining Hour," " Living Dangerously,-' " Eden End and " The Dominant Sex." Melbourne audiences, and playgoers throughout Australia and New Zealand, are looking forward to this notable new attraction.