MUSIC

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue XII, 17 September 1898, Page 370

MUSIC

.and Drama.

On Friday evening l last the memIhts of the A nek land Liedertafel presented Mr Cyril Towsey, who is leaving the North to study music in Wellington, with a handsome metronome. A silver plate, was attached on the instrument expressing the good wishes of the donors for Mr Towsey's future career. Mr S. G. Frith. Chairman of the Committee of the Society, made the presentation, and in a short sjjeech testified to the esteem in which M r Towsey was held by all music lovers in Auckland.

The Japanese concert held at Danevirke on Monday, September 5, attracted an unusually large audience, and went off most successfully. Miss M. tiny’s song. ‘Merry Little Jap," was much appreciated, and so was the ‘Fan Song.’ by Miss Freeman; the Misses Tansley, the Misses Guy and Miss .McCallum; ‘Chinghai,’ sung by Miss Paterson; and the vocal solos by Mr Hartgill, were greatly enjoyed. Pretty duets were given by Miss Tansley and Mr Deighton. and by Miss F. Tansley and Mr Dumaresque. Miss McArthur. the Misses Guy and Miss Wratt also gave much pleasure by their musical contributions. Another part of the programme was the representation of statues. Amongst those who took part in these were Miss Freeman as "A Captive.’ Mrs Bickford as ‘Justice,’ and Miss B. Hunter as ‘Grief.’ A committee has for some time l>een working hard in getting up this concert, and in introducing into it some novel features, and the organisers are much to be congratulated on the successful entertainment which afforded pleasure to a. great many people and considerably augmented the church funds. The Alf. Woods Dramatic Company, which continues to hold the boards at the Auckland Opera House, staged ‘The White Squadron’ on Thursday last. The play, which is new to New Zealand, is of quite a different character to its predecessor, ‘The Gates of Bondage.’ Inferior to the latter as a piece of literary work, its construction displays an acquaintance with the kind of situations which seldom fail to win the popular interest and applause. It appeals to the cruder forms of dramatic taste, which are also the most easily satisfied. The setting is military, a’ fact that of itself goes a long way to secure success; and there is a strong flavour of war, legitimate and illegitimate, throughout the whole play. For the illegitimate we are dependent on a certain Brazilian general, who adds to the excitement of his life and the length of his purse by leading a band of brigands. This last fact is only revealed to the audience till a young British captain, on Itehalf of the foreign Powers, defeats the general and lets the whole stage into the secret of his double personality. The tale, as one will readily understand. gives plenty of opportunity for tropical scenery. bright, uniforms and gunpowder. which the house likes. Mr Alf. Woods. Miss Maud Williamson. Mr Boothman. and Mr Bussell filled the leading roles of Captain Staunton, Oresta. the Brazilian general and his daughter with marked success, and the other characters were very fairly represented.

Genius is commonly supposed to have a hard row to hoe in this weariful world for many years before it is acclaimed—and ruined by adulation — but. as we have had occasion to point out before, the young genius of to-day really might, almost be described as one born with a golden spoon in his mouth, so early and so richly is he rewarded. M. Rostand is the latest illustration of this early success. He is very young, but his ‘Cyra.no de Bergerac’ has captured Paris as nothing has captured it since the great days of Victor Hugo: in the theatre and in tin' library this play is winning immense applause, and the author finds fame and riches lying at his feet. It is a thing to rejoice over. Nothing in the history of literature is more profoundly gratifying than the generous tale of homage instantaneously rendered to n brilliant piece of work.

Mine. Adelina Patti must have followed events in Cuban waters with no little interest. In was in Cuba that she sang in public for the first time in her life, when she was only 14 years of age and still under the care of her father. The family was very poor, and placed all its hopes on the miraculous voice of little Adelina, whom, howeverthey did not dare to produce in public on account of her youth. The opportunity came one day at a concert organised by the Philarmonic of Cuba, and though the •debutante’ was timid and inexperienced, her success was complete. The audience insisted on an encore, and applauded the young singer deliriously. Mlle. Patti was immediately christened ‘the wonderful child’ by the tuneful Cubans, and thus began the prima donna's brilliant career. That clever French musician. Albert ploration throughout Europe. After

Germany and Portugal he has now come to Hungary, and has published an elegant little volume similar to those on the other two countries. Hungary is certainly, from a musical point of view, one of themost interesting, most original and the most curious fields of study. We cannot be indifferent to a land which has produced, to mention only those of world-wide reputation, Hummel, Franz Liszt, Stephen Heller. Carl Goldmark. Erkel Joachim, Remenyi and Leopold Auer. It offers us besides a peculiarly picturesque element in that singular and captivating music of the gypsies, of which Liszt has described the effect in his book, ‘The Bohemians and Their Music in Hungary.’ It is to be hoped that Soubies will not forget Bohemia in his voyage of discovery, and that he will familiarise us with the land of Czerwenka. Dussek, Moscheles. Swoboda, les Benda, Dreyschock. Prokseh.

Punto. Les Staisny, Charles Czerny, Franz Bendel, Kalliwoda, Tichatscheek. and among our contemporaries, David Popper, Edouard Hanslick, Mme. Wilhelmine Szarvady, etc. That would certainly be an excursion full of interest, after which he might make a tour in Sweden and Norway while waiting to conduct us as far as China, in order to make us acquainted with the Massenets and Saint-Saens of the yellow country. A sad fate is following the theatres of Italy. The Quirino at Rome has been suddenly closed, by whi.'h the director will sustain a loss of 21,000 fiancs. And at Potenza the impresa has closed the doors of the theatre, leaving the artists and the employees out in the eold. The amateur society at Milan whicL has undertaken to exploit the Scala has mi.de choice of a director-adminis-trator whr will be put at the head of

the enterprise. The ehoiee has fallen upon M. Gatti-Casazza, engineer, who ha-- for five years directed the Municipal Tneatre of Ferrara, where tie gave proof -of great capacity. A French scientist argues that the pitch of the human voice is gradually falling, and has been falling for centuries past. Our forefathers, he says, were unaware what a really bass voice was. They all spoke and sang tenor. Now the average is baritone and the world is sinking slowly but surely to universal bass.

A new play called ’The Vicar’s Dilemma,’ was produced at Terry's Theatre, London, lately. This is what the ‘Daily Telegraph’ says of it: —We are all of us apt to make mistakes, but there are some errors in connection with the theatrical world that are quite incomprehensible. ‘The Vicar’s Dilemma,’ by A. Vicarson, is one ot those astounding mysteries that fairly puzzle the understanding, because the foolishness or vanity that might be |Hirdoned in an amateur should not exist in a theatre of some importance, that placards at the head of it such names as those of Edward Terry and Thomas Thorne. The public—the patient, docile public—looks to such a house for something far better than such trashy stuff as ‘The Vicar’s Dilemma,’ which at the best, is a badly written charade, without -point, without character, without plot, without one picture that is expected when money is demanded for an entertainment" at a West End theatre. At no suburban house would such a play be tolerated, not that there is any fault to be found with it except its feeble, pulseless amateurishness. During the recent series of Wagnerian performances in London Paderewski occupied a stall and settled himself comfortably for several hours’ enjoyment of ‘Siegfried.’ Immediately behind him two young women were seated who previous to his entrance had whiled away the time in execrating the management for obliging them to remove their hats, meanwhile accommodatingly scanning each other's coiffures to see if they were in a presentable condition and deftly fastening a hairpin here and a comb there, as women will. They paid little heed to the noted musician until the rising of the curtain caused them to turn their attention to the stage. Then their consternation knew no bounds. His luxuriant locks swept out in every direction and the maidens were obliged to dodge first one way’ and then another to get a glimpse of the actors. ‘Well, 1 never'.’ one of them at last exclaimed, ‘the idea of making women remove their hats and then oblige them to sit behind a thing like that.’

Professor Bristol with his trained horses will tour the colony next month.

The Pollards have slightly altered the order of their present tour. Wellington will under the new arrangement be visited the 26th of this month, ‘The Gay Parisienne’ being the opening piece.

Professor Dante, the great prestidigitateuT, opens in Napier on Saturday first. From the 20th to the 26th inst. he will show in Gisborne, and is booked to appear in Auckland on the 28th. After a week in the northern city he will continue his tour as under: Thames, October 5 to 7; New Plymouth. October 9 to 12; Hawera, Oct. 13 and 14; Wanganui, October 15 to 17; Palmerston North. October 19 and 20; Wellington, October 21 to 28. From Wellington he goes to Sydney, where he will perform for a season of two months at the Palace Theatre.

John Amadio, the young Wellington flautist, made his mark at a concert recently given by the Sydney Liedertafel.

Miss Amy Sherwin, who sails for England next month, opened her farewell season at the Town Hall, Sydney, on the 3rd inst., when Mr Henry Stockwell made his reap]»earanee after an absence of nearly six years; and Miss Kitty Grindlpy. Mr Lauranee Phillip and My Arthur Deane also Sang. His Excellency the Governor. Lady Hampden and suite were present.

The first production of ‘The. Gay Parisienne’ by the Pollards at Nelson was a great success. The Constance Hardy Dramatic Coni|*uny has been playing ‘The Silver King' in Christchurch. Harmston's Circus and Menagerie will open in Wellington at the end of the present month.