Music and the Stage

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17352, 17 May 1924, Page 23

Music and the Stage

Mr W. J. Bellingham, conductor of Everybody’s Theatre orchestra, gives some interesting views on public appreciation ol music. “ Respect your public,” he says, “ and they will respect ' you. Do not underrate the capacity of tho audience to appreciate good music well played. Majority opinion is generally sound. It wil not express itself in a technically correct manor; it will not know the reason of its preferences (though it may think it docs), but it does know the difference between good and bad. This reminds me of a very common error of expression. We continually hear the remark. '1 do ’ or 1 I do not like classical music!’ Classical music is commonly supposed to comprise all music that is involved or difficult to understand. in contrast to lighter and more melodious forms. The person who disclaims most strongly against classical music will be delighted with Beethoven's Minuet in G. As a matter of fact the term ‘ classic-

al ’ in music refers to an early period and to music written in the style of that period. The large majority of master 1 composers do not belong to the classical school, hut to the romantic or modern schools. Musical compositions in their content are very similar to literature, anti what is good and had in both is produced in very similar proportions. The difference is that for the understanding of music an intermediary, in the persbn of the performer, stands between the composer and the listener. 1 have no hesitation in saying that the lull beauty of the works of the great masters is seldom heard in New Zealand, and in very many cases works of great beauty ere so marred in performance that the listener is justified in discrediting the result. The unfortunate put is that he more often blames the composer than the performer. I believe in a varied programme with a mkjor proportion of standard works; the essential feature is that what is done, whether if. be fox-trot or symphony, must* be well done.

The popular C’herniavsky trio \pll appeal' in New Zealand towards tire end ©i the year. After the conclusion of the coming tom* of Australia and New Zealand the Chefniavskys will reopen in the United States tor Ay hat will be the largest American tour they have ever yet undertaken. Signor Lenghi-Cellini (tenor. Royal Opera, and Covent Garden),, M. Michael Zacharewitsch (Polish violinist). and Maestro Conte Pietro Cimara (pianist) arc expected to arrive in Wellington next Tuesday from ( Sydney, and. under the direction oi Mr Fred M’Orea. will open a New Zealand tour at Wellington on May 17.

The expense incurred in the transport and travelling costs of a large theatrical enterprise is heavy. but exactly how heavy, few people know V good example is provided by the expenses incurred by the J. C. Williamson Comic Opera Company responsible for the production of “ Sally.”

At the conclusion of the Dominion tour at Invercargill, the entire company, along with scenery and effects, will go to Brisbane, a distance of 2600 miles, at a cost of £IBSO. A company is being formed in Wellington for the erection in Lambton Quay of an imposing theatre to be called “ The Memorial Her Majesty Theatre.” The new theatre will be built to honour and keep in ever-green memory the names of the great artists who have visited Wellington. A sum oi over £IOO,OOO will be required for the land and building. Plans have been prepared by Mr W. W. Corbett, of W eliington. The front elevation indicates a noble, classical building. It will seat 3COO persons. Miss Mai da Hooker (Hawera) \has taken her return passage by the A tho - nic, sailing, on May 1 (writes the Bouden correspondent of the 'Wellington Post ”). Prior to departure, Miss Hooker is giving a pianoforte recital at Leighton House. New Zealanders will remember that she came to England as the holder of an Exhibition Scholarship, available for three years, given by the Associated Board of the J-loyal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. She has now completed her course. She has been studying at the Royal College of Music, under Mr Arthur Alexander (formerly of Dunedin), who is one of the professors at the college. At the end el last year. Miss Hooker played the difficult G Minor Concerto (Saint Sueps) at one of the orchestral concerts of the college. On her arrival in Now Zealand she will settle in Auckland. Winifred Carter, after a very happy season in Detroit, Michigan, will arrive home by the s»s. Maunganui to spend a well-earned vacation with her parents. The brilliant young Aucklander is a great success as harpist v/ith one of the finest symphony orchestras in the States (the Detroit Symphony). Her playing of the Mozart Concerto in conjunction with Hazer, the famous flautist, was an outstanding success and received a great ovation, after the performance of which Miss Carter, who has fast- become a popular favourite in the land of the dollars, was entertained at a reception given in her honour at the Detroit Institute of Music. Miss Carter says an artist is quickly recognised and welcomed in the States. She has signed a two years’ contract with the orchestra and will return to the States in September. She is hoping to spend her next vacation •in Paris, in order to brush up and get mto touch with the latest modern works for the harp. M hen the Seymour Hicks couple reach New Zealand (savs the Svdnev ’ Theatre’*) Ell aline * Terriss CM : s Hicks) will be in the land of her birth,

as the late "William Terriss was farming in tho Auckland province when HI la line was born. Maggie Moore, who next August will have had fifty years of stage life, is said to he writing her reminiscences. Miss Aniy Castles leaves for America, shortly to give a series of concerts, and later goes on to England to fulfil several engagements-. Miss Lorna Forbes, a leading member of Allan Wilkie’s Shakespearean Company, has parted from the organisation, and, it. is said, intends establishing a school for dramatic art in Melbourne. Mione Stewart. Mr Dick Stewart’s clever daughter, has found her opportunity at last (says the “Sunday Times”). • Not only has she made a tremendous hit in Joan Kingdom’s role during the run of “ The Man in Dress Clothes,” but she now finds herself understudying to Miss Ellaline Terriss in “ Sleeping Partners,” the brilliant comedy in which Seymour Hicks is appearing in Melbourne. Dame Nellie Melba remarked one day recently that a certain letter in the alphabet appears to doth in ate her whole life—the la ire r M—from which sbe finds it impossible to escape. For example, the was born in Melbourne in tho month of May; her father’s name was Mitchell ; and she took tho name of Melba; she was trained by Madame Marchesi, and her most sensational debut was made in Milan ; while her two most famous roles are Mimi and Marguerite. The Dulciphone is the name of a novel and peculiar instrument that Marcus and D’Arma (a vaudeville act that has recently arrived in Australia under engagement to the Fuller cricuit) feature in their opening. This instrument can be well dscribed as a miniature piano, and the effects obtained on this by Miss D’Arma are said to be most fascinating. These artists have recently concluded a most successful engagement inn England, and will shortly appear in Christchurch.

Two-factors have played a prominent part in the success of tlie WilliamsonMe’lba Grand Opera Company at Hi* -Majesty’s (saya Melbourne * ‘ Table Talk’H. There is a tremendous amount of interest in the season by reason ol the fact that Dame Nellie Melba is making her farewell appearance in grand opera m Melbourne, and that no further opportunities wili be afforded opera lovers ot hearing the great singer in opera again. The other is that those who hear Toti Dal Monte will later have the satisfaction of being able to recall their experience wnen she is a great world singer. A famous actor who is visiting Melbourne remarked recently that with two such great artists as Melba and Dal Monte in the company, the complete organisation, could be transferred bodily to Coven t Garden, where it would take London by storm.

Everyone has heard of the old nur sery rnyme wherein “ Little Tommy Tucker sang for his supper 3 (says a Melbourne paper). Ton Dal Monte, the brilliant young coloratura soprano cf the William son-M e 1 b a Grand Ojsera. Company, had a similar experience the other night. After the opera she returned to her hotel and found herself thoroughly Hungry. Toti entered the dining-room and sat down to wait for someone to appear, uu\* no one came in sight. Toti is resourceful. She started to sing. Fi-st she gave the opening verse from Caro Nome in “Rigoletto,” but without result. Then she soared into the wonderful cadenzas of “ The Carnival of Venice, 3 ’ which she had been singing that night in “ The Barber of 3 Seville.” There was a patter of feet, and not one. but three waiters hurried into view, their eyes shining with excitement. And in about two minutes they were competing with each other in serving the young prixna donna with an elaborate supper. Referring to the desire for happy endings a Sydney “Bulletin” coirespondent writes: 1 remember an ocveasier, when sacrilegious hands were laid on the spoken drama to gratify this popular taste. We had staged a play which ended logically and unhappily, and the gods rose as one devil and wanted to know what wo were giving them. They thought wo were doing them out of the last act--one that resurrected the expired hero v divorced the heroine from the villain, and brought wedded bliss and the heavy father’s blessing. The orchestra's tedious repetitions of ‘‘ God Save ” only made their demands for the full melodramatic loaf more insistent. At length a terrified manager asked us to go on and fake a le«it act from another drama, fitting the names as best we could. It made, the heroine a bigamist, and married her to a dead mail, and a superfluous burglar and other excrescences tangled the conclusion a bit : but the gods were athirst, and their thirst was slaked. ; As the grand opera season in Melbourne. draws 10 its conclusion two I points stick into one’s understanding | (writes a Sydney “ Bulletin ” correspon- | dent). First, the undeniable box office : proof that Melba did not over-estimate | the value of -her name. The rush for a : Toti Dal Monte or Scavizzi night may ! be great, but greater is the demand j | for tickets when Meibba is to sing. < ! And the importation of choristers, j mainly mole, has been justified by rei suits. Without the support of more ; than twenty Italians, familiar with all j cfpcras in the repertoire and the language they arc sung in, the season couiu

not have been ventured. The chorus trainer, who worlds patiently with an interpreter, has done wonders with fine material, but the Australian girls are only novices gaining experience. With as many men to train in a series of eighteen operas the instructor’s task would have been hopeless. Quinlan, of yore, could produce about fourteen operas in as many nights, because he brought the whole outfit with him, and his rehearsals were a mere polishing up of a staff that knew its work from Ato Z. Besides, there was no foreign tongue to be taught in the Quinlan

May Beatty’s enterprise in leasing the three-storey building at the corner of Collin and Spring Streets for conversion into flats under her personal supervision was not a sudden decision (saya the Melbourne ‘‘leader ”). Ever since she returned to Melbourne from London at the end of 192*2 with “The O’Brien Girl 3 ’ company. Miss Beatty has had a project of .this nature in her mind, and has been patiently waiting for the right premises in the right location. The accomplished comedienne of “The O'Brien Girl” has done this sort of thing before in resldental districts in London, ami has acquired valuable ev: perience as to what the ideal flat should be in the important matter of space arrahgement and decorative treatment to suit Australian conditions. Miss Beatty lias also opera!.**l ii* other forms of real estate investment. notably in iand buying both i‘i Melbourne and Svdnev home site subcn is ion*. He.- legions of ndmir.rs vi-ll be pleased to know that her jiim pc-rty interests will not rob the theatre of her artistry. “Flat furnishing and letting is a hobby of mine,” savs Miss Beatty, “ and a profitable one too. but it can never take the plaeo of the stage with me. I am too ''much of the theatre to think of leaving it while I can tiring laughter and happiness to my public.” Another Nellie Stewart story about George Musgrove*. They were on a visit to Germany, searching for suitable operatic talent, one night, at Mayence. Musgrove read in a Ffankfurt paper the musical bill of fare for the Opera House there. It ran: Monda) r , “Rigoletto”; Tuesday " Tannhauser ” ; Wednesday, “ Parsifal ”; Thursday. “Geschlossen”; Friday, “Lohengrin”; Saturday, “The Flying !ed George, “ here’s a new opera I’ve '.never heard of-Geschlossen.” We'd j better go and see what it’s like.” So flfff we went to Frankfurt. We didn't j arrive there till after seven on the j Thursday evening, so we decided not lo go to an hotel, but to make straight for the Opera House. When the cab | pulled up the big building was in darki ness. “ They must start very .late,” j said George. Then to the cabmaif, as ■ he pointed to the Opera House, “ Ges- ‘ chiossen tonight?” “Yah soh,” the ; cabbman answered. Here the conver- • sation flagged, for George couldn't speak German and the cabman had no English. But presently the cab- , man became suspicious of us. Soon he became abusive in his guttural way, and so George called a policemhn to straighten things out. The policeman knew a little English, and explained that “Geschlossen'” is German for “closed”! “We drove to our hotel -yip dignified silence,” says Nellie archly, ' in closing the mcident.'‘‘

An organisation known as La Renaissance des Cites proposes to build a village suburb of Paris, to be named Sarah Bernhardt, after the famous French tragedienne, who died last year. The suburb will be reserved for intellectual workers. Bernard Shaw’s “ Joan of Arc,” as seen in a New York production of “ Saint Joan,” is described by one critic as a “ super-flapper,” a pert hoyden who skips about and calls the Dauphin Charley and Duuois Jack. In an epilogue a visionary Joan wishes to return to life in 19*20, but she finds that she is not wanted. Galsworthy’s play, “The Skin Game,” has been translated into German and French, and was a success both in Paris and Berlin. The French producer was worried ever the fact that a literal translation of the title would bo meaningless, so compromised with the author cn another name. In Berlin, Horn blower was made up to resemble the late Herr Stinnes. The -contrast between conditions of vaudeville in London arid New York surprised Sir Benjamin Fuller. In New York artists are in three classes—the Small Time, the Big Small Time, and the Big Time. They take a long while as a rule to move from one class to another. Once they get into the Big Time they stay there until they begin to decline. Then they move hack again to the Big Stna-ll Time, and ultimately to the Small Time, until in the end they drop out altogether. In London it is different. Tt is not umJsual to find a great star playing this week at the Coliseum, and next at the London Shoreditch, which are the poles apart. Mrs Kendall, who attained her seventy-fifth birthday i D Match, sa.V,> a Londou paper, lias always been ready to help budding actresses, but impatient of those who hope for stage success by means other than talent and hard work. To one of these latter she once sketched the requirements of the ideal actress, who should, she said, have the face of a goddess, the strength of a lion, the figure of a Venus, the voice of a dove, the temper of an angel, the grace of a swan and the skin of a rhinoceros ; should possess imagination, eonaud should be capable of being a kimi

sister, n good daughter, an excellent wife and a judicious mother. Dowered with these qualities, she ought, with hard work, to rise to the top of the ‘ BUTTING-IN.” PROFESSION IN REVOLT. Resentful eyes ; . re being east bv unionists on titled members of the theatrical profession (says the Sydney “Sun”).' It is contended that the advent of members of the aristocracy has made the struggle of the chorus girl and the dancer harder than it would otherwise have been; and n;» effort is being made to get rid of “ titled interlopers.” Is the intrusion of titled people and other non-unionists injuring the theatrical profession?' The Australian Theatrical Alliance, which embraces several unions associated with the stage, believes that It was learned to-day (April 26) that the alliance a Tew days ago called a special meeting to launch a campaign against all non-unionists in the profession in Australia, whether they are actors or actresses, members of the ballet or of the chorus. The “Sun” ascertained, too, that the «fuesijion of non-unionists among the theatrical orchestras Will he thrashed but at a meeting of the board of reference for the musicians’ profession, to be held under the presidency of the Industrial Registrar. Within the last few weeks the Australian Theatrical Alliance received a letter from the National Association of Theatrical Employees in London. It asked for details of the policy adopted by Australian theatrical unions towards non-unionists coming into the profession. Now* comes the announcement that the Theatrical Employees’ Union iu London has decided on e. determine;! campaign against- non-union actors and actresses. The Secretary of the English Actors’ Federation has complained that people even of good education arc injuring the art of acting. “ They arc butting into the profession.” be said, “ with no other qualification than title or income.” The strenuous efforts that have been made by theatrical unions here to <>b tain improvements in working conditions is a reason that has prompted this new campaign. The unions feel that it is not fair that outside persons should enjoy the favourable conditions secured by the Actor*’ Federation and all the allied unions without being members of More than one daughter of leading families has responded to the lure of the stage lately, and lias been given sn ail speaking parts. It is understood, too, that a number of girls of families of high social standing have invaded the chorus or the ballet in certain theatres. Thi-i encroachment, it is known, js strongly ic.sented. The view’ is taken that these girls, who are independent' of the stage for a livelihood, are competing with and making harder the struggle of the chorus girl or the ballet dancer, who must of necessity depend on her dancing or chorus ability to earn her living. So, it- is in other branches of tho l/rofesakm. although ;v.-know hedged stars are not looked upon with the same resentful eye as the lower rank persons How the theatrical managements view the whole question was thus compressed by the general manager of the Hugh Ward theatres (Mr Douglns): “When a man or a woman has art, and is able to express that art to the public, we don’t worry about social position. Jf art is there, what uoes it matter to us if the person has a title‘or hasn’t? “ After all. acting is an art. You cannot place it in the category of a trade union, neither can you consider its aspects from a trade union viev«point. “ Ability is the only thing that should count in the theatrical profession. We know that iu England many titled girls go on the stage. Yet it must be remembered that most of them first have the foundation of an excellent education . and then sometimes the advantage of training by professional actors cr actresses. “ Likewise, in the ballet •»nd in the chorus we arc bound by an arbitra- j tion award. We must pay girls a certain fixed rate. Ye don’t ask what their social position or their union status is.”

MONEY OR ART? WHICH DO THE MANAGERS PREFER. A Mew York cablegram recently reported David Belasco as saying: “ The theatre is not a shop. Tt represents art, and no manager worthy of the name seeks money alone/’ Messrs E. J. Tait and Hugh J. Ward are far from regarding the reference to wealth as a joke (says an Australian paper). Rather do they give Mr Belasco’s statements their serious endorsement. Few’ who ever left an enduring name in th theatre left also a fortune, says Mr Ward. "In England, Sir Henry Irving; in France, Bernhardt; in America, Mansfield—all died poor in worldly goods. They were great in management; also they were great artists,” noted Mr Ward. “ I have,” he says, “ no ambition to amass great wealth. As a manager I want to be a servant of the public, to give them wholesome entertainment. My mission is to make people happy and to m&ke them laugh. If you make money your sole, purpose you rarely get it. f have always found that money comes by putting the best, that is in you into your work. The purely commercial theatre is not a pleasant institution. Success is gratifying, of course, but it is more so when it is deserved, .lust now I happen to be associated with three big theatrical successes. That they are box office triumphs is exhilarating. That is the only way the public can show appreciation. Even Mr Belasco is’susceptible to that form of flattery. We all are. Still money is not everything.” MR TAJT PESSIMISTIC. “ How poor do you expect to die?” “ The way things are going at present.” replied Mr Tait to this qupestion, “ I expect, to die worth very little. Still, I hope to keep my head above water.” “ 1 do not think any theatrical manager will have, any money if there is any further increase in the cost of production and the restrictions with regard to business become any worse than they are. The past five years have been terrible. “ Conditions, in short, arc most hampering and embarrassing.”