People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 929, 25 November 1933, Page 8

People and Their Doings.

A Portrait of Melba Which She Never Saw Completed : Election of Performers for the Tercentenary of the Passion Play : The Origin of a Famous Song.

SONGS have been written specially for Dame Clara Butt, who is to give four concerts at the Melbourne Town Hall, opening on Saturday, December 2. Amongst these are 44 Abide With Me,” and

the circumstances under which it was composed are particularly interesting. After he had finished his course as a student of composition at the Royal College of Music, London, where the famous contralto also received much of her training, Liddle was - obliged to take up work as an accompanist, and Dame Clara Butt declares he was the best accompanist she has ever had. Whenever he praised the artist’s voice, she asked him why he did not write something for it. One day she even forbade him to say anything more about her voice unless he wrote a song for her. Two days later he brought “ Abide With Me.” © 3? MOST momentous Election of Players was recently held at Oberammergau, next year’s performance being the tercentenary of the Passion Play. Alois Lang will again play the part of Christ, and Anton Lang, most famous of players in this role, is to take over the Prologue. Melchior Breitsamter, who works in a sawmill, is to take the important part of Pontius Pilate. Other important male roles are St Peter by Peter Rendl, and St John by Willi Bierling. A dramatic moment was when the name of Hans Zwink was announced for the part of Judas. He had formerly played in a minor role. Anni Rutz, who will again play the Virgin Mary, has “worked in England as a domestic servant. Mary Magdalene is being taken by Klara Mayr. Her long journey back from America especially for the Elections *has therefore been well worth while. The last player in this part, Hansi Preisinger, has married, consequently forfeiting her right to re-election. Rehearsals have now commenced in preparation for the first performance, probably to be held on Whit Monday next year.

ALTHOUGH SMALL FAMILIES are practically unknown in the south of Italj r , the Fascist Government has extended its propaganda for large ones hither and to this end several relics of the Dea Matuta, the ancient Roman goddess of maternity, have been collected and put in a new wing of the old museum at Capua. These are extolled as good examples for the mothers of modern Italy to follow. There are carved statuettes of women with small children on their arms, shoulders and heads, few having fewer than four and many having twelve. Children who died in infancy are represented in the old statuettes head downwards. These rough carvings have come from the' graves of an ancient cemetery a few miles away; they were evidently votive offerings eventually interred with the mothers of families who lived centuries ago in that part of'ltaly. There are also relics of a temple to the Deity which once stood in Capua and a statue of the goddess of maternity herself, holding a dove in one hand and a pomegranate in the other, symbols of fidelity and fertility. ® V W rjENERAL NICHOLAS YUDENITCH. who, as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armies in the Caucasus during the Great War. won repeated victories and suffered his first severe defeat at the hands of the Bolshevists in 1919, has died in exile at St Laurent du Var at the age of 71. He was best known for his victory at Erzerum on February 16, 1916, when the Russians captured 13,000 prisoners, more than 300 guns and immense quantities of ammunition and supplies. He then, captured Erzingan and Trebizond, thus completing the conquest of Turkish Armenia. As a military operation the capture of Erzerum was a great feat. It was the depth of winter and the wings of the army had to advance through high and difficult mountainous country, a task successfully accomplished by the famous Cossack cavalry.

QNE of the most interesting portraits at the exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in London -was the last ever painted of Dame Nellie Melba, by Mr David Jagger. Begun four years ago, this was originally intended to be a full-length picture of the great singer, standing in her private box at Covent Garden, bouquet in hand, receiving the plaudits of the audience. She thought that this would be a splendid souvenir of her triumphs, as at the time there was talk of demolishing the Opera House. Mr Jag- . , , ger made special studies there for the background, but hardly had he completed his preliminary sketch and a head of his sitter when he was commissioned to paint Queen Marj', and so temporarily shelved all other work. Melba, who had to leave London meanwhile, was so anxious that her portrait should be finished in time to send to the Royal Academy that she offered to rent a Paris studio, where Mr Jagger could complete it. He was unable to do this, and soon after Melba sailed on the unfortunate voyage during which she died. 32? 32? 9 gIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “ Star ” of November 25, 1573): Napier, November 25. —A Native messenger, overland, brings news that the sitting of the Court at Poverty Bay passed off satisfactorily. Coal has been found on the run of Mr Chambers, fifteen miles inland from Napier. Great Southern Railway.—The platelaying on this railway is now done for a distance of about eleven miles south of the Rakaia, and it is anticipated that the rails will be in position as far as the Ashburton by Christmas, though the line will not be open until six months from now.