MUSIC NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9917, 4 August 1910, Page 3

MUSIC NOTES.

Tho death of Balakire-v removes an interesting figure from the world of music. He ti*as one of tho pioneers of the young Russian school, and his inspiration wa« of more value and inv portancs than his actual work, though many of his compositions are full of interest and originality.

The hundredth anniversary of the birth of Robert -Schumann, which took "place on June 8, 1910, was celebrated by musical festivals in most of the lending German cities. A work entitled Morgenstimmung/' by Hugo Wolf. Mas recently produced for the first iime at Schwerin. This composition was originally written in 1896 for tenor aoio, with piano accompaniment, and "Wolf arranged it for chorus and orchestra in 1897, but the work never came to performance and it was found among his effects after the composer dier] in a madhouse at Vienna in 1903. The piece is still in manuscript-.

Luisa Tetrazzini has expressed her opinion that ooiorature music, tho music of runs and trills, will never die. "No, for is it nob natural music, the music of the birds?" Among musicians and composers, she admits, it is out of date at present; but she believes that some da} - a new composer like Mozart, Rossini or Donizetti will come along and write once more for the coloraturesoprano. The public has never lost its interest in this music, when properly sung.

Christian Leden. a Danish composer, has collected for publication the results o! mouths spent m Greenland in the study of the -folk music of the natives (says "Musical America"). With a talking machine he secured records of the music of not only the natives in the Danish colonies on the west coast, but also the more primitive Polar Eskimos who inhabit the Smith Sound region from Melville Bay northward to the 78th parallel. He collected m all seventy melodies. " The first feeling 1 had was one of awe and apprehension, succeeded by a fervent wish that so precocious a manifestation of genius may have an opportunity for normal development. It is all genuinely astounding." Til* these VvorcYs Richard Strauss is reported to have expressed himself concerning the composition of Erich- Konigold, the thirteen-year-old son of a Vienna musical critic.. Among tho works of the latest prodigy is a pianoforte sonata, and the composer" of " Elektra," after studying it, declared that it showed " assurance of style, mastery of form and individuality of expression."

Mark Twain could be persuaded to sing now and then if one approached him. in the right mciod," write? Max Smith in the " Now York Press." It was not bel canto, iiis mod© of vocal utteranceneither did his style rosemble that of Dr Wullner. ft was just Marie Twain, as unmistakably his own ae his writing. and his talking, and quite as entertaining. At one time ' Killaloo ' was his favourite song, and how he sans that Irish ballad for Mrs Charles Dudley Warner's musical friends, with inimitable drawl and nasal twang, slow movement of his head from side to side, and curiously droll gestures, will not be forgotten soon by those who- heard and saw the performance." ''When I was unknown/*' Signor Caruso recently told the Paris correspondent of the London " Daily Mail," "I sang like a singing s bird, careless,' without thought of nerves. But now mv reputation is made,, my audiences arc more exacting. Hare lam today bending beneath the weight of a renown which cannot increase, but which the least vocal mishap may compromise. My audiences, well disposed towards ,mo as they are, have to pay such high prices to hear ine that tliej' imagine that I am a unique singer, and I appear before them stared at and envied. Imagine my state of mind when the curtain rises, for the human voice lias its weaknesses. Like everyone, I have my cares and troubles, and climate fjfnd temperature affect me, but the public never thinks of that, demanding an artist as perfect as they imagine me to be. , That is why often lam the unhappiest of men. I compare myself to a great Parliamentary speaker before an important interpellation. When the moment arrives he may be say, weary, ailing, and he longs for repose, but his friends await him, his onomies rally round. His interest bids him speak. A tenor is much worse off, for he, alas! is compelled to sing." Not every music-lover and student is willing to place-Grieg among the great ones as a composer. He is admitted to a plane where romanticism and poesy find fitting utterance, and the charm of his creations is undeniable. Grieg; is a great composer, if you like, on a tiny scale. Among his admirers were Yon Billow and Teliaikovsky, and even Liszt favc him a. patronising pat on the ack. It is Grieg's masterly treatment of Norwegian folk-music which most entitles him to fame. The general spirit of Norwegian music is well summed up by Carl Engcl in his " Study of National Music." He thinks "itis a curious fact that those nations which possess the most lugubrious music pos.ne.ss also the most hilarious tunes. The songs of the Norwegians are generally very plaiutive, though at the same time very beautiful; and some of tho Norwegian dances have perhaps more resemblances to dirges than to the dances of sonio other nations; but in single instances the Norwegian tunes exhibit an unbounded joy and cheerfulness, such as we rarely meet with in the music of other people. Indeed, the Norwegians, so far as their music is concerned, might be compared to the hypochondriac, who, occasionally, though seldom, gives himself up to an almost excessive merriment." Tho same remarks might well apply to Irish folk-song. Tho fundamental trait of Norwegian folk-song, as contrasted with German, i,s, as Grieg once wrote, a deep melancholy, which may suddenly change to a wild, unrestrained gaiety. Mysterious gloom and indomitable wildness—these are the contrasts of Norwegian folk-sing." Grieg was a student of the music of three peoples : the Norwegians, the Swedes, and the Danes; and he contended that as these races differed in character, so did their music. The majesty, the gloom, the transient glimpses of green vales and rich orchards are in the music of Grieg $9 such as wiJJ it.