THE SESQUICENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23442, 5 March 1938, Page 3

THE SESQUICENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

MUSIC AND "ELIJAH"

Special to the Otago Daily Times By Francis Howard Harris

Dino Borgioli, famous lyric tenor, had begun the season in an unofficial way as far back as January. 12 with a broadcast version of Flotow's opera " Martha," followed a week later with a broadcast rendering of part of Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Borgioli, who delighted Sydney audiences in 1924, has a lyric tenor voice capable of a perfectly controlled sweetness, so that it was almost child's play to him to make a good appearance in " Martha," which is rather sweet and slight in its type in contrast to greater works. No one could quarrel with his singing, but the effort was regarded with no further seriousness than if the artist had been trilling before his bedroom mirror. " Don Giovanni " was a better opportunity, but the music of this long opera was so hacked down to fit a comfortable broadcast session that many listeners do not seem to have recovered from the murder yet. Presumably they were interesting and worthwhile experiments, but they lacked conviction for the musical public. This section of the city—unfortunately a limited circle in Sydney—began to mark time for a real commencement to the celebrations musical season.

The fact that they marked time so diligently accounted for the dismal attendance at the recital on January 27 by the world-famous 'cellist, Lauri Kennedy, and his pianist wife, Dorothy Kennedy. No less a person that the superb conductor Toscanini refused to go ahead with arrangements for his London concerts this May until he could be assured of having Lauri Kennedy to lead the 'cellos. But Australians overlooked this good man's recommendation and left the Kennedys to play with a yet undiminished excellence to an improverished audience. Mr Kennedy believes Brahms greater than Beethoven, a belief that surely helped the players to make so superb a piece of musicianship as they did with the Brahms Opus 99 Sonata. An excuse proffered for this cold support was that the musical season had opened too early in the celebrations enjoyment —an excuse fairly true of Sydney people, who are not ashamed of the estimated fact that, following the Americans, they are second in the world in their expenditure per head on pleasures and luxuries. Dino Borgioli made his public appearance on February 1, and by choosing a hall not too large, managed to have a successful concert, with some semblance of public support. It was left, however, to the dramatised version of Mendelssohn's oratorio " Elijah," presented first by the Royal Philharmonic Society of Sydney on January 29, to provide the first public success for the season. For five nights the Conservatorium was packed. Many patrons went.a second time even as they have done for " Rose Marie " or other film musical successes. The sedate oratorio was given the benefit of the latest developments in stagelighting technique, fine costuming, and was further assisted with ballet sequences prelude made from the more exciting music of "The First Walpurgis Night." This turned it into something very much like an opera. The great surprise was the potency of v the dramatic power of the work once it was thus brought to the surface. Lighting and staging changed through scene after scene with a glibness reminiscent of a vaudeville show, although this was an invaluable aid to a dramatic interest already naturally strong The entertainment was truly worthwhile because of the excellence and innovations of its staging and lighting. The music for the work, of course, besides being inspiring, is most sweet and easy. Here then was a formula that seemed bound for popular success, but it is a fact that the society is still dazed with a . success that gave it a good clearance over heavy expenses. Those famous incidents of Elijah's life, the resurrection of the widow's son, the calling down of fire from Mount Carmel, the invocation of rain during the famine, and the prophet's final disappearance in clouds of fire were taken as key points in the work and provided a thrilling beauty, worked out as they were with so fine a harmony of colour and sound. For the finale magnesium flares near the wings were to help Elijah up to heaven, while his disciples displayed cast-off cloak for the veneration of the audience. The night I watched the trick, something hitched, and, as the smoke cleared, poor Elijah could be seen wrestling desperately with the cloak before he was able to throw it instage and jump off through the wings. Walter Kingsley played Elijah for two nights and the remaining performances were interpreted by Raymond Beatty. The honours surely went to. Godfrey Stirling, known to New Zealanders in Gilbert and Sullivan roles, for his part as Obadiah, the Governor of the King's house, and a secret friend of the prophets. In his fine gold and white robes he made so strikingly graceful a figure that he was the talk of the audience. Moreover, he sang the role with the necessary sympathy and an unfaltering sweetness of tone. THE GAMES END

Records, times and placings of the great athletic events of the week will be known to you. To attempt to describe styles of the victors or to analyse the sparkle, brilliance and thrilling sequences of suspense that attended most of the events would not only be difficult, but probably tiresome It may be better to comI ment on the lessons, learned from this particular Empiad. Of course, it must be noted that Australia's victory in the Games was a victory for its women. Decima Norman took three titles and was the one competitor to reach this great level. Women made up the greater part of the audience at the conclusion of the Games. They burst into a frenzied acclamation for Miss Norman at her 220 yards triumph. Men are equally proud of this clever young star. Official mistakes dogged the Games continually. The first night of the swimming at the luxurious Olympic bathing pool was a holocaust of trouble that caused an unhappy disturbance of public spirit Hundreds of disappointed patrons waved reserved seat tickets as they milled about the gates outside. They were obliged finally to turn away while there were still many vacant seats in the stand. It was typical of an exasperating muddling that set the public in a roar for days. Again, the six miles with its unpleasant alleged fouling of the Trinidad runner Stanford by the South African marathon winner, J. Coleman, had a dangerous aftermath at the conclusion of the Games. Happy-end-ing parties were varied with the efforts.of many athletes who ripped down their living quarters at Empire Village as a final protest against the unfair and uncomfortable treatment they vowed had been given

them there. Now that many of the competitors are on the sea and heading for home, Games officials are wishing they did more to break down the natural segregation of the various teams. Already they have devised many methods whereby the lucky contingents to the next Games will be kept in contact with one another as frequently and perhaps as successfully as guests are at church socials. If this need alone was learnt from the trouble of the Games, one could still smile cheerfully about the future realisation of the marvellous dream that lies behind the character of the Games. It has also been decided in advance that at the next Empire Games there will be film records of evdry finish. Its necessity was proved in an unhappy fashion here when T. P. Lavery's (South Africa) world record for the 120 yards hurdles was disallowed because of a favourable wind and when Roberts (England) was given the decision against Fritz (Canada) in a hair's-breadth finish over the 440 yards. Camera records produced about a week later proved from the evidence of a floating flag that the wind blew cross-

wise across Lavery's course, and from the unmistakable evidence of Fox Movietone prints that Fritz had beaten Roberts to the tape. Judges now agree that they were wrong—but—" too late," they say, and there it must stay.