DRAMA AND MUSIC.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14523, 19 August 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

DRAMA AND MUSIC.

HORSE IN ORCHESTRA. An exciting incident occurred at tho first house at the Warrington lLppodrome recently. During the porlortiianco by Miss Abbott, -'the Georgia Magnet," two powerful brewery horses were oil the stage. Captain Tcniplcton, Miss Abbott's manager, was cngag«l through her instrumentality jn resisting the animals in. a tu* of war when one horse, weighing l-jcwt., slipped and crashed over the footlights ljito the orchestra. The players, foreseeing the danger, jumped clear, but the lootligbts and instruments were smashed. Great consternation ensued, and the performance came to an abrupt termination. The horso was uninjured. RICHARD STIIArJsS'S NEW SYMPHONY. The next work, of Dr. Richard Strauss, it appears from interesting particulars given by a contributor to the "Taglicho Rundschau," is to he a "Nature Symphony" in two movements. Tho.iir.st, in F. niaiojr, <k'-scribe-s the climb uf a lonely wanderer, who, as ha ascends higher and higher into tlie mountains, feels himself more and more withdrawn from the world. Having weathered a heavy mountain thunilerstorni, he atta.ns the peak, v.ad the- movement closes with a song of praise to the natural c/lor'c-tj of tho heights. The descent, described in the second moivment, is a long struggle in the mind of the lonely wanderer against doubt, but finally faith prevails, the symphony concluding with a solemn hymn. The performance of the work, is is staled, Will last about an hour. , FILM AUTHOIISAND ACTORS. " Tito cinematograph Ice struck a terrible blow at the tbeatau anj eve-n ilie cafe-concert,'' says a Trench morning paper. It liex:tut.;s to estimate the number of miles of him wh.fcli are unrolled daily iu Paris and the provinces. Nevertheless, authors and actors have not failed to take advantage of the new .medium. Dramas have .still to he imagined and written, though they are never spoken, but presented entirely in pantomime. ."One of our leading playwrights, M.r. Henri Lavendan, has not disdained the coru|iosit.ion of scenarios." One of his com positions consists of only two hundred lines, but the author received- more than. 8,000 francs i*.,r it. Forty francs a line is described iu, "ijuite'reasonablo." - As for tho actors. " these gentlemen of the Comedic-Francaise get more for a half-hour's rehearsal than the most illustrious tenors" even in the Eldorado of tho United States. PADEREWSKI IN LONDON. Giving a recital at Queen's Hall, London, last month, Paderewski again impressed his aud.encc, the •■'Jelegraph" states, by his dominating personality and transcendent intellectual gilts He played amongst otl.icr works Schumann's F. uuiior Sonata. Beethoven's Sonata in D minor, and a 'Copiu group two Nocturnes the ones in 'F and F sharp—the Ballade m A flat, two Studies in A flat and F. Minor, a Mazurka, the Polonaise iu A major. Reviewing tile Chopin performance, the "Telegraph" en ticstates that "wrong notes were plentiful —there was one mistake in tho simplest of passages—but that was nothing in face of the series of alluring sound pictures he conjured up."

Miss Olive Godwin, 'who played Natalie in "The Merry Widow," has had her contract wjitli the J. C. Williamson management renewed for another 12 moutlis. This means the deferring of her Euronean tour for a year. Mr W. S. Pf-rcy, the clever comedian -who has come into .:uch prominence in the J. C. -Williamson musical attractions lately, has uiso decided for the present to forego his projected trip to England, and has signed a contract for a further two years' term of engagement to that linn.

" Nature Theatres" are the latest rage in Germany. All over the Empire are being founded theatrical organisations winch produce plays in the open air. During this .summer "Nature re.presentations'' will he given more or less regularly near every large town. At Potsdam the 1 municipality is leading the movement, and proposes to build an open-air staito iu a picturesque' part of a neighbouring forest. The movement in that city is under the patron.u/-„- of the Princess Eitol '•'rirclrich, who' is a keen amateur actress. In South Germany, the Nature theatre movement is leading to amusing extravagances. Near Nuiemlierg an organisation is at work which foters the ipiaiuf idea of "therapeutic spectacles." The .theory is held lhat acting and reciting are cures for mental and nervous d/saasos. An Austrian doctor named Laik, who is iu charge ; professes to.have cured many persons by forcing them to act before audiences of their friends in the opeu air. Tho explanation given i> that acting takes the patients out' of themselves., and thus prevents them thinXing of their own maladies.

Something by way of the remarkable popularity that the big pantomime extravaganza, "Jack and the Beanstalk," has achieved iu Australia. In Melbourne tho nlay ran uninterruptedly for 336 nights. This is easily a fresh Australian record for pantomime. Three, hundred thousand persons paid for admission, to see. it. The weekly wages shoot ran well over lour figures, the- pantomime providing work for over ofiO peoole for over four months in Melbourne" alone. In Sydney the biirlesr|iie had a run of over three months, and was taken .iff in the height of its success to make way for the 11. Jl. Trying sea.-.in. Some "130 people will travel with it to New Zealand with iiniiedinieiita comprising -100 tons of sceii.'Vv and ..fleets. On the face of it. it 'would aueear that tho firm of J. C. Wi11iam.,,,... Limited, at least once a vear lour?, an attraction that, for mileage covered, number of people carried, and heavy expenses ;n----curre.l in salaries and transit, is equal to the much-boomed Sheffield Choir. A musical authority has hren giving phonetic equivalents conveying the pronunciation of the li:i»N'"'= of various foreign composers. Tims Chimin, he 'tates, should be uronoiinccd Shoppang. Paderewski- Pa.lerelVski (on no account T.-haikowskv Tchai-kov-kv (nor. lie is. c ! |...r„|' + „ exohrn. Tchai-eow-skv); Weber. VavVr: Spehr, Snore, and so on. But whal .lees be ,rean 'bv savhui that Wagner should he pronounced Vargner? Why drag in tho r ?

Althoucn Ro=setl.i wrote "The Blessed Damozel "at the » K e of eighteen, th : s was far from being his first published poeii!. Knrd Maddox Hueffer, the author of "Memories .'.nd Impressions," is antliorty for the- statement tliat a niiein of Uojwtti's was printed br lii.= Ji and father wl,<v, the poet hinielf was seven or ei(dit.