MUSIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23353, 19 November 1937, Page 17

MUSIC

NOTES AND RECORDS

By Allegro

A. hitherto unpublished letter by Wagner appears in the course of an article by Frederic Hirth in the “ Revue Musicale.” The letter, dated Paris, March 13, 1841, was written to Laube in Leipzig. It begins: “ I am sending you a selection of the latest French plays. I got Heine to give me the money to buy them.” So Wagner, says the writer of the article, was getting money from Heine. And something Heine had already given Wagner was more than money; it was the subject of "The Flying Dutchman.’’ Wagner forgot this obligation when he wrote “ Mein Leben,” but he had acknowledged it freely in earlier years. There is a letter to Ferdinand Home in which he says: "The subject of * The Flying Dutchman ’ was given me by your homonym Heine.” And in the “ Autobiographical Sketch ” of 1843 he says: “In Heine’s truly dramatic treatment of the redemption of this Ahasuerus of the sea I found all I wanted to make of the s&ga an opera subject. I came to an understanding in the matter with Heine himself.” What is less wellknown is that Wagner also owed the subject of “ Tannhauser ’’ to Heine. Guido Adler, at least, is positive, saying: “ Heine’s ‘ Legend of Tannhauser ’ of 1838 must have given Wagner the suggestion ” —though other sources contributed. As for Wagner’s anti-semitism, the article continues, he could in 1840 write to Schumann: “Do not pitch into Meyerbeer so vigorously! I have that man to thank for everything.” And the next year he was ardently defending Heine in an article in the Dresden “ Abendzeitung,” saying: “ No one has the right to attack Heine, who is only run down by German university professors and German officers. A Heine has no need to take into account the judgment of those people.” Wagner’s anti-semitism was a later growth. In “ Judaism in Music ” (1850) he calls Heine’s verses “ rhymed lies ” and in “ Mein Leben ” he complacently counts himself among “ the very small number of Germans ” who have not read Heine’s “Romancero.” That does not alter the fact that 10 years before he had been borrowing money and opera subjects from him. Another point is that Wagner not only set Heine’s “ Two Grenadiers ” to music (in a French translation), but also dedicated the song to the poet—an indication of a relationship which he was later on to forget or to ignore. The choice of music for the test pieces at brass bands competitions is a matter of some concern. The test piece this year at the National Brass Bands’ Festival in Alexandra Palace, London, was Herbert Howells’s suite, " Pageantry," a work he was commissioned to write for the Belle Vue (Manchester) contest of 1934. There are three movements —“King’s Herald,” “Cortege” and "Jousts.” The first of these was included in the Coronation Day music at Westminster Abbey in an orchestral version Mr Howells made for the occasion. “The Letters of Mozart and His Family ” is to be issued shortly in three volumes, translated and edited by Emily Anderson, All the known letters of Mozart will be included, and also long extracts from those of his father, mother, sister and wife. Miss Anderson has based her work on Schiedermair’s edition of 1914, but since that was published some new Mozart letters have come to light, and also the originals have been discovered of many letters which had been known only in abridged versions. Miss Anderson is furthermore including a selection from the hitherto unpublished letters from Mozart’s widow to J. J. Andre, the publisher. All Mozart’s own letters will be printed in full, in some cases for the first time, and all have been checked either by the autographs or, where the autographs have disappeared, by the earliest existing copy. Writing from Venice regarding the Festival of Contemporary Music recently concluded there, Ferrucio Bonavia says that the contemporary concerts were supplemented by an evening of ancient music, unknown to most of those present, which turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of the week. Venetian musical life appears, Mr Bonavia writes, like much else in present-day Italy, to be changing. The famous Fenice Theatre, once a great stronghold of opera, has now been closed for three years and more; the best known Venetian composer of the day, Malipiero, no longer writes for the theatre; and audiences which once hotly debated the merits of Rossini and Verdi now discuss as hotly Stravinsky and Markevitch. No doubt economic conditions are largely responsible for the change, but of the singers heard in the course of the week only one, Inghilleri, had a voice suited for the labours of opera. The others. Ginevra Vivante and Alba Anzellotti, had voices of distinct charm which opera, with its insistence on dramatic emphasis, must inevitably coarsen. In these circumstances the interest taken in the old Venetian school is a good omen. One’s only regret was that no place was found in the programmes for the greatest of the Venetian artists. Benedetto Marcello.

The old Venetian music, Mr Bonavia continues, was a revelation comparable in effect only with that produced some years ago at Cambridge by old English church music of now forgotten > composers. This art may not be for the general public, but anyone whose tastes are neither biassed nor vitiated cannot help being profoundly impressed by the sincerity of men who used blunt tools with incomparable skill and finesse. Theirs was an age of faith and it is faith that glows in such works as the “ Passio Sacra ” of Francesco d’Ana and in the choruses written by Andrea Gabrieli for the “ CEdipus Rex ” of Sophocles. Two madrigals by Monteverdi, a frottola by Michele Presenti, and a gagliarda by Baldassare Donato completed a delightful programme of choral music which was admirably sung by the chorus of Trieste municipal employees. The programme for the Returned Soldiers’ Choir concert on Monday is a varied one and includes supporting items of equal variety. There will be harp solos by Evelyn Hosken; duo for harp and violin with Rees McConnachy as violinist; trio for harp, violin and piano with Sybil Baker as pianist; a cornet solo by George Christie, and a soprano solo by Ray Stubbs. The choir soloists will be R. Duerdon and W. Mayfield, while included in the choir numbers are the cantata “King Olaf’s Christmas” (Buck), “Dedication” (Franz), “The Blacksmith ” (Brahms) and other part songs, the “Anvil Chorus ” (Verdi) and “ The Lord High Executioner ” —solo and chorus—from “ The Mikado.”