MELBA-AND BUTT.

NZ Truth, 4 January 1908, Page 8

MELBA-AND BUTT.

WHAT THE ONE ACHIEVED: WHAT THE OTHER MISSED. A Comparison and a Contrast

Within a short space of time -Aus- j ftralia has experienced the inestimiafcle privilege of listening to the »6y^tn Queens of Song of the Englishshaking world. One has come m !ttje height of her glorious fame, the other m her decadence ; and of them Iboth, and of this memorable year, generations yet unborn will speak. It would not be unfitting to conitrast MeJba and Butt as Art and Nature personified ; and yet it would not be quite satisfactory, for as ap^ i plied to Melba, it seems to imply .that Melba possesses culture more ifchah' natural beauty, whereas both are exquisitely blended m her incoin- ,- parable voice, 'When Clara Butt Was. .„ a girl— ten jrear* ago— her.vojge was- lihe most wonderful organ m the singing world; Its richness, volume, depth, purity of tone, and astonishing comr pass, were- unique. „I t; was iii: very $ruth, ."the-,,: voice of the century." - But she was the despair of the Knaestro. She. Was—amd is^tanin-tellec-fcual and unambitious.' A irue daughter,,^ ':. therpeople,;^ al l l, v .her : instincts, bei"h^pes7:her : de%re?i were for the icpnVen^t6nalj:...pJacid ' home-life, with love. at\d motherhood m the, near IkacV^jduid— as distinguished from the isolation- aoft artificiality of the ar- _ : v^s% -'''-life> ri - ;^' ::: 'S-deal y f hausfrau.-' ' a •primeval '"wo^an upon ( whom the l&djf h^di'liy" accident, bestowed an 1 mngelic • jgiftrshe fciayitated towards . , Mfefeotf ' -and (^ldi«h</ ; as ; inevitably ■- as the; 1 graceful asparagus passes, on to .seed-i The unit— a mere nonentity cfif.from the°'foduld of mediocrity. &§neath>' whose' cornLmon-plaee spell ibe .sacrificed^- the ! gift that was m ter-i|w6uld' -have WeJBn \ -quite ' content •#ith" any- one of; the millions of oth- , fer womeA on earth. - But, no ! The world has- to that, he has had power to create, a Mrs Kfennerly Eumford* from the tishes of divinelygifted Clara Butt.' Allied to brains tod an • artistic, temperament, Butt iwould have become -the I equal, and '*yeh the rival, of ; Melba . The precipu* stone" of- her voi6e would have iJfeen facetted to absolute' perfection, and would have' dazzled all human understanding-. As it is, Butt has,be<!bme ah Excellent "wife and mother— tooth admirable m their way— who 'Mainly endeavors" to shout • forth ,wfcat were once the liquid and powBrful notes thsufc rang effortlessly from her breathing '^hroat. ''Who can undo what -time hath ■ % ,i wrought—' ' ••"■*■■ Who can win back the wind, Reckon lost music from a broken =. lute, ,■■ . r Renew the redness of last yearns ' i rose, . . v ©r dip the sunken - sunset from the deep ?" '•» . • • As a maiden, Claca Butt was an tig'ly duckling>. Immensely tall, with .skinny arms out of proportion m length, with a mop of defiant coarse ' fcair and a snub nose, she hopped, ' skipped,-,, and jumped, hoyden-like, on to, "the concert stage. But the glory of her voice Winded listeners to all imperfections • jp the singer. Her at- \. tack, her phrasing, her breathing ' were faulty and ignoraint— the penalty of one who never had "the capacity for taking pains." ' And. m spite of all, her glorious voice placed liier m the very topmost niche 'of worldly fame. .Crossley, with, a beautiful contralto oimn, .exquisitely trained, has never, approached the fctep upon, which Clara Butt once stood. How does Mrs Kennerly RumfiqrH' of to-day compare with this till, awkwar-d, plain hoyden of the jprast ? One can best say that •' she is tne; counterpart of her new- name ! The beauty doctors have all Hajd a hand m her making. One has straightened into a bewitching nez , retrousse the snub nose ; another has 'Brushed into the 'semblance -' of a dusky halo the i>: rebellious hair ; a third has massaged,* into roundness ' and rosy beauty the pallid skin' and 'ihih, *long arms ; N an'd^thecorsetiere &hd - have./ managed the lc|est. 'KA chai-mitigly natural, friend-'ff,lf&iMellow-wsll4u(ethob was Clara Butt's/cohcert : !bow ; -" ten' years ago; H.ov/''mSny'^d2a6iwg masters and how " nviriy priV^te* letaarsals" : before Ken-herly-are responsible for ' the elaborate cufctsey of to-day? She has gained a#.'that* the \ world calls good. She '^'W a society' dame, . welcomed Byeryiwhere^ r even ; when* or perhaps because,* slie' is accompanied by her irritatingly :r curled husbaSid and three 1 ■little ; 'cMl'dren. Heji:' nature botir■geJois irY s thought '-and feeling, is apr garentlyV „emlintntly satisfied with it . airV'atid'^she" accepts the deference of ,the mtfny with the- serenity of a -city mayoress! i "■'; ■••■■■■ •-■■_>■■ ■ f'l "fciould ,shed fliqre tears for thee, , : ... peryetsc, nfi'sljed., . ; Than' lor \th'6l.wlj6lfe inglorious.,' throng ' Who/as2' no .flUestippiS, do no/wrong, Desire not", cross nor. crown v but live •The apostles of. the Negative." Does she sometimes, for an instant, the supreme .gift she cast away ?\ Or, just because site was too dull to appreciate it,, have the gods denied her even regret ? JVlelba met with opposition and pain from her very girlhood. Unhappily married, the yery poignaoxcy cf her bitter disappi&intment m one man spurred her on to win the rioher laurels of the admiration of all men. Singularly resolute and talented, difficulties m the way were only so many incentives to Melba to go forward* and conquer. In addition to *he possession of a marvellous natural voice, ftlelba had qualifications iWhich would have ensured her worldprominence quite other than that .Wfhich she achieved. In the/, first BJace, she had beauty— beauty so far as , the curvilinear sweetness of cheek and brow and mouth can give it; and m the second she had- pjbysiqMe. Her face when animated is brilliant (With mind ; and the fire and .the: " blood and the tenderness of womanhood transfigure it. Her portraits are as unlike her , as <it is possible for a likeness to be> She is a ■ wonv an born to rule and formed w pharm : f nd crowed b«ad» tore bow

ed before tier m homage to her personality as well as to her peerless voice. Sho has a masculine strene-th of character, and a contempt for social trivialities that have earned her the hot resentment of little minds. Melba knows of the paltry and nonsensical customs that, forsooth, divide tRe sheep from the goats. She knows that , the mere pronunciation of the word ''girl" proves a stumblingMock to V the unwary social-climber. She is well aware that many betray themselves as they sit m their brougham,, and that others slip as they toy with their pudding or uncover their breakfast eg?. With "a.Gargiantu'aai sense of the ridiculous, and a keen, healthy, bush appreciation of human nature m the rough, Melba despises all such shibboleths. She knows that philosophies .of life built on such divisions have a way of suddenly becoming ludicrous. While Mrs Kennerly Rumford is;, step by step laboriously learning it all, Melba successfully forgets that she ever knew it. In this connection, it is interesting to recall an incident that happened during her Jast visit . to. Australia. It; speaks volumns-forher strength. of mi-mi, ami for lrcr loathing .of sycophancy, She was .pestered by chanityTmongers to: sing for this and that, and at last, l with ill grace, consented ao sing for some; charity. .The concert was. given m. the Sydney Town Hall, and with herj uecal.l some* beautiful ■ flowers were' presented 'to her. When/she returned to the dressing or waiting room, one, of her chief tormentors, a fussy lady;- at that time part-editress of the "Mpomin' Smudge It," came giishingly -towards ' her, and , speaking on behalf of a number of admirers, asked' for. ' "just one rose from the as a -memento of the occasion." S'Here," i burst out' Melba, "take the. .whole, damn ,lot," and with these -words she -threw dowri. her armful;, of .flowers and disappeared, leaving the society writer of good manners gasping for breath. •Melba's voice is t so pblishetl, so cultured, So perfect 1 that no matter how depressed or ill she may be it is, > comparatively x little affected . She sings a . shade less brilliantly, than usual— that is all. 'When Butt is but of form, ljeing an uneducated singer, she commits the unpardonable musical' crime of singing sharp. In her forte 'passage towards the close of Elgar's ."Land of Hope and ' Glory," the distinguished contralto shouted almost a, semi-tone out of tune. Melba, on the contrary, accomplished the most delicate intricacies, 1 the most difficult intervals of tune, m one of her' numibiers— "Soir. Paien' ; — at her last concert. Despite the faot that the star was not at her superb best, her treatment of this Paf?an melody was a triumph of ■ executive art. To the untrained ear, perhaps the most noticeable trait m Melba's voice is its delicious quality of fresh, extqniisite youth. It is, the voice of 'a girl of sixteen, and it issues from her lips w'itih »tWe spark]!jng ease of a rivulet m tlie sun. To the musical expert, hep' art is even more amazing than tlieljeauty of her voice. It is a' profession to listen • intelligently to lier p-hrasirog:,.. and the consideration of her thrill is a career. The Supreme Woman in 'Beauty or m Art is a rare spectacle. Through the long. sweep of the world's' apes the rosary of peerless names is but a little chain of gems. Among a nameless million there have lived a Queen of Saba, a Cleopatra, "a Helen, a Lady Hamilton, and m tliis century, an • Enid— Lady Ghesterfie-ld. And amid that glorious band, a poetess, Sappho— '"^b what strange end hathi sbme strange god made fair . The double blossom of two fruity' yv less flowers," a dancer, Salome— „;.•'., • ■ ' ■ ' 'whose . beautiful , passionate body v neyer v ached with a hear^fc.". and a string of sweet singers are im- . msortalised. ''■'•• " • ■ ' ' ' m Melfe is far from faultless.? It is TJut, ' necessary to recall her indiscretions to realise that. The Due d'Orleans, Haddcrn Chambers (whose wife lamented while lie knelt at .Melba's feet), and Bertram MclCennal— a trio with whose names the great one of Melba was mixed up and discussed over every tea. table m London. It is on record that on one occasion Melba rushed, m late to Waterloo'station. The porter whom , she had engaged bundled her boxes m reckless speed along the platform. ..to the an-^ gry» accompaniment of "Why Don't you hurry ?r-Be quickr-Don't delay" from the. B:iva. The exasperated porter,. Who had only two minutes to register 'and /label the luggage, and saw that the task was impossible, rushed, through the office doorway, and '" returned with a gummed label two feet m: length. '-'.Here," he panted, thrusting it into the hands *of the fuming star,, "you. lick that • for me while I bring up the big box !" Clara Butt 'has never been able to master scholarly music. J "Against stupidity the gods combat themselves m vain," Note the/songs she sang when recalled for her programme numbers?— the unspeakable M My Treasure," about ten little noses and one -little toe, or vice versa, . and another advising the sickening sentiment, "Smile and look pleasant whatever befall !" Melba^ repeatedly recalled, sang only musical songs— for instance, the soundpoem, "Down m the forest," sung as only she could sing it. Then, m answer to the unspoken, yet clamorous request, she came down to her audience with that thin, poor ditty, v "Comin' Through the Rye," which is v stodginess itself. But like the British Constitution and Britain's greatness, it is an heirloom from the pastf and\gains honor it does not deserve when such as Melba sing it. The way m which it was received by the audience is a shocking betrayal of the Sydney standard of musical taste. ' It brought down the greatest enthusiasm, and when, m answer to the" frantic applause, Melba gave an exquisite melody; instead of "Thtrt