MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 73

MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS.

When Strauss conducts his own works one instinctively thinks more of their dramatic import than of anything else. This is partly due (says a World critic) to his stjle: he himself de\otes his main attention to the "characteristic," as he himself calls it, in a performance, and is especially anxious that the dramatic significance of his themes should b& clear ; and he insists on contrasts more than anyone else — otten to< the detriment of beauty. — David Braham, composer of popular music, died at New York on April 11, after an illness of several months. It was in the early seventies that Mr Braham joined Harrigan and Hart at the old Theatre Cbmique, and not long after he was hailed as the most successful composer of popular music in the United States. His melodies were sung and whistled from the battery .to the Golden Gate. A few of Mr Braharn's songs which attained the greatest jiopulaxity were "Maggie Murphy s home," "TheMulligan Guards," "Paddy Duffy's cart, and "Dad's Dinner Paii." The words of nearly all Mr Braham's songs were written by Mr Edward Harrigan. The composer leaves a widow, two sons, and three married daughters. Until he fell ill Mr Braham -was the leader of the orchestra at a local theatre. — Miss Marie Tempest, at the recent concert at the Cecil in aid of the Holborn Deanery Association, made her first appearance for two years on a concert platform. Her chief ambition in life has always been to sing in grand opera, but when her quarrel with Mr George Edwardes caused her to shake = the dust of light opera from her feet and take to comedienne parts, she said she felt sb& had wasted five years of her life. Although she also plays ' delightfully, ' she gave up strenuous study of the piano oq the advice of the veteran Manuel Garcia, who taught her to sing. Garcia, by the way, when Marie Tempest first appeared before him, gave her anything but a cordial reception. Newly arrived from Paris, she presented herself to him in an exquisitely fitting princess frock, and sang several selections with great confidence. At the end 'the master quietly asked her to "go home and take off that dress" and come back with a normal waist if she ever meant to learn to sin>g. — To. the "Miniature Series of Musicians' (says -a writer in T.P.s Weekly) have just been added Chopin and Schumann, by Mr Ern&st J. Oldmeadow. The life of Chopin, _, as Mr Oldmeadow points out, has "become a bear-garden of angry biographers." He continues : "Thus we have it, on the honour of ever so many scholars and gentlemen on both sides, that Chopin was manly and effeminate ; , that he knew very little of counterpoint and very much of it; that he was brave and a coward ; that he was a saint and a libertine; that a Prince defrayed the costs of his tour in Italy, a country which h& never visited in his life; that his music meant everything and meant nothing." Into these controversies, so foolish and so sordid, the present biographer does not enter, except where it is absolutely neoessary. He rather contents himself with a. brief and well-balanced biography and a sane appreciation of his music— that brilliant pianoforte music -which has giv&n nevr life to modern work. Schumann was a man of a different type, yet he, after many mistakes and curious blunderingjs, achieved greatness, a greatness which even thp splendour of Chopin's accomplishment in the same medium cannot overshadow. And when it came to orchestration, Schumann was far ahead of Chopin. Who that has. heard the magnificent overture- to "Manfred" can doubt his mastery of tho most subtle and sirring dramatic effects? And he was fortunate in the wife who survived him for many years to proclaim his greatness and venerate his memory. A CHINESE MUSICAL CRITIC. (From the Canton Ling Nam Vat Pao.) _ On the 11th insfc. at 9.15 p.m.. the eele T

treated German piano virtuoso, Friedenthal San, gave a concert at the house of the Deputy Commissioner-General, Mr Rocker, in which all the rooms were filled with the luxury of the Occident. It was a marvellous clear night; the moon sparkled on the sky like a looking-glass. Absolute quietude reigned in Nature, and the spectators also listened with silence when the charming music began. Now it sounded like the murmuring of water Slowing over stones, now liko the whispering of the chryptomerias softly moved by the zephyrs ; and his loud playing resembled the thunder of the waves in the ocean. Now the player was sitting at his instrument as quiet as- the tops of the mountains, now he developed a liveliness and vigour of playing like the players in Yung-Len. His soft and sweet playing formed a heavy contrast to tbe_ illfamed music at the borders 'of the River ITu. Friedenthal Slan possesses the talent of Chungi. who, as is known, was able to play everything. He plays like Shih Kuang, who. on his queer instrument, knew how to call forth the songs of the nightingale. At the. concert all the diplomats, consuls, deputies, officials, and the merchants of Shamseeu, with their families, were pre- ' sent, so that the vast halls were completely filled. All held in their hands a paper,/" in which they read what Friedenthal San was going to play, ju=t as in the European hotel the gu?sfcs read a paper to see what they are a r oin£>- to oat. After every piece they heat loudly with their hands, produc- ' ing p loud noise, and so they gavo the celebrated artist to understand what pleasure they enjoyed with his music: but I thought this noise was rafher a bitter contrast to the beautiful music which preceded it. I I. the humble writer of these Imos and editor of the Ling Nam Vat Pao. was also invited by the. Consul of virtuous Germany. I and stayed in the saloons until the end of the ootwrfc Just as Chenlein unclfiatood fiow to lead the people in moral ways -through his muf-ic, so was T prevented from doing anything wrong that night.

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