MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 97

MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS.

— Mdlle Mignon Nevada^ the daughter ', of Madame Emma- Ne jsudfca r a&d Dr Palmer, ! is making a most au^newms 'debut in'lUly'; ! She is engaged at the Oastanizi' Theatre* m*' Borne, for four special $$.r performance,^ of "The Barber of Seville,? in the p&tt of- ' Rosina. It is not vetfy ' long since her . mother, Madame. Emmie. -Nevada,' p&rifpiitt ; Rome at the same theafre, in the same " opera, and" under the "same "chef d'orcheatre, M. Rugnone, Miss Nevada Palmer has not only got a most beautiful soprano voice,.; but she is pretty and charming, with delight- \ ful manners. - Jh" —Mr Merk Hambourg.) ; ;fche famptis pianist, who .has ; jost Teturnjed after a six-weeks' engagement oin .America, and whose sister ha® created' a mild., society sensation by marrying.? •M* Reginald G. Coke, son of the Hpn- Henry and I*aay-> Katherine Coke, in Chicago, has had many amusing experiences during his tpuir. " Oner j night he gave a concert in » town very~i far out West where highway robbery had j become fashionable. Two peaceful citizensjj were '''held up" and robbed of the contents.* of their-' pockets, among which, were "tjrajsS ticket* -for Mr Hambourg's concert, that] night \\ While the, concert was goinjsJ.on.Jt 1 note arrived for .Mr. Hambourg, in wmdh r | the robbers returned tbe. -ticket*, ' "asius/j regretting that they were unable to make ttse of them." * ' • j X - QUEER? MUSICIAN. , | As a composer oMonerias and of serious , orchestral" music, Jean P6fllippe*-Kamea,u.j is probably forgotten in "Lngland, .but.thejre, t are few /students ' of the piano md, fiadle who are not familiar with his minor^ pieces and have not at one tiWe 'or oj,her .played some of his soft and ! half-c.aress.ing' Berceuses. Rameau's pieces had -a* good deal of gentle 6uavity, but a less gentle or suave . personality than the musician who .composed i them it would be impossible to find. He?-. was a man, in fact, who died unknown even by his nearest and dearest. Most j people hated him, but even they hardly 1 knew what they were hating, save a harsh ] manner >and an unbreakable and haughty j reticence.: Rameau was very tall, and so : alarmingly thin that Grimm described him as "more like a ghost than a man." — Loneliness and Generosity. — Report at all" times credited him with being hard, violent, avaricious; but, as a matter of fact, he seems, more than anything the, to have been a man who had no need of companionship, intimacies, affection —a man who wanted, pcacticaUafc from his fellow-beings except id~T}6~ left alone by; them. He had- sufficient in ms head to" occupy the hours o* one brief lifetime. As regards the charge of meanness, it seems unjustified. Many struggling and obscure musicians testify to generous hejp from him ; his aged sister lived for yeaua on an allowance made by h»r brother, while his marriage seems to have been one in which no dot was brought by. the wife. — A Mistaken Marriage. — At the same time, Rameau wag^a man who ought to have avoided niarriajrev- ; He had hardly a quality that makes, for • com,fortable domesticity. App»ren«y/_J(naTrying for love, and his wife was cei^mly both " a young and charming woman, he made an insupportable husband. Not that he ever tampered with the virtue or orderliness of private life. Rameap was tofcalty .Wjthqut ( the so-oalled vices. But in his home Tfe v/aa j an icicle. After his death his wife admitted that his life previous 10 their marriage j was a blank to h-er ; she had never even ' dared to ask a single question concerning j it In fact, in all the years together she had practically never dared anything— familiarity, tenderness, curiosity, or even the ordinary freedom of speech usually , unavoidable beftp*een two people Uving -any ( length of time in the same esfftblisbment. Rameau's home was, fe singular^, cheerfess place for wife or children. He-ha#once boasted that no daughter would ever ec^en him by cajolery, and that while he lived his daughter should not be allowed to marry. And it is a fact that four month* after his death Mar ie- Alexandrine* Tlameau,. was married, which seems, at ' least.* to show that the unfortunate younar people, refused happiness during the lifetime of the girl's father, took it as so6n as they could when- his restraining power was removed.— T.P.'s Weekly. A MALE TETTRAZINI. Opera-singe-re, like musical composers, prophets, and other people, are not without honour, except in their own country, and a triumph similar to that srxjred by the Italian songstress, Signora Tettrazim. in London, has been achieved in Vienna by that .beautiful tenor and naturalised Iwißlisnman, Philip Brozel, at? the Hof Oper there. His marked success in "Lohengrin, Vie - Mo : sters : nger," and other Wagnenan - operas have been followed quite recently hv a veritable triumph in "Die Jodm ("The Jewess"). Halevy's famous opefa. , It is an almost unheard-of occur- i rence for a foreigner to be recognised } as a sinser of genius, but the way they £ cheered and bravoed Mr Brozel after his big scene was quite unparalleled, and he has had the finest reception of any singer -there " this season. Philip Brozel, a few weeks ago, came over specially from Vienna to" sing at one of RidhfceT's concerts at 'the > Towh Hall. Birmingham, returning the next

day to Austria to fulfil bis enjyapreinr-nte il j: tand '.qoera. -*%' " '^^-^Kharacter and Career. — t-LOf a p&picularly powerful, but, at th Sfnme limf^ singularly sympathetic, porsoj Jility, -Phflij) Brozel is a* striking- oHL.(h( ,|Uge asJi^is on. Simplicity, sincerity, ani > ; wwrgth^SS« the chief characteristics of the '.man, as^VJey arc of "the artist, while an air o flt^lie^ r'j«snostr 'j«snost Irvingesquc in its intensity s lends a^pebufiar • f aecination to Mb person ality, and is perhaps accounted for by hv foreign ori<;n, naturalised Britisher though he be. : Mr Brozel, like many -Russia* "intellectuels" whose souls are fired by ,\ love for..ireedom, left his native land foi the free, shores of England. Having made up his'jrnind to make this land his home, ' his ambition was to become a singer. He .became a student of the Guildhall School of Music, and his singing professor, struck by the beautiful timbre of his voice ano artistic temperament, recommended him foi tHe Royal Academy, where he soon distinguished himself by winning several iJMpdalshSffifd prizes in open competition. Ii ■ wSs .at-itjne- of these tral performances that Jjjir Augustus .Harris first heard and saw. ' iFhilip Brozel 6ing and act the part of Canio jn "P&gliacci," and when one morn in g in May,. 189$, the singer called on the impresario IjQ ;was at once engaged, in the presenoa of M^Ria-and other great singers, A few days'. 7 aft6s£ he made his debut at Covenl ijardeii >" n in "Pagliacoi," and achieved! *insTi.tttafleous success, the^ press vicing with. 1 r^s^Sffbfiq in their encomiums on this rising • i ?s£• on SP? , Brozel had the distinction oi 4 "*ihgin&"i..w3th Patti in "Don Giovanni,'^ \ and np to his death Augustus Harris dif-«*fe*ytftiag-to encourage his operatic ward^ < whilep h^ueen Victoria and Princess Louis** were, among his warmest' admirers. Sub** sequently, he sang with success at Bwri^'s Pesth, '.Prague, Bayreuth, and other «x«ij| tinentai cities, while he is not a si.r*ag»t,| in the United States, where his fine vcuflM ,£nd chafming manner won him uuiE«rca«« friends some years ago. ,: . , 4— leading Wagnerian Singeur.— : - His -triumph at Ctovent Garden broojfefc* « him the reputation of being th* Ua&nsjjj Wagnerifth s : nger jn England, but wmhhijfi* ; to make even more perfect h« a it, if *. 'possible, and sighing for fresh worlds ta' , conquer, Philip' Brozel sacrificed a highly and very lucrative position, and went to th*~ j Continent. After a very successful *w<| a eeasqn^.in ,Meinz, where, in addition ixf'j ? 'tatheiv;r achievement?, he appeared with >/ -•notable success itf "The. Hunchback," by/a'^ trilliwit'^y.oung English . composer, Aliel^j /Maclean*- Philip Brozel ,*as engaged yfe preference to many Gevjnah-.and other tenors ' at the-Koyal Opera House in Vienna. , Such is the career of Philip Brozel, whose-, nobility of character and greatness .; "riO&itJiji no less than hb artMtrc abilities ' { and ajsffieyepients,' have, endeared him to •>* host oC' friends and admirers at home and? ■ nfedad^P.T.O. J