MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2647, 7 December 1904, Page 77

MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS.

— President Loubefc has a passion for music. He has composed several oratorios, and plays delightfully on the piano. — For some engagements Patti, while in the zenith of her fame, received as much as £1000 a night. In the opera of "Semiramide" it was computed that she was paid at the rate of Is 9d for every not© that she sang. — Miss May Harrison, the latest youthful violinist, to appear in public in London, i 3 not yefc 14- years old. At the age of ten she obtained full marks over 3000 competitors in the senior grade local examination of the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, and was awarded the gold medal and: an exhibition for violin playing at the Royal College of Music- Miss Harrison is a good pianist and linguist, and she has received her musical education entirely in England." — Miss' Ada Crossley, the well-known contralto singer, starts each day with a spell of gymnastics on the 'Danish system. She then goes for a canter on Hanipstead 1 Heath, being of opinion, as one Australian born, that "horse-riding is the favourite recreation* of all true Australians." Her ac--coinpanist next attends her, and she tries ""ovSJ^-^g? 0 Qf the 400 or 500 eongs that are in n^lTYtePtrtoire. At the conclusion of the London seasss=^J^Orp^sley takes a month's holiday, and fronl^t&ai^il^ tne , end of February has practically '"no Eomev"^ but, in fulfilling her engagements, "lives in the train." — Many English people (says the Manchester Guardian) will be glad to know what King Edward VII thinks' of that musical composition, "Hiawatha," which has monopolised the attention of the organ grinders for some time. The London correspondent of a Canadian paper recounts I the incident. It appears that at Goodwood; some nigger minstrels played "Bedelia," and that the Queen applauded the performance gently, while the King smiled. So far, so goad ; we are not much wiser. as to what j ihe Bang thought. Then they played and sang some American comic at which J the King said to the Queen (who told the correspondent apparently) that the Americans must be a long-suffering p.eople. Un- j happily the niggers did not hear this, and i they continued hopefully on, ohoosing "Hia- 1 watha" to follow the comic ditty. At once the King turned, and, with a flush of anger, said, ''Will nobody tell those fellows to stop?" | J. F. Runciman, writes as follows in the Saturday Review: — Mr Marc A. Blumenberg, editor of the Musical Courier of New York, recently treated his readers to an nrtiele on the earnings of musical artistes ] in Europe and y in America^ .His main object apparently was to demonstrate that America is extensively exploited by Euro- j pean artistes, and some of the figures he quotes are- a little startling. Melba, he says, gets at Covent Garden £120 per .night, and in New Yorlr she asks £300 — this is { Mr Blumenberg's way of phrasing it, and I cannot tell whether Melba gets what she asks. Calve gets £120 at Covent Garden and £350 at New York; Lehmanu gets £50 in Germany and £120 in America. Now, I should like to know what proportions of these sums are really paid. The vanity of opera singers is really colossal, and on no point are they more touchy thsn about their salaries. Astute managers found out long ago that at heart they care less for the actual money than for thereputation of gaining huge sums ; and the double agreement was invented. One form is the genuine document, and the real amoimt to be paid is mentioned ; the other is a bogus thing- which the proud possessor can flourish before his friends and show to newspaper interviewers, and on it the sum is nobly magnified. How much, do Melba, Calve, and Lehmann l-cally get in hard ca»-h when they honour America with their visits? I don't know, but wliale I am fairly sure they do not get the amounts reported in the newspapers, without dotibt it is something considerable. — else they would not be so »ager to go back again Mr Blumenberg- refers to a violinist who. as the fruits of a brief tour, carried off

45,000 francs, and a. pianist- who played at Nuremberg for £12 10s, and then asked £2000 for a series of 40 recitals in America.