MUSICAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10925, 14 November 1913, Page 6

MUSICAL NOTES.

Tho sweetest music in the; world is a duet played upon the horn of plontv and tho trumpet of fame. "Philadelphia Record." A performance of "The Meistersingors" was given at Munich recently, in connection with tho Wagner centenary. Some idea of the pain;; taken to ensure a perfect ensemble' may he formed when it is stated that TTcrr Fuchss, who directs tho chorus, insisted upon having sixty-six rehearsals. It is fifty years since this opera—which, it may bo recalled, was criticised so severely by Mendelssohn was first performed. " Charpcntier," said a Chicago musician, " has no patience with those who compose for money. After ' Louise ' lie could have sold an opera a day. a symphony an hour, a song a minute. Rut for thirteen years he has been silent, waiting for inspiration. Ho has no sympathy with ordinary composers. Jfc said to mo one day in Paris: ' Composers may bo divided into two classes;—those who write for tho street pianos and those who plagiarise them. " A new oratorio was presented in London at Queen's flail recently. Tho .composer is Dr Plewka-Plewczyuski. a Polish Catholic priest of 'Warsaw. He directed tho performance. "Tho Last Four Things" it is called, and the "Courier's" report upon it is to the effect that " the composer has constructed an attractive work of many melodious- themes, well written for the choral section, and orchestrated with a good knowledge of orchestral device, and ways and means. Worthy of special mentioning is the chorus, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts.' " Countess Fabbricotti, who was formerly Cornelia Roosevelt Scovel _of "Philadelphia, has received threatening letters from Socialists as a result of her success in opera at Florence. Titled women, the Socialists say, should not lead the life of a public singer. They should attend to their husbands and families. "If you insist on singing and keeping on the stage we will hiss you and your voice will not be heard," was the threat contained in ono of the letters. The countess is a pupil of Jean de Reske. She made her debut in " Madame Butterfly,' 'and was reengaged to sing Elsa in "Lohengrin." "Song-writing," according to Ernest Newman, " comes as easy to the average German musician as cricket to the average Englishman. Whatever else the German can or cannot do, he is always safe for at least two good songs in the course of his career. Men like Bungert, Max Bruch, Hennings von Koss, Fritz Koegcl, d'Albert, Fielitz, Gerlacb, Nicode, Mahler, Xaver Scharwenka, Weingartner, Hans Sommer, Wallnofer, and no' doubt scores of others, can on occasion turn out a song or two that nono of the great masters of the Lied would have been ashamed to sign." For a single sheet of paper, on which Richard Wagner had written a fewwords, together with six bars from " Seigfried," tho sum of £2O was paid at an auction in Berlin tho other day. The original manuscript* of the eighth scene of the first act of " Tannhauser " brought £25. At the same aution seven minuets written by Mozart when he was thirteen years old, were sold for £IOO, while Weber's grand sonata, for piano, was knocked down for £ ? ? Nearly £4O was paid for a letter by Gluck, in which he wrote to a friend that he had no use for praise by the French, " for they are as changeable as tho weathercock."

Giovanni Sgambati, whose seventieth birthday was celebrated in Rome in May, is one of. the very few Italian composers of note who preferred the concert stage to the opera house. He owed his prominence early in his career to Liszt, who assisted him in various ways, as he did so many other talented young men. Subsequently Wagner became interested in him, and it was through his recommendation that the publisher Schott, of Mainz, printed some, of his most important works, including two symphonies, a piano concerto, two quintets,*two' "uartets, and many pieces for the piano. Sgambati was the first to produce in. Italy Liszt's "Dante" symphony, which Wagner called "divine. Here is an interesting example of musical advertising of 117 years ago. The following announcement appeared in Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1794: "My daughter, twelve years old, and my son, who is seven, will perform concertos of the great masters on the clavicin, and my boy a -violin concerto also. My son will cover the keys of the clavicin with a cloth and then play on them as if they were not covered. Either close or at a distance, he will tell every note, every chord that any one may strike on the clavicin or a bell or any Other instrument. Finally, he will improvise freely, as long as lie.is desired, either on the organ or the clavicin, in any key—even the most difficult, according to anyone's choice. His organ playing, however, is quite different from his playing of the clavicin." That is the way no less a mortal than Mozart was advertised, for the notice refers to him. Frederick tho Great was the most distinguished musical amateur of his age, and his position gave him tho power to regulate the style of composition employed by the musicians of-his period. For instance, says the Etude, he made the following rules to be followed by operatic composers:—" All the principal singers must have big arias and different in character, as as adagio aria, which must be very cantabile to show off to good advantage the voice and delivery of the singer; in da capo the artist can then display her art in embellishing variations; then there must be an allegro aria with brilliant passages, a gallant aria, a duet for first male singer and the prima donna. In these pieces the big forms of measure must bo used so as to give pathos to the tragedy; the smaller forms of time, such as twofour and. three-eight, are for the secondary roles, and for these a tempo minuetto can be written. There must be the necessary changes of time, but minor keys must be avoided in the theatre, because they are too mournful. The instrumental accompaniment must be simple and clear." He insisted upon a punctilious observance of these conditions, and, strangely enough, did not seem to realise that they tended to cramp the inspiration of tho composer instead of developing it. Composers have not scorned writing aire to suit tho style of particular singers, thus, as Francis Rogers remarks, " storing up for the usual voices of subsequent generations much travail and sorrow." Mendelssohn crowded " Hear Ye, Israel" with high F sharps, in order to giro Jenny Lind, whom ho adored, a chance ix> display the particular beauty of her voice in that region, with the result that that air has been a 60re trial to most sopranos ever since. Faure, tho famous French baritone, also had a particularly facile and mellow high F sharp, and many ; parts were written especially to give him a chance to exhibit it to the gasp- ] ing multitude. " But in most baritone voices this F sharp is tho very limit of the upper ranges, and although it may have both power and brilliance, it seldom possesses either mellowness or facility; consequently all the roles written for Faure (Mnyerbeers " Dinorah," for instance) are particularly trying for the ordinary baritone. Again, the F in alt writtcu into _" I Puritaui " for Rubini is simply unsiugablo for all modern tenors, and. in i performance has to be omitted altogether.'''