MUSIC.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5737, 4 November 1905, Page 10

MUSIC.

NOTES BY “G STRING.”

Professor Michael Hambours, father of th© talented Mark and Boris, liht» just opened a conservatoire of music in London. Herr W. Ileckcl, of Biebrich, ha e invented a new wood-wind instrument, which he calls the Heckelphone. Richard. Stratus has written for it in his new t opera, “Salome*’ and Richter, Weiugart-i ner, NJkisch, and other orchestral experts consider it a valuable addition to the 1 wood-wind family. It is something like! the oboe; its ton© 1b said to bo > soft and | rich, yet telling; the cornpafs is that ot i the bassoon. "Salome" has been vetoed by the censor at Vienna. At tho last examination for th© Fellowship degree at the Royal College of Organists there were 126 candidates. Only 28 parsed. Tor the lower degree of As<?ociatoship 300 were examined, and 46 only 5 were successful. • Kubelik mad© his last appearance in • London on lh© 7th October prior to his 5 tour, which includes Australia. Edwin Greene, the composer of the • popular song, “Sing Mo to Sleep," sold L the copyright of that. song for .£5. So ' great was the financial success of this - ‘‘publishers' xditurc ‘ that the composer - is now ablo to o>mmand as much as £SO ' and a royalty for his MSS—and this although the swig market is in a wretched • state, owing to the wholesale piracy of > popular songs at present practised. • Tho Roman Catholic Bishop of South- • wark, in the Old Country, ha*> ordered • that ladies may sing in chorun in church, J but that they may not eing . solos. It l* : stated that tho ladies do not appreciate i this injunction. If it wore reversed por- - hai)6 they would be quite satisfied. . i The Americans use the tune of the Bris tish National Anthem to words of their i own, “My countrjq Tis of thoo." This • sometimes leads to happy results. When ' Mr Eraser was in an hotel in the Can- : adiau Rockies the baud played "God Save » the King" at 10 p.m., and all Canadians • and Britishers stood. Tho visitors -rom ■ the States looked wonderiugly, but rfe- » mained seated, ‘Wall/ 1 sold one American lady to another afterwards, ‘ I think it was just sweet of thorn Britishers. X’ re come into a foreign country, long ways from home, and they played the American tune ‘My Country, J tis of thee,' and all tho Britishers stood. X cud liev just cried with happiness." _ In his '‘Natural Laws of Musical Expression," Professor Hans Schmitt, of the Vienna Conservatoire, says on transcription for the piano:—"Fortunately, he (tho player) cannot hop© to imitate that horrible mannerism of many sinners—the tremolo. With a pang ot envy, he may leave that to the more accomplished goats." , , Mark Hambourg is going to tour Soutu Africa again. His last visit to that country was an unprecedented success, his farewell concert in Capetown putting up a record, the takings being, it is said, £SO0 —jU-50 more than the next record, one of Miss Ada Crossloy’e concerts in Johannesburg. During his recent visit to the United i States Sir Edward Elgar allowed himself to bo interviewed by an American newspaper man. The "foremost English musician” is represented as having a tilt at tho national authems of the world. liegarding tho British National Anthem ho is reported as follows;—"Tho English National Anthem is tho silliest thing imaginable; the words are stupid, and some of the linos won't rhyme, and, altogether, the man who sings it and thinks of what ho is saying can’t respect himself/’ Sir Edward is also represented a saying that the music is good enough, "because it was stolen from the Germans,” but we do not believe tho composer of “Qcrontius" ever made such a statement. Can nothing be good except it be "made in Germany," or is tho fact of Teutonic manufacture equivalent to a hall-mark of excellence. The American reporter’s authority for ascribing the tune to Germany should prove interesting, for the Germans themselves have always supposed it to come from England.; According to the Yankee interviewed Sir Edward Elgar was equally severe on the various American -songs:■/“Your national hymn is even worse than England’s. You haven’t got any regular, legitimate national song, but you have four, which eeom to rank about equal in popular estimation. ■ There is ‘Yankee Doodle/ which has words that are stark idiocy, while the music would set the teeth of a buzz-saw on edge. Then there is ‘Hail, Columbia/ which is nearly as bad in every way as ‘Yankee Doodle/ Tho ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ is a song that.begins so tow and goes up so high that nobody can sing it, which is tho only advantage it has. And there is ‘America,’ with words that run a little smoother than ours, but are everv bit as silly. In fact, I don’t know anything more exasperating than tho first verso of 'America/ It is j enough to turn a cat against milk. I suppose the reason for the badness of national hymns is that they have sort of grown up without any proper attention 1 having been given them when they were: young." An inscription was recently unearthed in the ruins of Eretria, in Greece, which ' gave us an account of a vocal and instni- : mental competition among tho ancient ' Greeks. The first prize instrumentalist ' received £6, and the best flute player 30s. ; The promenade concerts at Queen’s Hull ’ are drawing larger audiences than has ever been the case so early in the season. 1 Australian artists are ,well in evidence. ’ The familiar tenor song known as "Tho 1 Bay of Biscay" was composed 100 years ■ ago by John Davy, a Devonshire man and a pupil of Jackson, of "To Deura’’ fame. ’ This song is the only one of the scores he wrote that has survived. He died with- ; out “ relative to attend him in his last I illness, and "without leaving oven sufficil ont to defray tho expenses of his funeral.” l i Mr Percy Grainger, the Australian pian--1; ist and composer’s latest publication is a ■ paraphrase on Tschaikowsky’s "Flower VYallz." It is written for skilled pianists • only. It appears that the London music pirates, who in the past have confined their ■ j attention to popular and trivial produc- | tions, are now flying at higher game. They have now brought ont Liza, Lehi inann’s songs, "Angels Guard Thee’’ (God. - ard), and Thome’s “Simple Aveu." If this ’ sort of thing goes on we m-ay yet be able 1 to purchase the "St. Matthew Passion,” ' Brahms’s ‘‘.Requiem,’’ and Strauss’s latest ’ j pmduetions at Id each. • Mr Charles Manners saye: "The artis--1 tic temperament is as necessary as a good yoico to a singer." That is why Italians > lead the world in this, for they are born ‘ with it.