MUSIC NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7336, 14 January 1911, Page 8

MUSIC NOTES

(By "A Flat.") Frcun New York conies the news that Mr Oscar Hammerstein will definitely open his new London opera house, in liingsway, on November Ist. - The contracts for tho building aro said to have all bec-a let. The much-talkecl-of opera "La Fanciu!la del West" ("The Girl of the Golden West"), composed by Puccini, the author of "La Boheme," "Madame Butterfly," and "La Tosca," was produced in New York on December 10th, and an interesting account of the music is given in tho London "Monthly Musical Record." Puccini, it is stated, has worked almost uninterruptedly for the last two years at 'his latest creation, and wrote a good deal of tho music at the piano. Provided with an ample supply of cigarettes and coffee, from 10 o'clock in the evening till 2 or thereabouts after midnight in bis villa at Torre del Lago might" be heard night after night the maestro trying effects of all kinds on the piano on which pome of his greatest effects have been "born." Puccini relates how amused, he sometimes was in the daytime to hear some of the sharp-eared boys and girls living within earshot oi'.lris villa singing and whistlng themes he intended to use for his new opera, scarcely yet jotted down. He used to call them "contrabandist! della mia musica." The villa in which "La Fanciulla" has been written was likewise the place where his three preceding operas, "Boheme," "Tosca," and "Butterfly" were composed, and stands upon the site of tho former Tower (Torre), but the Lake(Lago) remains. The opara opens witn a pi elude containing several of the leading motifs. The curtain rises and shows the bar (called La Polka) of .Minnie, the heroine; it is tho meeting-place of all the gold-miners of that part of California. Those who saw Belasco's drama when it was produced in Australia by the Kingston-Brune Company will remember the story—the love of the girl for the stranger Ramerrez .(who is passing under tho name of Johnson); her contempt for Ranee, the sheriff; the pursuit of Johnson after his injury; the discovery of his hiding-place bv the dropping of' blood from the loft upon th" sheriff's outstretched hand, and the game of cards, in which the future nt the girl is the stake. Puccini is said to have preserved the dramatic volotir of this narrative intimately. The mm- rs are carousing in the bar at the nso ot tho curtain, when suddenly from, without is heard the voice of a man singing a sad wailing melody, the burdon of his song being his longing for home and those so far away. Silence falls on tho crowd, and the singer appearing on the threshold, suddenly ceas?s. but at a sign from the others, who are deeply moved, he begins the air again, and after a few moments retires, still singing the plaintive melody which tho miners have caught up, accompanying it with closed lips. There is.an important duet for Johnson and the girl, when they recall the incidents of their first meeting. Finally the orchestra plays a wild kind of valse (which from time to time recurs during the opera), and the two join in tho dance. The dancers gradually leave the bar-room deserted, though only for a' moment, for a man has been arrested and brought in by the police; it is Castry. one of Johnson's band of outlaws. The second act commences with a duet by Indian servants, Minnie anxiously awaiting her lover's coming. He arrives, and a long duct takes place, whloh is perhaps the most beautiful number in the opera—at least, Puccini seems to value it very highly—and into it has been cleverly woven the valso already referred to. There are great opportunities here for the composer, for tho act is full of incident, and it ends with the game of cards, in which the girl wins. Then in the third act. Johnson, captured (though not by Ranee), is condemned to death, and the heroine pleads for his life. Here the situation is different from that of Belasco's drama, Minn : e, appearing on horseback, and armed w-ith a revolver, first implores, then menaces, those who would take from her the man she loves. At length,with tenderer words, she sees some retenting; but others aro still obdurate. The former end bv joining their enIreaties to hers; and she reminds them all how the Bible, which she -(their "little mother," as they called her affectionately) has read to them in the bar-room on many occasions, teaches mercy. Little by little she wins the day, and Johnson is spared, the opera ending with a sad farewell to her old comrades, whom she leaves to accompany him she has saved from death. .The opera is to be produced at Covent Garden in May.

Mr Oscar HamJnersteiu has agreed not to produce grand opera.in America for ten years.

The outlay on' tho Municipal Orchestra at Brighton (England), as shown by tho balance-sheet, issued during the month, has risen to ,£11.527 and the loss resulting from the working of both the aquarium and tho orchestra amounts to .£5248. Ths receipts fiom the orchestral concerts given at the aquarium have advanced by over .£7OO, the revenue from season tickets having doubled. The loss from a business point of view is serious, but it moist bo remembered that i largo part of the expenditure has been spent in the town to the benefit of the inhabitants, and if we add to that the great attraction of the orchestra, and the consequent spending power of visitors, the loss shown is abstract rather than concrete. One do:s not mind spending a penny if threepeneo can be had to do it.

Mr Oscar Hammerstein has been offered 1,230,000 dollars by the American Vaudeville Syndicate for the Manhattan Opera House, New York. Under the terms of contract with the /New York Metropolitan Opera House, no more grand opera is to be sung in the Manhattan for four years.

M. Camille Saint-Seans, who is in his seventy-fifth year, has practically completed his now opera "Dejanire. ' The subject is taken from the tragedy _of the same name by Louis Gallet, which was produced at Beziers recently with a choir and ballet. Dejanire, soprano; lolet, eoprano; Phenice, contralto; Hercule, tenor; Philoctete, baritone. The work is to be produced next March at Monte Carlo, and afterwards will be heard at the. Paris Opera.