MUSIC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19275, 12 September 1924, Page 3

MUSIC.

NOTES AND EECOHDS. A brilliii.nl. season of many months of Savoy opera came to an end at the I’rinces Theatre on July 26, and London bade the clever company a prodigious farewell. Gilbert and Sullivan are more popular than over. to Judge by the extraordinary scones. Queues had started to form on Friday morning. Twenty-four hours before the last performance there were 80 persons waiting outside the theatre. On Saturday afternoon the management tool; pity on the queues and allotted tickets. The programme was a secret. The opening was awaited hv a house quivering with excitement. “Trial by Jury ” began the evening. The first har was enough to reveal what was coming to an audience of Sullivan experts. Next came the second act of “ The Pirates of Penzance,” with its comic policemen and its parodies of Verdi. Before the third selection the evening a fantasia on Sullivan’s airs was played, to keep the house in suspense. Then came the second act of “ lolantho —the host treat of the overling for it is full of capital things, including such classics ns the Sentry’s song, the mccupatriotic, “When Britain really ruled the waves.” and the Lord Chancellor s waltz, one of Sullivan’s most, brilliant bits of gaiety. All through the evening _ favourite singers were acclaimed every time t'lej came on the stage, and there was hardly a musical number not, encored. Auer " lolantho ” the singers passed separately across the stage, and the tireless applauders did everyone justice. Mr Rupert D Oyly Carte made a speech, promising a not too long delayed return to London, and hinting at revival then of “Utopia, Limited. The audience refused to depart until they had had a speech from Mr Lvtton,, who came forward to oblige in his dressing gown. . . Eighteen cathedral choirs took part, under Mr Nicholson’s conductorship. in the recent Festival Service at Westminster 4hbev Mr Percy Scholes writes m the Observer: “My various colleagues seem to have heard varied effects, perhaps due to their varying positions in the building. On the organ loft I heard what ■ should describe as a sound, good choral tone, with no striking effects, and a lack ot cither awe inspiring pianissimo oy thrilling fortissimo. The high point in the service was, for me, the fine singing of Wesley’s “In Exitu Israel,” one of the biggest things in choral _ music. It was a "disappointment that I simply could not hear the voice of that huge congregation when its opportunities occurred, but others may possiblv have been more fortunate. Arnold Golclsborongh was the excellent organist.” , The great London schools of music, the principals of which are the Royal Academy and the Royal College, have reached their term’s end, and all have, before closing for the holidays, given demonstrations — opera performances and orchestral and chamber concerts—of the activity and proficicucv of their students. This term’s end has at the R.A.M.. seen the retirement from the directorship of the venerable Sir Alexander MacKcnzie, under whose rule of 36 years that institution ha.s made enormous strides. At the R.C.M. ino student* made a brave show in tho masterly and beautiful new opera of Dr Vaughan Williams—a musician of whom the college is proud, for he worthily carries on tho torch left to him by his own masters there, Payrv and Stanford. Instruction in music is on a very high level in London nowadays (observes tho Daily Mail). Tho ascent within the space of a generation has been onorraous. I Ait d about 1880 tho normal course for an ambitious young musician was to study abroad. The R.A.M. and the R.C.M, have succeeded in rendering that course quite obsolete. A very remarkable proportion of the leading British composers of to-day are ox-students of the R.L.M., and the conducting class there is unique in the world. At the R.A.M tho attention given to ear-training ha.s greatly vitalised instruction in the theory oi music. , r , Behind tho merry playing of a jazz band recently louring London on an omnibus lay a tragedy of unemployment, for which the Ministry of Labour is said to bo responsible. The Musicians’ Union sent the men to play their way through London s traffic to draw attention to the fart that Mr Shaw, the Minister of Labour, unlike his predecessors. has been allowing foreign musicians to land without any consideration for the British players they displace Mr Batten of tho Musicians’ Union, told a Daily Alan reporter; “We are seeking to know whether this Government is really in favour of widespread unemployment, because, if it is, wo shall know exactly where we stand. ibis Ministry ot Labour certainly brings about unemployment quite lightly, unlike its predecessors. Other Ministries have tried not to discourage the employment, ot British musicians, and the last Government did this by stipulating that no foreign band should pay here unless SO per cent, of its n umbo is were British, or that another all-British band was secured in addition “The Comnleto Opera Book, by Gustav Kobbo (Putnam, 15s), is an immense collection of summaries of operatic librettos, designed for the opera-goer who wants a ranici sketch of the plot of the evening. Now and (hen the music is touched on, in the ease of very famous works La i'orzsi del Destine” (Verdi) is called II Forza. Tim author has had an American public in view, but there is an appendix of modern English operas (Ethel Smyth, Holst, Boughton) by Mr F. Bona via. There is no other book of its sort so complete. Wo have just, received from Messrs Ghappell and Co., the well-known English firm of music publishers, a group of four of their latest and most successful ballads. Mr Charles Hackett, during his recent concert tour, included several of these items in his repertoire and made a phenomenal success with “Marcheta, a ballad of Spanish character. Another of his was the Coningsby Clarke song, “Wondering Why, which is proving quite as popular as any of this writer’s previous compositions. Eric Coates the Engish composer, is responsible for No. 3of the group with a song I Heard You Singing,” which should have more than the usual success as a song for teaching, as it is within the scope for student and singer alike. The other dem of much interest is “Love, I Will Find a Home for You,” by John Openshaw, the popular ballad writer. This song looks like being a “big hit,” because of the fact that it is°of the more popular typo. Writing in the August issue of Fhe Gramophone, Mr Compton Mackenzie says that the last four months have been from tho point of view of recording the most noteworthy in tho annals of tho gramophone. Four complete symphonies, three complete works of 'chamber music, the debut of a great vocalist, Mme. Suggia. the debut of a great soprano, Mme. Dal Monte: this is a remarkable list.

Judging by her first record (says a London critic). Mine. Dal Monte is going to bo a great acquisition to the sopranos of the gramophone. Her 11 Mad bcene,’ from Lucia,” must be considered the standard one for all time.