FOREIGN.

Star (Christchurch), 23 May 1895, Page 4

FOREIGN.

A London cable message states that the two Australians, Mjss . Emilia Wood (pianist) and Miss AdaCrossley (contralto), have made a successful dibut at Madame Marchesi's concert at the Salle Erard, Paris.

Sarah Bernbardt is beginning to show a Blight indication that age is creeping upon her. She used to be fond of travelling, but it is hard now to get her to leave Paris, and she is said to shudder at the thought of again leaving France on a long tour. The "encore fiend" seems to flourish in Russia more vigorously than in any other country. When mUBio loverß of that land -lifc<*_an_arti_Bt!B_ singing or playjng they think nothing of compelling him or her tc comply with eight or ten demands for " more."

Sir Augustus Harris, manager of the Drury Lane Theatre, in a recent interview predicted that the management of the English thentres must eventually assimilate with that of the American playhouses, the whole of the parterre commanding the highest pricsß instead of having a pit and stalls as at present. The system of municipal theatres, he Baid, would never pay. In regard to the drama of the twentieth centuary, Sir Augustus predicted that Ibsen would vanish and that Shakspere, Goethe, and authors like Sardou and Pinero would survive.

Out of a hundred or more candidates for the position of Court Examiner of Stage Play?, including many dramatic critics and literary men, the English Government has appointed an unknown man named Bedford. The salary and emoluments of the office amount to £1500 a year. There has been a great outcry concerning the selection. Absolutely nothing was known of the gentleman appointed when his name first became mentioned in the press. Careful inquiries appear to have elicited the information that he wears a heavy cavalry moustache and was at one time of his life a clerk in a bank. His immediate qualification 'appears to be that he assisted the late flMr Pigott in his duties.

Madame Marchesi has been the trainer of many of the leading o studied un of the day. In her youth she a natural ader Garcia, and then, having ppointed ptitude for teaching, Bhe was a onaervafc first prof eßsor of singing at all the c ent to oires in Vienna. Afterwards she w the f Paris, where she now presides over cUffic amous Ecole de Chant. It is rather tne ult to become her pupil, for in view of utr length of study and the expense mc ed, 6he allows nobody to enter upon it lightly, or without possessing the necessary qualifications. She even goes so far as to refuse to teach amateurs, and is in every instance brusque in her examination, frequently hurting the feelings of applicants, all of which is done to weed out the honestly earnest from thoße suffering from an ephemeral desire to become great singers.

\ CORNET GRAIN. London, March 25. The deaths of Mr Alfred German Reed, of hie partner, Corney Grain, and of the venerable mother and adopted-mother of both — Mrs German Reed, all within a week and from the sequelce of influenza, has given a sharp shock to amusement lovers. Alfred German Reed was not particularly well-known outside St George's Hall, and Mrs German Reed — the "charming Priscilla Horton" of three generations ago was a pleasant memory only; but every Londoner knew and felt a personal liking for big, bulky and blithe Corney Grain. He was a prince of entertainerß unequalled — as I have remarked elsewhere — in his own line. A few years ago Mr Grain j. at the instigation of a friend, " reminisced" in •• Murray's Magazine" on his career. From this entertaining volume the following ate clipped:— " OQBNEY GBAIN."— A PARENTAL WHIM.

Probably most people are under the impression that " Corney Grain " was an assumed name. This is not bo. In hia entertaining volume of "Beminiscenses," Mr Grain wrote: ''My parents played a very bad practical joke on me when they gave me the names, in my baptism, of Richard Corney . The proximity of Corney to Grain does look odd, I admit ; but it is so written down in the family Bible and the pariah register of Teversham, Cambridgeshire." The "Corney" was the maiden name of Mr Grain's father's mother. Mr (irain was born on Oct. 26, 1844, and was therefore just over fifty years of age. Only a month ago he handed an interviewer the following brief biography :— •" At school in England 1854-58, in Germany 1858-60, near Paris, end of 1860 to 1862. Called to the Bar, 1866. Practised till May 16, 1870, when I joined the German Eeed Entertainment, which has this February entered on its fortieth year. Went into management with Mr Alfred German Eeed (Mr and Mrs German Seed's boh), Dec. 25, 1876. Partnership expires Dec. 25, 1895."

AMATBUR MUSIC AD ABSTTEDT7M. Frequent allusions were made in his

various sketches— which, by the way, moat have numbered nearly one hundred— to the uncouth music of the provincial amateur, but it was doubtless in his moat youthful days at Teversham that

his earliest impressions of music ad

dbsurdum were derived, lo quote the "Reminiscences" once more, in allusion to tbe local church services, Mr Grain says : " The clerk gave out one line of the hymn, and then proceeded to sing it \ —a solo — while the two clarionets and the violoncello gambolled round the melody— not quite there, but there or thereabouts. We never joined in, but stood respectfully listening to this nasalvoiced shoemaker snuffling forth some dreary tune, while Discord reigned triumphant round about him." It was more due to his grown-up sisteis than to this sort of thing that his musical powers had a chance of development. Hia elder sister especially " played well at sight and from memory,singsweetly,and was an admirable accompanist." With characteristic modesty, Mr Grain himself usad to declare without hesitation that he was no very precocious musical genius, although everyone knows what maatery of the keyboard waß hia in later life. But it was not by wearisome repetition of the curious effects he could produce that his mastery waß acquired, He was a brilliant performer o£ the beßt mußic, and it was by constant practice of the classics that he kept up and perfected hiß wonderful dexterity. Those who have heard him in his burleque of a provincial choir, struggling with — "Let ua shout! Let us shout ! " repeated with Handelian fervour and iteration, can never forget the exquisite art with which he slyly changed the words at laßt into " Let us out ! Let us out ! "

OP "MRS GRAIN" AND OTHER MYTHS.

Mr Grain had for some years lived in a cosy flat in Weytnouth Street, close to the scene of his laboura. la spite of many rumours to the contrary, he was a bachelor. "People keep marrying me," he used to cay. "I'm married in the newspapers about every three months; but it does't hurt me much, bo I let them have their way. Numbers of people keep Doiuting out ' Mrs Grain ' to their friendi. I often have a . niece staying with me, and she ia invariably labelled ' Mrs Grain.' A man told me that he once had the pleasure of taking: ' my wife' in to dinner. And the woratof it is that those persons who really believe me to be a bachelor are constantly not only asserting that I am ' engaged,' but go to the length of naming the lady I am engaged to. A certain great dame once actually said that I was engaged to her, although I waa hardly acquainted with her. However, I euppoae this sort of thing amuses people. It docs me no harm, and sol just let papers and persons say what they like. A New Zealand journal once gravely announced my death, and a report once got about Cannes that I was seriously ill — that, in fact, my condition was hopeless. A man who was there at the time, seeing me about when he retnrned, came up and warmly congratulated me on my wonderful recovery. As a fact, I had had only a moderate attack of influenza— the only illness I have had for many years. It is also a mistaken idea that I am a 'Varsity man. A clergyman once informed me that he well remembered being up at Cambridge with me— a statement which certainly aarpriaed me."

MB GBAIN's OWN " AT HOME."

Mr Grain pave those wio were privileged to visit him at his chambers the impression of beirg easy-going, and rather lazily bent, with just a dash of the Bohemian, mingled with artistic taato and 1 the special musical, mimetic, linguistic talent which go to make the popularjenterfcainer. His house is a typical London one, with drawing-room windows that look into a rather dull Btreet, and a back view shut out by stained glass, but luxuriously furnished, and full of artistic odds and ends bespeaking the professional and the man of many friends. On his dining-room walls are portraits of the Prince and Prince«s of Wales, presented to him on the occasion of oue of his visits to -Marltoorough Hottser There is ft r prooT impression of an etching by a well-known artist, a presentation copy by the artist himself, and there is quite a gallery of celebrities in caricature, the work of another popular artist friend. The staircase walls are embellished with photographs of the ivy-clad, moat-surrounded, picturesque farmhouse in which Mr Gzain was born.

"MY SYSTEM ?— I HAVE NO SYSTEM !"

Somewhat inclined to procrastinate as he was, it was often a marvel to Mr Grain and his friends that hi* sketches were ever ready in time. " I don't know what my system of writing sketches is,' 9 he once declared. "I have no system. I write down notes on odd pieces of paper, on '■ i>e backs of envelopes, on margins of newspapers, on invitation cards— in fact, on anything that comes handy. Sometimes I bay a twopenny working account-book, and make little notes with a dash, thus : — — . This last mystic sign means music to be worked out at the piano. Then when the sketoh is produced, I tear up the notes and trust in the future to memory. I have long given up all thought of going anywhere in particular for ideas ; they must come quite spontaneously and without any seeking if they are to be worth anything." His man-servant, by the way, had for long acted as home adviser and critic.

SOME POPULAR SONGS — TENNYSON AND BBACONSFIELD. Of the innumerable songs written by Mr Grain, " The Polka and the Choir Boy," "The Early Worm," "The Old Couples' Polka," "The Old Umbrella," "The Old Black 'Oss," and "Our Mess" were exceedingly popular, while " I'm a Chappie," a satire of a few years back, was actually written and compoeed within twelve hours of its first performance. Mr Grain's favourite song was " The Ola Gown." He sang this before Lord Tennyson, and bad to alter a portion of it on the spur of the moment, as it contained a paraphrase of two well-known lines of the poet. Once or twice Mr Grain sang before Lord Beaconsfield, but thought the famous statesman did not take much to his Bongs. On one of these occasions the entertainer introduced an imitation of the cornopean— an imitation he was never proud of, as it is commonplace and exceedingly easy of attainment — and hurrieti on to some capital ditties which he fancied Beaconsfield would like. When the entertain*, ment was over, Lord Beaconsfield came up to him and said, " Excellent, Mr Grain, excellent. The songß were good, but I liked the cornopean part bestl"

A BATCH OF ANECDOTES IN BKIBF. The entertainer was once addressed by a well-known lady of title as follows :— " I Bhould like you to come at 4.30. How long can you go on?— fox two hours at a stretch ?" Mr Grain, in the politest way, mentined that a five minutes interval would, he thought, bo pleasing to the audience, and grateful to the singer. •' Oh !" was the reply, " I didn't know. I thought you could. We had a conjuror last year who went on for quite two hours without stopping !" It wbb a young man of similar type who complained that when he and his companions went to sit with Mr Grain in the smoking-room after an "At Home," "Mr Grain just sat in a chair and smoked like anybody else !" Another lady, of equal ignorance, was once amazed to receive at "At Home " card with I the mystic announcement in the ! orthodox corner, " Corney Grain." "What is Corney Grain?" she asked. "Ib it a new sort of candy, or what?" Mr Grain's experience of pianos was probably almost unique. He had played on all sorts; one nobleman's had cost 700gs, and another peer proudly informed him Chat his had been "picked !up a bargain for only .£12 !" Once Mr \ Grain was told that ?he piano provided for him had been hired for the occasion— j "My wife Bayß we can't let Corney Grain play on our beat piano!" He was often i addressed piteouuly, " Piease, Mr Grain, be merciful to our piano — it is a new one!" ..... But the store of good stories is inexhaustible. Alas, alas ! that their brightlygifted and burly original should be no more ! For a long time to come merely to pass St George's Hall will be to experience anew the keen cense of personal loss which so many of our readers will mourn to-day. j