MUSIC.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1533, 18 July 1901, Page 29

MUSIC.

NOTES BY’ G STRING

~ Stanton Opera Company concluded tne Wellington season on Saturday night and opened a season in Christchurch on Monday night with “Fra Diavolo.”

Madame Melba re appeared at Coveut Garden on the night of June 6th. The Australian prima donna selected Puccini’s r I'.a Boheme” and the mad scene from Xucia di Lammermoor." No one in his senses (observes the “Daily Mail”) wants to hear Melba in Wagner or in anything else strenuous. To listen to Tier voice gliding without effort through the "melodies of' a Puccini and. a Donizetti ds sufficient. Just as Blanche Marchesi’s vocalisation is a miracle of intellect and art, so Melba’s is a miracle of nature. Her singing is as unpremeditated as a nightingale’s. Her wonderful edgeless voice is of itself a perfeet thing of beauty.

Miss Eva O'Connor, a Sydney girl, has recently attracted attention by the possession of a remarkable contralto voice. Miss O’Connor is a native of New South Wales, of Irish parents. She was educated ‘at a private school, and also received tuition at home. Bright and ‘intelligent, her favourite pastime is study. She passed th© Senior examination in singing under th© training of Mr Albert-Fisher, T.C.L., and the practical (pianoforte) examination under the Sisters of St. Joseph. To the Leichhardt community of this -Order belongs the credit of the “discovery” of Miss O'Connor's natural gift. Her voice is, it is stated, wonderfully rich and sympathetic —at present a contralto of rare ’quality which many artists in the musical world are of opinion will develop into a dramatic soprano, her high notes being so clear, sweet and full of music. J «■*»**

It was on May, 14, 1861 —forty years ago —that Adelina Patti first sang at Covent Garden. “La Sonnambula" was the opera, and associated with her were the Tagliaficos, husband and -wife, Signor Polonini, and Signor Tiberini, the last being the Elvino. The Diva played to an almost emntv house, but the second time she appeared all fashionable London was there.