THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20635, 22 October 1938, Page 17 (Supplement)

THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

‘The Flying Dutchman” In Wellington Richard Wagner’s opera, “The Flying Dutchman,” will be sung next week by the Royal Wellington Choral Union, under the baton of Stanley Olivev. The principals will be:— Senta (Soprano) Alma Clegg Erik (Tenor) H. J. Francis Daland (Bass) Harison Cook Mary (Contralto) .. Grace Wilkinson Steersman (Tenor) .... H. J. Francis Dutchman (Baritone) Russell Laurenson Philharmonic Choir at Walkerla Members of the Hamilton Philharmonic Choir visited the Waikeria Institute on Thursday night, and presented a much-appreciated programme. The programme included: —Concerted numbers,' choir; songs, Misses A. Campbell and Lucy Lopdell, Messrs H. P. Duff and G. Wheeler; duet, Mrs Trcnbcrth and Mr Duff; trio, Mesdames Bonnar, Church and Storry; quartette, Messrs Pike, Hardman, •Choat and Wheeler; tap dance, Miss B. Choat; elocution. Miss G. Barton; piano-accordeon items, Miss Tui Molesworth; monologue, Mr David Reid; accordeon selections, Mr Emerson. Music is Not Learned in a Day Dr. James Lyon, examiner for the Trinity College of Music, London, caused a deal of amusement during an address in Christchurch. He said that when he was 17 he composed two or three symphonies and he thought he was a genius. When he was 25 he “knew” be was a genius. At 35 he began to have doubts about it. At 50 he found that he knew almost nothing.

By the time he was 60 he was beginning to learn.

much, of, if not more than, the ballet than anybody else in the world, told me that any form of sickness is a rarity among ballet dancers. When the present company was at Monte Carlo, he said, nearly everybody In the principality was down with virulent flu, but not one member of the ballet company was Infected. The ballet dancer Is exercising most of his waking moments —and strangely enough, most of them told me, they find rehearsals, instead of being arduous, combine relaxation as well. Work Eight Days a Week The producers are never strict at rehearsals because of the continuous strain of the evening performances. Nevertheless, ballerinas get little time for leisure as we know it. In Europe they work and rehearse “eight days a week,” as Jan Hoyer puts it. Haskell told me that one new phase is the political cartoon by ballet, although he considers that lampooning is not the function .of the art. The ballet cartoon he mentioned is The Green Table, by Kurst Joos (a German) which begins with a peace conference between dictators, then dis- | agreement, then the world at war with all its horrors depicted by the dancers, and finally a permanent peace conference. But it’s all wrong, says Haskell, because the ballet should be kept for beauty and not miseryIncidentally, some of the costumes brought to Australia by Tatiana Riabouchinska were made in London by the costumier who used to provide all Pavlova's wardrobe.