CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11397, 14 April 1899, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The musical soul of Herr Benno Soherek ft

grievously vexed at the unPDBLIO usually low level of the public TASTE taste in ballads as compared is music, with tho.hightt taste in poetry,

fiction, and general literature. This phenomenon has an undoubted 'existence. No one can question the absolute truth of Mr Seherek's assertion that" a person who would not dare to recite the words of an ordinary typical ballad to a room full of people, as. a specimen of poetry, has no hesitation in getting up and singing the same . banalities and inanities to the accompaniment of music, which (Mr Scherek declares) is intellectually on the same level. The question as to. whether the music is actually on the same level with the words is, however, arguable. Mr Scherek goe. the length .of saying when the words of a song are. rub-; bisli, it is impossible thio the music should be anything else but rubbish also. That is surely an, unsupportable statement. There is much effectively written, music which, is Bet to Words of the most inane character, _ It is music which may not appeal to the critical ear of Mr. Scherek, but., it certainly, gives pleasure to people who, without having strictly classical tastes in music, are yet people of refinement. The tact remains that, .whether or, not the music be worthless, the words are feeble and banal, 'and in either event the greedy reception of t,he songs implies, a certain reflection upon the public who listen to them. Upon the principal cause of the. wide currency which such songs obtain Mr Scherek unmistakably puts his finger when he says that the practice which prevails among English music publishers of paying popular singers to sing certain songs, irrespective of the musical merits of such songs,.has the effect, undoubtedly, of ,forcing the sale:.of the compositions, thus brought under, public notice. This, system of'singing for royaltiea 13' widespread in England, and even an artist like Mr Santley aoes no; hesitate to fall in with jB custom by which he earns very large fees, will the leading vocalists do the same, and'the1 young amateurs in the audience run to bivy the songswhich have received the imprimatur of the stars of the concert platform. As a consequence of this, the critical faculties .of music lovers'are allowed to rust in/ disuse, arid they accept without question compositions which, under other circumstances, they might discover to be 'artistically valueless. Another faot which Mr Scherek cites as undoubtedly lowering the general leveljof; musical achievments is the great and general tendency among artists of all kinda to produce, pot-boilers. Mr Scherek, however, while U'e menting the low level of the public taste in ballads, agrees that one must have, catholic tastes, and he makes the common sense admission that/as long as the production" is sound and good of its class he can enjoy-it, even though the class bo not a high one. ' The problem of why a certain piece of muaio should be popular and another* of apparently equal value unknown has,, however,'■ never been solved. Popularity is a strange- thing,' in proof of which Mr Seherek gives an illustration that almost amounts to. heresy: — "There is a piece called 'The Maiden'a Prayer/ for instance, which v?as,popular 50 years ago, and is still being constantly r'epublishccb ft has every demerit from a musician's point of view, and no merit whatsoever, but it is very popular." ' ' ' . •

There are not many people's love letters that

will bear publication.. Those ' the that are occasionally unearthed bbowning in the Divorce Court,' where hoitance. the reading of them is punc-'

lualed unfeeling laughter,' are emphatically o£ the kind that should be left under lock and, key. To publish them is merely to cast ridicule on tha.wriiera. Tho love letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett furnish ,tl>e exception- to. the general rule of the unsuilability of literature bf # lhat class for publication.' Even among these letters there are mauy features'-which restrict the value entirely to the writers; but there is a great deal to interest the general reader, including the disclosure that Browning's twin soul herself had (to .use her own words) occasionally, in reading his letters, "to leap at the meaning rather than reach it." That will be comforting to members of the Browning Club. When it was announced that the Brownings had left England as. man and wife Wordsworth, then Laureate', remarked: "So Robert' Browning and Elizabeth Barrett have gone off together! Well, I hope they may understand eacii other — nobody else could!" A perusal of theii love letters helps one (the Argus reviewer remarks) to realise how it was the Brownings did understand each other, and, at the same time, exalts one's conception of the two, not merely as great talents, but as man and woman. Another interesting revelation furnished by tho correspondence relates, to the origin of the acquaintance between, tho Brownings. Robert Browning had been reading "Lady Goraldine's Courtship;" and on the 10th of January, 184-5, he, quite on his own prompting, wrote a short letter to Miss Barrett expressive of his hearty appreciation, of her verses, and mentioned incidentally that once he " was not very far from seeing—really seeing you." This spontaneous expression of his sympathy brought by return of post a grateful acknowledgment from the lady; and from that moment letters were exchanged between these twin souls almost daily for the next twenty months. Every one of those epistles ws>. preserved by Browning, who, upon his wife's death, arranged them in consecutive order, and numbered ,them with his own hand. Just previous to his death the poet gave them into the charge of his son to "do with them as you please when I am dead and gone." It is the exercise by tho son of that privilege that has now afforded to the world the perusal of two volumes comprising over eleven hundred pages of closely-packed love letters, models for the outpourings of loverc of the' future. Browning and Miss Barrett, as wo have said, liad never met before 1845. Miss Barrett, as a matter of fact, never saw anybody. An accident to the spine when she was fifteen, aggravated some years later by shock at the news of her favourite brother's mysterious death, had compelled her for years to observe a recumbent position. Even at tho time this correspondence opened it appears that when she desired to move some member of the family, circle was obliged to carry tho invalid. For this reason she was still obliged to resist Browning's dosiro to meet her. In a letter in these volumes she pleads:—"lf my poetry is worth anything to any eye it is the flower of mo. . . . The rest of me is nothing but a root fit for the ground and the'dark." On thu 20lh May, 184-5, they first met, and thereafter they mot frequently. On the 27th September following Miss Barrett yielded to Browning's pressing suit, and twelve months later, less fifteen days, they wcro clandestinely married. Bi owning returned to his own home with the certificate,and she to her father's, with tho wedding ring in her pocket. Letters passed

between them, as usual, for another wool; ■vhile arrangements worn made for the elopement to Italy. Tho 19tli of September, the

reputed Miss' Barrett writes that the " Boxes are safely sent." and she wonders "is this my last letter to you, ovo, dearorilV Oh—if [ loved you less ... a little less, littlo less." As a mullet of fact, that was the .ast lottor she did evei write him. Tho following day the married couple eloped to Paris and were never again separated.

The amount presented to the Minister for Lands at Wellington on Monday night was nearly £1100, and a few lists have yet to coino in.

The case M'Phee v. Wright, Stepiieiison, and Co., v claim for £370 on a contract for tho siik of 1240 sacks of oats, again came before tlie Supreme Court yesterday. This ease occupied the attention of his Honor ill Justice Pcnnefatlier fo. llireu days in December last. u:ul was then adjourned unlit the February sittings, as il was not possible to finish it at that time, When tho adjournment look place liis Honor indicated that, in bis opinion, the oats should bo sold, as there was ovidenco that they were depreciating from being kept in store, and there was a- prospect of further depreciation. The suggestion made by tho court was not acted updn, and tho result must bo,'as counsel stated yesterday, that, whichever side loses, will now lose more heavily than would have been tho easo had the oats been sold in December, there having been a fall in price since then. A great deal of expert evidence,, much of it of an intricate and technical character,was given,the defence being that the oaj* supplied were not up to san.pie, and were 'therefore properly rejected. Only one witnosc was examined yesterday, Mr J. B. Moodio being under examination for nearly iivo hours. The hearing of tho case will bo resumed at 10 o'clock this (Friday) morning.

The Trawling Company, which has been in course of formation for some little time past, hat been successfully iloated.

rsish:m Ycrclon left foi Europe in tho Tarawera yesterday. It is understood that he will be absent for twelve months, but the period will bb governed to some extent by tho length of time he will hare to remain in Rome before he gains an audience with tho Pope.

' In connection with tno destruction by fire of the Bttlclutha gasworks, thero is a probu-. bility of an arrangement being arrived at to light the town by acetylene gas. Proposals have been submitted to the Borough Council by the Acetylene Gns Company to carry out an experiment with the present plant, each parly bearing a proportion of the cost.

.The centenary of the Church Missionary Society is now being celebrated in the United Kingdom, and the colonies. The patron is tlio Queen, iho vice-patron the Archbishop of Canterbury! Some idea of the magnitude of the scale oi its operations may be gathered from.the fact that last year it employed 7193 agents, lay and clerical, of whom 251- are lady missionaries. Tlio income for tlio year was £331,598. Tins society has greatly helped the Maori missions of the North Island, and, in conjunction with the Home body and its foreign branches, a special celebration of the Holy Communion was held at St. Paul's Cathedral yesterday, when Bishop Nevill was the celebrant. An address was given by the Rev. W. Ivens, M.A., of the Melanesian mission, and a fairly good congregation was present. The offertory was in aid of the Maori mission, Nbrth Island. The Rev. Mr Ivens will preach at the cathedral on Sunday evening next, on behalf of the Melanesian mission.

■The Dunedin Presbytery met again in private last evening, when the petition from some members of the North Dunedin Presbyterian Church was again under consideration. The Rev. Mr M'lntyro was heard in reply to the statements made in the petition. Further consideration of the matter was adjourned until Tuesday morning.

A Tapanui correspondent telegraphs:— "Upwards of half of the land offered,.forming part of the Brooksdalo estate was sold, and the balance unsold is under offer privately."

The Tablet announces that the Very Rev. Dean Maekay has been appointed Administrator of the Diocese of Dunedin during the absence of the Right Rev. Dr Verdon. The fallowing clerical changes have taken place in the Dioce3o of Dunedin: Rev. Father M'Gratlr (Invercargill) goes .this..week ...to. Gore, his place in Invercargill being taken; by the Rev. Father ODea, who, up to the present, has been assistant.priest to the Rev. Father O'Donnell at Gore.

Captains Johnson, Kennedy, Wheeler, and Cook have,says the Wellington correspondent of tho Lyttelton Times, made experiments with a new lamp and light of extraordinary brilliancy just imported by Captain Martin from Norway The captains say that the new light Is specially adapted for such harbours as tho Manakau, and would remove and difficulty in navigating its tortuous channel even in the darkest and most foggy night.

A Zeehan telegram to the Argus gives particulars of a terrible accident on the Emu Bay Railway Company's works at Pieman River, resulting in the death of three men, named Robert Wighton, Robert O'Rourke, and John Larson, and in severe injury to Charles Anderson, who subsequently also died. A temporary bridge which had just ljeen constructed over the Pieman River was being tested with 40 tons of iron rails. The central part of the bridge, hanging over the middle of the river, was swinging on wire ropes—four on each side—the ropes being fastened to stays with cleets. It is stated that the four men wero on the swinging part of the bridge, moving tho rails, when it collapsed, and they all fell- into the river, about 40ft below. When taken out of the water from underneath the rails AVighton and O'Rourke died. Larson, who was conveyed to the hotel close by, died in a few hours. Anderson was conveyed to the Waratah Hospital by railway. It is reported that one man was iilmost cut in half, and that another had his brains dashed out.

It was discovered, on the death in Melbourne of Mr Jame3 Seves Hosie, a Melbourne restaurant keeper, that in 1889, in grateful recognition of his "successful treatment for a dangerous disease in the Homoeopathic Hospital, he built and equipped a wing to that institution at a cost of £9760, on condition that his name should not be divulged. On his deathbed he removed the condition. Mr Hosie was for many years very successful in business iii ' very unpretentious buildings. Ho the'h built a more extensive establishment, and also the Turkish baths and the Baths Hot-el, following this up with the Bijou Theatre. AVhen the boom burst he fared badly, and had to resume his old business.

The South American Evangelical Mission, whose headquarters are in Toronto, Canada, have lately established an Australasian Council' in Melbourne (Rev. W. Y. Blackwell, secretary), and under their auspices four young missionaries expect to leave for Buenos Ayres by the s.s. Kaikoura on the 22nd inst. They, have all received training in the Rev. \Y. L. Morton's Home at Belair, near Adelaide. They are, however, all from the province of Otago. A farewell meeting to wisli them Godspeed will be held in the Choral Hall this evening. Mr OJharles Reeve just arrived from India, will also be present, and address the meeting.

Jn a report furnished to the North Canterbury Board of Education by the Normal School Committee was a paragraph referring to religious instruction. The committee, whoso report was adopted, stated that as the scheme arranged for giving religious instruction at the school (out of school hours) had largely broken ,'Jown, the principal's recommendation to set free at 3.30 p.m. those children only who wished to attend the remaining class had been approved. Except in the case of one denomination, the facilities placed at the disposal of the several clergymen for the purpose of giving religious instruction had not been taken, advantage of for any length of time.

The Rev. P. W. Fairelough arrived by the 3.\pre.=s train from the norlh lost evening, and was met and welcomed by some of the officers of Trinity Wesleyan Church.

.At the Victoria band contest, hold in Melbourne, the drill contest resulted in the first prize of £50 being secured by St. .Joseph's Hand, Launecston, with 133 points. The second prize (£2O) was won by tlio South .Australian Lucomolive Hand with 152 points; and'the third prize (£10) was won hy theLaunceston City Band with 126 points. Code's Melbourne Band was fourth witli 125 points. Keen interest was taken in the test competition work. The judges awarded the prizes as follows:—Code's Melbourne Band, 90 points, 1; Newcastle (N.S.W.), Si point?, 2: Newtown (N.S.W.), 85 points, i; City of Lnunceslou, 81, 4. The otiici bnndu scored as follows:—3t. -Joseph's (Lr-.iikts;oii) 80 points. Lord Nelson and St. Arii/im' TO, Souili Australia!) Locomotive and Eaglchawk 79. Keehan (Tasmania) 76.

Tho Premier lias replied to a protost from the North Canterbury Methodist Preachers' Association against the action of tho House in having the Journal signed on a Sunday morning, at the close of tho last session, and aU't against the action of tho Cabinet in holding meetings on tho Sabbath Day for the ti'atmuaion of public business, in his reply, Mr Snddou says:—"lf tho allegation is correct, I might be permitted to point out that llicto is Biblical authority for the digging out of an ox oi an iws On the Sabbath. Whothoi' Mr Speaker or the Clerk of the House signed the Journal, as alleged, I cannot say, but if so, I presume it would lie considered by them us a work of necessity, and would not vary much from signing and writing letters, a not infrequent tiling for clergymen to do. I sincerely hope and trust, both'in the interests or the duo observance of the Sabbath, and for tho sake or the sovonth day's rest, that all persons may keep from labour on the Lord's Day. It is only under unavoidable circumstances that Ministers meet to discuss mutters of State on other than week days, and I should feel obliged if your association would impress upon members to be a littlo more considerate during tho sitting days of the House, and not deputationise and occupy tho tiino of Ministers during the other week days."

Members of the Seamen's Union arc requested to attend tho funeral of their late comrade, Robert Jolmatonc.

Messrs Wright, Stephenson, and Co. will sell on Thursday next, at Green Island Bush, dairy dows, horses, cart, implements, etc.

A sitting of tho Assessment Court for the Borough of Green Island will be held on Tuesday, 25th inst.

Entries for the local examinations in music held by tho Associated Board of the Hoyal Academy of Music and tho Royal College of Music must be mude by noon on Wednesday next.

sohn Hislop, oldest established Watchmaker and Jowellor, 74 Princes street. Good assortment Watches, Clocks,, and Jewellery. Spectacles suit all sights.—A<Jvt. G-. and T. Yodnq, Jowellers, Princes street, are making a special display of goods suitable for Wedding and Birthday Presents, and offer exceptional vahie. Hepairing and manufacturing by skilled workmen.—Advt. Carter and Co. have just landed ex Papanui their third shipment new drapery. Grand variety; lowest prices. Try Carter and Co.— Adyt.

M-o-s-t B-e-1-i-a-b-l-ol For punctual time try Peter Dick, Watchmaker and Jeweller, opposite Coffee Palace, Moray place, Dunedin. Charges strictly moderate.—Advt.