THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 10 July 1890, Page 32

THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Contrlkutions from tho Profession ohronloling their moTomonta &nd doings arc invited. All communications to be addressed to " Pfcsquln," Otago Witness Office.

Owing to Mr H. St. Maur missing the express traiu at Ashburton on Monday, it was found necessary to postpone the fi ret appearance of his company until Wednesday evening. Miss Florence Seymour, Messrs Gerald, Duff, and all the other members of the company reached Dunedin on Monday. As Mr St. Maur was accompanied by Mr D. Christie Murray, they utilised the time at Ashburton by Mr Murray giving a lecture on Monday evening. Wednesday night's performance of " Jim the Penman " was unlortunately too late to be noticed in this column this week.

The Amateur Opera Company afc Auokland, have had to abandon the idea of producing " La Maacotte" as the ladies composing the chorus objected to appearing on the stage in « tights. Benhamo, one of the best circus clowns wno has ever visited the colonies, died at Latrobe, where he was an hotelkeeper, on the 15th ult. Messrs Wirth Bros.' " Wild West Show, which will shortly tour New Zealand, will comprise 70 members, including those of their circus, amongst the number being a fair complement of cowboys, Indians, &c, from, the interior, with all necessary adjuncts. It will take 16,000yd8 of canvas to house the show, whioh will commence its tour at Auckland in September next. " Andromeda " is a Greek tragedy m one act from the pen of Miss Rose Seaton, who also played the title part. This little piece was written in very graceful blank verse, but it is somewhat too long for a one-act play. The story is 'aB follows :— Oleon has married a priestess of Diana, and tbe goddess has pardoned his sacrilege on condition th-rt the daughter born of the marriage shall be dedicated to her service. Oleon has two children, a boy and a girl. The girl, when she attains womanhood, ib taken to a lonely temple, where ahe is immured for lifo. Sha however makes her escape and returns home, not knowing that Diana has decreed that, should she do so, her brother's death will follow. In disguise she has an interview with her father, and learnß the doom that threatens her brother. She goes off to return to the temple, the news comes of her brether's death, and as her father meets her a voioe exclaims, " Behold the murderer of your son I " He plunges the dagger into her heart, only to find, on lifting her veil, that be has Blain his own ohild, upon whioh he stabs himself. . „ . . , Sarah Bernbardt is learning an historical play, "La Dame dv Ohallant," adapted from the Italian. Tbe action passes at Milan in the sixteenth century, when Lombardy waß the battlefield of French and imperial armies. There will be great scope in it for dress. The death is announced at Trieste, at the age of 75, of Guieeppe Buzzelli, who for the extraordinary period of 58 years has been first double bass at the Communal Theatre in that city. He was appointed in 1832, and died practically in harness, as he was taken ill in the orchestra and was carried to his house, where he expired a few hours later. The average singing voice has only 14 notes, and the fact that the youthful Oahforman Sybil Sanderson, in her recent Parisian debit , struck G in alt., four lines above the stave, in a eensational cadenza has created quite a seneation in the musioal world. A Oaliforman authority candidly states : "If Miss SanderBon did this phenomenal feat, she must have merely uttered a ' glorious shriek.' The general range in the soprano voice is D in alt. Mozart, in "The queen of night' aria (' O zithre moht mem'), that ocours in 'TheMagio Flute/ introduces F in alt. j but there is no Gin any Italian opera. The exceptional Maria Jfehoitia Malibran, who could sing Rosina in Rossini's •II Barbiere ' one night, and the Priestess in Bellini's 'Norma' with equal facility and completeness the night following— and of whose larynx it may be said, sb the deacon remarked of the strawberry, doubtless the Almighty might have made a better one for Binging purpoßes, but doubtless the Almighty never did— had a compass which extended from Don the third line in the Lass to Din alt. Fanny Pereiani's voioe embraoed a range of two octaves and a-half, or about 18 notes (from B to F in alt.) Teresa Tietjens ranged from C below tie line to D in alt. Clara Anastasia Novello's voice was two octaves in compass, from D to D. Guilia Grisi, who originally had a mezzosoprano organ, slmost a oontralto, which she had much difficulty in softening, acquired in later years a pure soprano, extending over two octaves, from OtoO in alt. By Bheer industry the stately Jewess Giuditta Pasta extended the range of her voice till it reached that of Persiani's, two octaves and a.half, from A above ,the bass olef to O flat, and even to D in alt. Jenny Lind, who loßt her voice at one time, sustained, when she regained it, a C or D in alt. with unerring intonation and surprising power. Angelioa Catalanis pure Boprano embraced a compass of nearly three octaves, from G holow to F in alt." Another authority says : " Only one singer, Lucrezia Ajugari, at the moment occurs to us who has outdistanced the yonng Oalifornian. Mozart assures us ibat while on a visit to Parma in 1770, he heard Lucrezia Ajugari actually sing three tones higher than Miss Sanderson's famous upper G, while she was able, without difficulty, to trill an E in alt. It her prime, by an effort, •Christine Nilßson could take the upper G. It wa9 the crowning Buccess of her work in ' Die Ziubaiflote.' Yielding to the advice of Rossini, however, she soon desisted from straining her voice, and usually made no attempt to go higher than tbe upper D. Patti at her best dirt not sing higher than F in alt. In one resppct, therefore, Miss Sanderson has surpassed Pfttti. As to the exact range of the American prima donua's voica, we are still in the dark, but that it is extraordinary seems to be admitted. Artistically, of course, the value of high notes is only relative. Style, tone, volume, fooling, are the great vocal qualities. That Iho fair Oalifornian has all these we know from M. Massenet, and having them her voice must ba m f xquHte as it is uniqup." An American Empire Palace of Varieties is to be bnilt in New York City, not far from Broadway, and it is proposed to take thereto from time to time the London Empire ballots and spectacles in block. Captain Bainbridge, formerly of Manchester, is concerned dt eply with this scheme, and is here engaged with fiuaacijra, and presently returns to tbe Staks on this mission. Several big London managers are suid to be " in it." Though clovor in a certain senso, "Nixie," by Mrs Hodgson Bnrnett and Mr Stephen Townesend, is such an unreul play that it Oiwinot possibly nrvtiefy the tsstea of intelligent playgoers. In the first act a young girl, vaguely known throughout as Kitly, elopea from a school in Brussels with a consummate scoundrel uwned Basil Balasys, who has a wifo living. Kitty id as innocent as a baby, and though sbe knows lhat people of opposite sexes who live together ought to be married, in her view it really does not matter when the ceremony takes place. Her guardian, Bryan Lawrence, who loves tor himself, opeDß bet

eyes, and she consents to marry him when Basil deserts her, Ten years hence Kitty is as simple-minded as ever, but has an extraordinary child of eight who reads the papers and discusses social questions with her father, tells her mother when to go to bed, mends the linen, and fastens up the houße. It is rather inconsistent that this wonderful specimen of infantile humanity assists a burglar in his vocations; and, in fact, the episode of 11 Editha's Burglar " is dragged in by the heels, and tha last act, in whioh Basil, after trying to make Kitty elope once more with the assistance of the burglar, is permitted to depart unscathed by the husband, is absurdly artificial. The New York Dramatic Mirror may be justly proud of the idea of introducing the air "Tha Star Spangled Banner," to our more familiar acquaintance by having it played at all the theatres at the close of the entertainment. It has caught the ear and heart of the audiences, and will doubtless grow in popularity as time goes on. The effect is inspiriting. . Yet another play with a ohild heroine. 1 suppose it was natural that Mrs Beringer Bhould seek to follow up the success of her gifted daughter Vera in "Little Lord Fauntleroy," but the adaptation of Mark Twain's Btory " The Prince and the Pauper " is an unsatisfactory piece of work. The main idea is whimsical enough. A lad in humble life cruelly ill treated by his father is befriended by Prince Edward, son of Henry VIII, and for the sake of curiosity— the two bear a remarkable resemblance to each other— exohange clothes, nnd each impersonates the other for a while. The misunderstandings to which these disguises lead form the most important part of the play. A ourious but apparently a lucrative profession was that of Ferdinand Fournier, who died recently in Paris. Fournier was one of the best known leaders of the claque in the Parisian theatres, directing the applause at the Opara, the Odeon, the Bouffees Parisiens, the Ambigu, and the Foiles Dramatiques. From the manager of each of those he received a considerable stipend, in addition to whioh, as ia customary in France, he had the privilege of purchasing a large quantity of tickets at half price, from the sale of whioh he usually realised a handsome profit. It may be supposed also that so important a personage was the reoipientj of| many " little presents " on the part of actors and actresses, all eager that their exits and entrances should be marked with applause. The fact that he died worth I.OOO.OQOf r suggests strange reflections. Perhaps it is more dignified to be a stern critic, inaccessible to bribes ; but no oritio of the nil admirin school ever accumulated a fortune of £40,000. Mr Thomas Martin, stage manager at the Canterbury Musio Hall, Birmingham, has died recently from the effects of an assault made upon him by a gang of roughß. It appears that Mr Martin was about to enter the hall at midday when some loungers accosted him and asked for passes. He declined to give any, and they followed him into the lobby. With the assistance of a barman he attempted to eject them, but was knooked down and kicked on the head. Shortly after being removed to his home be beoatne insensible, and died on April 4 from conoussion of the brain.