AMATEUR OPERA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue VIII, 22 February 1896, Page 203

AMATEUR OPERA.

WKLUNGTON OPERATIC SOCIETY

THE Wellington Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society was formed in 1888, and numbers at the present time somewhere about 60 acting and 90 honorary members. Founded originally solely with the object of treating the theatre going public of the Empire City with regular seasons of good opera, it some five years ago amalgamated with the Amateur Dramatic Society, having at the time an idea of occasionally putting on dramatic works for the assistance of local charities, and particularly the maintenance of a child’s ‘ cot ’ in the Wellington Hospital instituted by the Dramatic Club.

Up to the present time, however, opera has entirely superseded the drama, owing chiefly to the difficulty in procuring the rights for the performance in public of popular modern plays. Still, the original intention is being kept ‘ steadily in view.’ In the eight years of its existence the Society has done excellent operatic work, as may be gathered from the fact that it has at different times staged * The Pirates of Penzance,’ ‘The Sorcerer,’ ‘The Mikado,’ ‘ lolanthe,' ‘Rip Van Winkle,’ ‘Yeomen of the Guard,’ ‘ Ruddigore ’ (for the first time on any colonial stage), ‘The Monarch of Utopia ’ (an entirely local composition) and ‘ Princess Ida.’ Three of these were revived for short

seasons, thus making a total of twelve operas in eight years, involving an expenditure of over /'5,000-not a bad record. The season of ‘ Princess Ida ’ finished on the 17th January, and in this issue we give a photographic group of the ‘ principals.’ The performance was notable from the fact that the ‘cast,’ from a musical point of view, was the strongest ever got together. This was just as it should be, for it is an opera the success of which depends almost solely upon its musical and scenic beauties, there being no excruciatingly funny man, as in the case of most of the Gilbert and Sullivan series, as a foil to the other characters in the piece. King Gama, who only appears in the first and final acts, is a cynic rather than a wit, and his royal rival, King Hildebrand, is a mere lay figure with one patter song and very little talk. The dramatic work in the recent production was uniformly good, and the opera ranks as one of the best performances of the Society. As to the characters, the role of the Princess was taken by Madame Eveleen Carlton, an English concert singer not long in the colony, and who first settled in the Taranaki district. She made her Wellington debut in oratorio, and her success encouraged her to become a permanent resident in Wellington, where she is regarded as the foremost of our soprano singers. ‘ Ida ’ music has probably never been better sung than by Madame Carlton, and though it would be idle to pretend that she reached the same heights from a dramatic point of view, she undoubtedly scored. Prince Hilarion was played by Mr J. W. Hill, a young Wellingtonian, and scion of a

clever family, who lately returned from England after some years of study at the famousConservatorium ofmusic at Leipsic. His singing of the beautiful song, ‘ Twenty Years Ago,’ was one of the finest things in the opera. His brother, Mr E. J. Hill, another popular tenor, and one of the ‘ lights ’ of 1 Ruddigore ’ performance, ran him closely for honours in the part of Cyril. The other courtier, Florian, was in the capable haiids of Mr Geo. F. Par sons, whose fine figure and voice was an admirable foil to the others. Mr Alfred Levi, formerly stage manager to the Napier Society and now filling the same onerous office to the Wellington Society, gave a carefully studied sketch of King Gama, and Mr W. D. Lyon looked ‘ every inch a king ’as Hildebrand. Genuinely clever were the dramatic sketches given by Miss Jessie Newton and Miss Mabel Hill in the parts of Lady Blanche (a lady of uncertain age and faded form) and her daughter ‘ Melissa.’ and Miss Curtice, as Lady Psyche, was also good. The smaller parts of Sacharissa, Chloe, and Ada (sweet girl graduates) were filled by Miss Mowatt, Mrs Woolcott. and Miss Cook, and those of King Gama's warrior sons, Arae Guron, Scynthius, by Messrs R. Hall, N. W. Bell, and W. J. Hueston.

The chorus, consisting of 45 voices, was strengthened by an orchestra of over a dozen instruments entirely under the control of the Society’s conductor, Mr T. Tallis Trimnell, who will be remembered bv Aucklanders as formerly organist of St. Mary’s Church, Parnell, and who is now filling a similar post at St. Peter’s, Welling ton.