MUSIC

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 29

MUSIC

NOTES BY S STRINB Mile. Antonia Dolores has been singing in Dublin, where she has gained as great a success as that achieved in other centres in Europe. The “Freeman's Journal” says:—“One usually goes to the concert of a great virtuoso m the patient hope that the vocalist may be just tolerable, and may fill in the intervals between the great man’s appearances without. spoiling the pleasure he gives. If anyone went on ..Saturday afternoon with such an idea they must have experienced the most delightful of disappointments. For it is no exaggeration to say that Mdlle. Antonia Dolores' singing was worthy of the best audience Dublin could afford, and that even if there were no Sarasate there at all the concert would be memorable to all music lovers. She has a beautiful voice; but even better than her voice is the art with which she uses it. Her vocal quality is wonderfully pure, and her intonation perfect. .

She sang several songs, anu it is no small tribute to her that an audience waiting for more Sarasate should be willing to postpone its enjoyment by insisting on more songs from her.” The “Irish Times,” speaking of a second concert, says:—“Mdlle. Antonia Dolores is an artist we hope to hear again at quite an early date. Her singing is marked by the best qualities of that old Italian school of which her mother was so famous an exponent. Her voice was not average, but perfect. One can but compare it with a violin finely played, so sweet and rich is its timbre, and so complete is her control of it.” The critics of the “Northern Whig” observed of the soprano’s first appearance:—“Mdlle. Dolores proved herself to be one of the most finished vocalists we have ever heard, showing a versatility of taste, expression, style, and dramatic power that was remarkable. She has the rare faculty of divining, by instinct, that subilety which underlies mere words and sounds, and being able to communicate it by the inflection of a word, change of tone, facial expression, and a perfect command of breathing and voice which evinced the highest training allied to natural gif ts.” Miss Norah Lynch, of Wellington, has composed a very interesting waltz, a copy of which is to hand. The theme is attractive. and the climax effectively scored. The piece is entitled “The Plunket Waltz,” and is dedicated to Lady Plunket.

In an article in a Continental journal upon organ music and organ-playing, M. Guilmant, the celebrated French organist, writes of Bach: —“There has been no advance in polyphony since the days of B&ch. . . Even with all the modern mechanical appliances that have been attached to the organ his works are stili very difficult—perhaps the most difficult of organ compositions. He must have been as great an organist a® he was a composer. That he should have been able to play, upon the organ of his day works so exacting in technique, is simply marvellous.” M. Guilmant believes that the “king of instruments” first came from Italy, and writes in reference to modern I talian players and organs : —“A number of Italian organists are now making an effort to restore the Italian school of organ composition and playing. They have more than the popular indifference to overcome, for the defects in their instruments make their task peculiarly difficult, and most of the organs lack the appliances necessary to the performance of elaborate organ music. The fault lies with the Italian organists, who succeeded the early masters. They did not develop the legitimate style of organ playing or organ composition. Instead of carrying forward the poiypnonic school they regarded the organ merely as an accompaniment for the voice. Italian organ music accordingly, did not call for more elaborate organs, and organ builders had no incentive to progress. The stops in many Italian organs are still divided into treble and bass, so- that to draw them both hands have to be used at once. The pedal boards are very deficient, and the pedals so short that the player has to reach out for them with his toes.”

M. Guilmant does not believe in the arrangement of oohestral works for the organ. ‘‘As between orchestra and organ,” he writes, "each has its great qualities and its faults. The organ has a certain solidity of resonance, while the orchestra's resonance is restless, feverish. The organ holds, sustains. On the other hand, one of the great faults of the organ is its lack of attack, or slowness of response. Here I may refer to a fault in technique which is often found. Many organists think; it wise not to push down the key too quickly or too far. I think, on the contrary, that the full pressure of the finger should be made at once, and the key held down solidly until released.”

Lady- Thompson, for many years a leading violinist in London under her maiden name of Miss Kate Loder, is dead. She was widow of the late Sir Henry Thompson, the eminent surgeon. Shine years ago she composed a. number of string quartets and trios, solos for the violin, and organ pieces. Signor Leoncavallo, in a letter to a German paper, replies to the question why he. an Italian composer, should have chosen so thoroughly German a subject for his Last opera os ‘'Roland of Berlin.” After instanoing Rossini'e "William

Tell,” Meyerbeer's ‘•Huguenots,” Verdi’s “Don Carlos” and “Aida,” Gounod's “Faust,” and Wagner's “Rienzi,” as examples of the «amo kind, he goes on to say:—“i am deeply troubled at the question which has been addressed, to me, because it is the result of a certain malady which is growing more and more, and is affecting all countries, except Italy. That malady Ls chauvinism in art. If this system of protection prevails, the day will soon come when a protective tariff will be put upon foreign music as xipon foreign wines and cheeses. There are some people who would like to build a gigantic Chinese wall along their frontiers to prevent foreign works from having access to their theatres and con-cert-rooms. Such a policy is the surest way to destroy the art of their own country.” The house in which Haydn died, and where he was lying when he composed the famous Austrian hymn, “The Creation,” and ‘‘The Seasons,” is to be purchased for the city of Vienna by the Municipal Council.

A new piano concerto by Signor Busoni has been received with enthusiasm in Berlin. It consists of five movements, in the last of which a male chorus joins the solo instrument and the orchestra. The motto is a sentence from the final ohorus, “Joy and grief alternate m the light of the earth,” from Ochlen soli lager's “Aladdin.” The last instrumental movement is, however not Eastern (as the earlier ones;, but “All’ Italiana,” and the piano is said to be treated throughout as an orchestral instrument. The four movements are entitled “Prologue,” “Pezzo Giocoso,” “Pezzo Serioso,” and “AH' Italiana,” respectively. During one of M. Guilninnt's organ concerts at the Exposition in St. Louis a large piece of plaster moulding from the cornice fell to the balcony floor with -a loud noise and almost created a panic ih the large audience. The vibrations of the building ca.used by the tone of the full organ and the heavy pedal stops had loosened the plaster. Fortunately, no one was injured. M. Guilmant kept on playing, which, with the applause of some of the audience, reassured those who at first became frightened. Recently interviewed in London, Mr F. H. Cowen, the well-known musician, thus spoke of present day taste in the matter of songs:—“l think that the public taste is unquestionably improving, though, of course, in every large city you will find a number of people who do not care for good art of any sort. For them music is merely noise and tune. By the by, I believe the expeilence is going to be tried of publishing music at a cheaper rate, and that perhaps may bring good songs more under the notice of the man in the street.” Comparing the musical tastes of various parts of. Great Britain, Mr Cowen observed: —“There is a genuine love of music among the factory and colliery hands of Yorkshire. The same may be said of the Welsh, who are naturally very musical. All the latter want is better education and a larger sphere.” The celebrated composer does not think that the Scots are more musical than the English, and is of the opinion that there are finer choral societies and more of them in the United Kingdom than elsewhere. But lie added:—“l cannot help feeling that as the love of orchestral music pure and simple increases the love of choral music is gradually, I won't say dying out, but diminishing. Of course, one factor promoting that tendency is the comparatively limited repertoire of choral works.” In conclusion, Mr Co-wen referred to the improved prospects of Bri-tis-h music and musicians as follows: “Most of the chief positions here are now held by our own musicians, and if you look through festival programmes, etc., you will -see 10 British names for every one that you would have seen 10 years ago. Occasionally we receive a slap in the face, a® when an important festival engages a foreiger to come over and conduct, but these are only flies in the ointment. People sometimes ask, ‘How would you encourage British music?' My answer is that it is already encouraged in every direction. We have not yet arrived at a point where we can be compared with the standard classical musters of Germany, for instance; yet we are fast forming a school of music here which, in my opinion, is equal to anything that you find abroad of modern date.”