Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 23, 8 December 1909, Page 14

Music and Drama.

By

BAYREUTH.

BOOKINGS. (Pates Subject to Alteration.) AUCKLAND - HIS MAJESTY’S. Nov. 29 to Pec. 18 — Wm. Anderson. Nov. 20 to Dec. 25 — Henry Hayward. Pec. 26 to Jan. 16—J. C. Williamson'S “King of Cadonia” Co. THE OPERA HOUSE. In Season—Fuller’s Pictures. WELLINGTON OPERA HOUSE. Nov. 22 to Dec. 9. Julius Knight. Dee. 10 to 18.—E. Branseonibe. Dec. 20 to 25.—Pictures. Dec. 26 to Jan. 15. J. C. Williamson. Jan. 17 to 2G.—Carter the Magician. Jan. 20 to Feb. 19. J. C. Williimson. Feb. 26 to March 25. Allan Hamilton. March 26 to April 18.—J. C. Williamson. 'April 19 to 27.- Mevnell .and Gunn. April 28 to May 18.— J. C. Williamson. May 19 to June 3. — Fred. H. Graham. June 4 to 25. —J. C- Williamson. THEATRE ROYAL. In Season. —Fullers' Piet tnes. PALMERSTON NORTH MUNICIPAL OPERA HOUSE. Dec. 27 to 29 — Carter, the -Magician.

Shr-r-r-r-iek. THE grand drama to which full poetic jnstic’ is done in this week’s issue in an article appearing on pages 42 and 43, entitled “Good Old Melodrama, ’’ has swooped down on 'Auckland. His Majesty overflows with palpitating people, whilst nt’ noble Jack and tearful Lilian gather all th? Great JlfVorld of London to their bosom. Seeing “The Great World of London” produced by Mr. William Anderson after several years' st journ in the big metropolis, I am quite convinced London is a much more marvellous place than even one can gather on intimate acquaintance. One has to come to the Southern Hemisphere ami abase oneself at the shrine of melodramatic deity to realise what little, alas! knowledge counts for. But that in trussing. The play itself defies description. From its construction, its intensely original lines, its superb dramatic action, genius such as Sardou, Moliere, Goethe, or even Shakespeare would have learnt much. There is no doubt that M. Maeterlinck. Mr. J. M. Barrie, and, yes—Mr. Bernard Shaw himself, would have been luridly impressed. Like many « comely dame and damsel, I s*‘. among the people and, let me frankly confess it, now, laughed and wept. Yes. 1 shed great gouts of tears. One readily went the whole gamut of emotion to witness its tragic humour—its screeching pathos The perfectly frank and inexplicable ■way the ehara ?ters walked on at the right time was beyond question. Dear Lilian and the ehe-ild were conspicuously handy to the wings. Slow music and the limelight never deserted them. T ie crowning moment of all came in the masterly conception of the Salvation Army shelter. The villain, with wealth untold snatched from the man he murdered, lay sleeping in liis “ coffin.’’ The detective hovered, near with awful eyes. Honest Jack was far away in gaol, spending his last night on earth, groaning goodbyes with his beloved ones. Next morning h? was to be handed for the villain's crime. (Pardon for sb superfluous an item.) At elev’eri o'clock the lights of the shelter were low’ered. The night turned strange arid sad. Five minutes later saw the detective having a Homeric struggle with the' villain, who emptied six chambers of his revolver at the audience (what they l.ad drinc, goodness knows.) A perfect fusillade went on outside the shelter, or rather behind the wings. You would have thought a squadron of Grenadiers had arrived with a.quick-firing battery to assist the detective. Nothing of the kind. Who should walk in but the herb, bis wife, his child, the “dear old lady,” and a whole regiment of supers. Nothing could be seen, 'n fact, for smoko, nothing heard for row. How did they a 1! manage to tumble in together at the psychological moment? Why did they join pellmell in the pandemonium of shouting deadliest*!? Indeed—in language celestial -—whaffor? It was a tremendous climax. Thus, after sixteen scenes of plague, pestilence, famine, battle, murder and sudden death, virtue rose triumphant. while a hoarse and perspiring crowd flad for the nearest pub.

Money-making Melodrama. Now, to slave misunderstanding. let it be al once admitted that from the boxoffice point of view, melodrama —particularly Australian melodrama—is legitimate business. It draws, as is to bo seen .in Auckland during the present season, hundreds of people. The coins chink merrily into the till, the manager stands by immaculate and 'beaming, arid the pro speet-s of the half-yearly dividend for* somebody grows rosier every moment. There is no artistic impulse, no intellectual yearning to raise the people above themselves. The business of melodrama is not tu educate, not to inspire, nor to humaniss the irrational conception of. the stage that exists in New Zealand. The business of ■melodrama is to make money. The higher the shriek, the greater the sensation; the larger the sensation the bigger the dividend. The legend about melodrama preaching a great moral is just as much a piece of euphemistic pretence as the concern of the ducal kindlord in Britain for the welfare of the workingman that a Liberal Budget is going to imperil. The whole interest it? melodrama is chiefly centred in the fact that the villain, a wholly distorted type, is bent upon leading excessively virtuous ladies like the heroine astray, and casting them aside only to resume Jiiis vicious 'tactics upon some other unsuspecting maid. Thus a strong sexual ■motive is set up that is on the face of it frankly, if not glaringly, immoral. There is no person I have yet been able to meet who lives in a perpetual state of villainy. Even the habitual criminal, whose intellect is invariably diseased, has his lucid and moral moments. The gentleman who always wears riding breeches, twirls a fierce black moustache, and curses everything and everybody, is a stage myth—a. melodramatic bogey. A more irrational conception of manhood never existed. It is upon this absurdity that the moral melodramatic-loving people hurl all their hisses and groans with that righteous Christian spirit which its ever reminiscent of the golden rule. Melodrama takes no account of these things, except in so far as they affect the box office. It is, in short, a commercial undertaking that lis ready to provide money-making thrills so long as the public are willing to purchase them. The Importance of the Stage. Against this sort of thing the whole of the artistic public must protest. Upon them entirely devolves the task of demonstrating to the masses that crude sensation is simply intellectual chaos. It is neither right nor just. That class of the community which realises that the betterment of intellectual and moral standards with the mass is essential to social progress have a right to demand of the theatrical companies who draw thousands of pounds annually from New Zealand that they should provide something more than “what the public wants.” If “the publie”—otherwise the unthinking section of the people—had all they wanted, we should possibly have amongst mariy other things, the country inundated with immoral literature. When we educate our children we do not give them what they want. The mass of mankind to-day are but older children. Education does not cease when a youth passes his twenty-first year. It is usually only beginning. Whether a man is twenty-five or forty, his education is still incomplete. The claims of the stage in Anglo-Saxon countries have not, as on the Continent of Europe, recognition from the State. In Australasia it is entirely the province of individual managers and agencies. The stage today is one of the most potent factors we have for the cultivation of the artistic impulses of the people. A certain amount of that culture is essentia) to the social welfare. With the Australasian theatrical manager rests a very large responsibility. He has the privilege of determining whether he will educate or vitiate the artistic qualities of tlie public. With commercial considerations rampant, it is inevitable that the public should be vitiated. Melodrama can only be regarded as a vitiating element. It appeals only to the blind, unreasoning elements in man's nature—• the elements against which evolution has been at war eternally. The intelligent public, I repeat, have a right to demand

something better than that. Some day they will wake up to the fact that that demand can be expressed and realised through the powers of the State and the municipality, as it is done to-day on the Continent. Great Musical Festival. Dr. Charles Harriss, after having successfully enlisted the warm sympathies of Earl Dudley, Governor-General of Australia, Mr. Deakin, a-nd leading musical societies and the profession of Australia in his great festival project, which in 1911 is to encircle the British Empire, left Melbourne on Wed--1 fipday for New Zealand. Sydney and

Melbourne will each have a week of festivals, the Melbourne Liedertafel, Philharmonic and Victoria festival chorus, combining with the Sheffield choir in a mammoth performance of “Elijah,” to be conducted by Dr. Henry Coward. The Adelaide Philharmonic, Orpheus, Liedertafel, University choir, and Port Adelaide Societies will combine with the British choir in a three days’ festival at Brisbane. Ballarat, Geelong, and ■other towns will hold festivals. The Lord Mayors of Sydney and Melbourne extend a welcome to the British choristers. His Excellency Earl Dudley, has become hon. president of the festivals throughout the Commonwealth. Dr. Harriss bears credentials to his Excellency Lord Plunket and Sir Joseph Ward.

A Curious Comedy. “Don” is the title of Mr. Rudolf Besier’s new comedy produced recently in London at the Haymarket Theatre. The story, it must be admitted, borders on the impossible. Stephen Bonington, the hero, is the son of Canon Bonington. Rector of Oldwick, and fe engaged to Ann Sinclair, the daughter of General Sinclair, and a wholly admirable young lady of the period. .Stephen is a poet by inclination and calling, lets his hair grow a bit long, dreams dreams, tilts at windmills, and all that sort of thing. Across his pa tics strays Elizabeth Thompsett. Elizabeth something else she is when he first meets her; but no matter. She is beautiful, good, and true—the orphan daughter of a London curate, penniless, alone, earning a poor but honest livelihood as waitress in a restaurant. Quixotic. So Stephen gets her a situation as companion to his own mother, which sounds, somehow, a Quixotic thing to do. In due time she loses the place, and Stephen gets her more work, in London this time. Incidentally he soothes her solitary leisure with pleasant little dinners, theatre tickets, pocket money, and the like, which is noble and charitable, but nowadays open to misconstruction. To him it is a more matter of impulse —all in a day’s march, like tossing a copper to a beggar—but it has the normal effect on Elizabeth, who falls hopelessly in love with him. As an offset to this hopeless passion she marries Mr. Thompsett. She is a Church-woman. Thompsett is an uncompromising member of the Plymouth Brethren. A baby is born anl dirs. The husband and wife are at cross purposes. She writes to Stephen to come and see her. He goes, and takes her away—takes her back to his own mother’s house, but spends a night at Kettering on the way. Embarrassing Scene. As a matter of fact his actual behaviour is impeccable, but it is open to misconstruction and when he arrives at the rectory with the lady in his arms—she

has collapsed with fright and worry—there is rather a scene. His sweetheart, her father and mother are there as guests, and he fails to explain the circumstances. Mr. Thompsett also is in hot pursuit; and when eventually he arrives on the scene and demands his wife, the situation becomes more ' than dramatic. In the end, however, everybody arrives a-t a happy understanding; Mr. Thompsett goes home to Sheffield with his Elizabeth, and Ann Sinclair falls into the poet’s arms as the curtain comes down. A Potential Innovation. Important changes in the constitution of the theatrical firm of Clarke, Meynell, and Gunn are now announced by Mr. Clyde Meynell (says the "Sydney Morning Herald”), and may be presumed to ensue upon the regretted death of the late John Gunn. For some time past, beginning with the production in Australia of "Miss Hook of Holland,” two managers of note in England have share 1 in the musical ventures of the Australian firm. During the past month Sir Rupert Clarke has conferred with on: of them, Mr. Mil ton Bode, in London, ■with the result that the new man will identify himself more actively with affairs on this side, and will follow the senior - partner (now on his way here) so as to arrive in February next. With him will come Mr. St. John Denton, the foremost theatrical agent in London, who assisted materially in securing the artists for “Mists Hook of Holland,” an 1 also shared the responsibilities of the. ‘"Cinderella” venture. One of Mr. Bode’s chief objects ’in visiting this country will be to realise more fully the scope of theatrical affairs on this side, which is so much larger than he had believed possible that he is inclined to do business.

London Theatre to be Taken. In this connection one of his ideas is to take a London theatre with his Australian partners, from which centre new pieces and new artists "would be forwarded as occasion might . offer. The •scheme is a big one, and Mr. Bode is just the man to carry it out, being wealthy, experienced, and successful. He has further notified, in the course of a paragraph published by the ‘"Era,” that part of his scheme will be to produce musical pieces, for Which at the moment no theatre is available in London, first in Sydney and Melbourne, as he considers those centres important enough to give him a thoroughly reliable verdict.; Though still in the’prime of life,-having been born at Birmingham in 1863, M'". Bode has produced over 60 pantomimes in England, and is co-prbprietor wit y Edward Compton (head of the famous Compton Comedy Company) of theatres at Reading, -Leicester (two), Wolverhampton, Huddersfield, Northampton, Leicester, Chester! Leamington, and Brighton. Last year this firm, the most powerful provincial 1 combination, in England, directed no fewer than 16 pantomimes. Mr. Miltoil Bode has also an interest in the Robert Arthur circuit, which includes the (Coronet, Kennington, Camden, and Fulham theatres in out-nr London. Developments resulting from the new alliance are likely to benefit Australian playgoers by ensuring them a. succession of first-rate attractions on Asehe-Brayton lines.; Mr. Meynell also states that when "The Arcadians” is produced next year, the only artists of the. present combination to be retained for it will be Essie Berlin and Wm. Cromwell, with Mr. Vfcfbr Chanrpioii as conductor. "The Arcadians,” it may b-i added, is ouch a .tremendous success atthe Shaftesbury Theatre that the new liessce, our one-time visitor Mr. Robert Courtneidge, has igone-holiday-making to J&pan on the strength of it!

The Coming of Matheson Lang. 1.-Mr. Matheso-li "Bang and Miss Hnfbf Bri|ton will open; their Australian -tour $ Hall Caine’ss“Pote”. next-May,yfend to them will also fall the production of .jterbme’s mystic play, “The Passing of Hie. Third Floor-i Back.” Mr. George Willoughby is bringing- with him as -star rto-median in "The Night of the Party.” ;iyd "Mr. Preedy and the Countess,” Mr David James, jun., an actor of the ‘'Alfred Jingle” typoi widely popular in England. Miss -Ajjjy <-Willaifd, who Was Mith the Nellie Stewart Company two <fr : three years ago, will be the souTxrejtte in this comedy combination, which will open at the Princess’ Theat e on February 26. Mr.' Meynell has now disbanded “Thg Hypocrites”-and “Lucky, Dilfham” 1 company, 'which terminated their topr qt.. P&rth, Mr. James LimiBay 4 , who had been out here three or

four years ago, and Mi-s Emily Fitzroy have sailed for London; Miss Harvey and Mr. Frank Randall, and Mr. and'Miss Deverell remain with the firm; an I Messrs. Harcourt Beatty and Gaston Mervale join Miss Nellie Stewart’s company. What Might Have Befallen Baeyertz. A cable last week says: “Resenting criticisms' of the singing of his wife, Madame Clara Butt, the famous contralto,- who recently visited Australasia, Mr. Kennerley Rumford boxed the ears of the "Times’” musical critic (Mr. Collis) in the vestibule of the Queen’s Ha''. Mr. Rumford refused the “Times’” demand for an apology, alleging the “socalled criticism” was one of a series of attacks. Mr. Collis has, therefore, commenced Police Court proceedings. Pupils" Recitals. The season of juvenile recitals has been in full -bloom lately. The week saw recitals by the pupils of the Webbe School of Music, Mr. Walter Im-pett, Mrs. Hamilton Hodges, and Miss Elsie Hamilton. Each recital had its distinguishing features, notably the -performance of Amy AVoouforde Finden’s "The Pagoda of Flowers” and the concerted work of Mr. Webbe’s pupils. The reappearance of Miss Madoleine Webbe and Miss Gertrude Spooner at these concerts was much to be welcomed. The former was conspicuous by her accompaniments, but unfortunately was not able, through illhealth, to give us a characteristic indication of her instrumental abilities in the promised “Andante and Presto,” from Mendelssohn concerto. Miss Weibbe has a finished technique. She accompanies very sympathetically, but is prone at times to so subdue the piano part that the solo instrument is robbed of necessary

support. This iwae .somewhat obvious in the 2nd movement of the violin concerto (Mendelssohn), which Miss Peggy Bain played "by special request.” The latter shows atti-wetiye qualities in -her string work. Both numbers on Thursday night’s recital, “Priere” (Squire) and "Legende” (Bohm), revealed poetic insight and breadth of tone. Miss Gertrude Spooner played -both the Chopin G Minor Ballade and the Liszt transcription of "The Erl King” (Schubert) in a manner that was at once plea.siin-g and. impressive. She puts nervous energy, physique and temperament into her work, which belongs to the order of virtuoso playing. She Is undoubtedly one of the finest lafly plan is ts in the (Dominion. The playing of the pupils I heard fluting the week exhibits evidence of systematic training; o The more advanced grades are not distinguished by a numerous company of students, but no doubt that will come in time. The system 4f teaching to play from memory, wbiph Mr. Web.be-inculcates, has much to: recommend it. .. Not rt few of the younger students are. keen, and energetic. The most, obvious fact about all the recitajs is the large number of girl students, nod the almost complete absence of boys.. It seems to, be. jne-yitable that in a country where outdoor . are so keenly sought the boy musical student is cpinparatively a rara avis. The cultivatitjh of all the arts, suffers in New Zealand by reason of this factor. There ought to be time for (Both, but apparently neither parents nor youths care to make it. VVe baye a class of .people in New Zealand who are given to the expressive in-

quiry, "Wot's the good of pianner playing, anyway ?” One might well further query, "What's the good of anything?” Thus is ignorance enthroned and reason blighted. A Musical Euclid. Max Reger, not long ago pronounced “the musical hero of the day” by “Die Musik” (Berlin), and everywhere conceded to be one of the challenging figures among living composers, has been giving some concerts in England. His music kindled a lively curiosity and interest there, and was hailed as something entirely new. Yet the Reger compositions are not anew in the sense that Strauss’ compositions are new. These two may be said to represent the opposite poles of musical thought and expression. The Real Strauss. A writer in “The Contemporary Review,” A. E. Keeton, declares:— “Strauss is the lineal descendant in music of Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner. He is at once the most pictorial and the most sensational' of modern composers. There would appeal" to be nothing in the universe too concrete for him to attempt its transmutation into musical notation. He seeks any and every abnormal utterance of the gamuts of human passion and feeling and intellect. He is indifferent whether he finds his material in life or in literature, but preferably in the latter. He summons to his aid every resource and mechanical device of dramatic and musical technique. When he has all his appliances firm in his hold—the human as well as the mechanical elements—he starts to juggle with them, as if, after - all, the one aim and object of his art should be a display of the conjurer’s dexterity.

For Reger—Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner need not necessarily have existed. He is distinctly a less literary musician even than Brahms. For the ‘Heldenleben’ or the ‘Salome’ of Strauss he has nothing more extensive to offer than a sonata. As a balance to the costly, complicated machinery of ‘Elektra’ he asks at most for a quintet of instruments. But for all that he is as much a juggler and cudgeller as Strauss.”

Reger in Contrast. Reger, the same writer informs us, is enamoured of fugue, and frankly avows as his guiding motto: “Baek to Bach.” The outstanding quality-of his compositions is a certain intellectual severity and unflinching logie. His inspiration se'eins to come front the brain, rather than from the heart, and perhaps this explains why so much of his music is Written about the ideas of other men. To quote again: “Much of Reger’s best work is in variation form. Themes taken directly from Bach and Beethoven give him the support most intimatelv .sympathetic to his own nature. Musically, his treatment is every whit as great a feat of creative power ami ihYagination as are the ‘Don Quixote Variations upon a Knightly Theme’ of' Strauss, or the ‘Enigma Variations’ “of Elgar! The point of departure of each respective composer is an emblein of his relationship to life and his art. Strauss, the most literary of contemporary composers, resorts tp a universal classic. Hb so enhances and deepens the spirit

of Cervantes, that his music moves along condensing one or other phrase, concrete or psychic, into each variation. But unless we knew Strauss’ startingpoint, the music would convoy little significance. Knowing the story, on the other hand, Strauss’ score becomes one of the choicest pieces of musical characterisation that we possess. . , . Reger might sit dumb and blank if asked to tell a story or dramatise a human being in music. A theme from one of Bach’s Cantatas, or the opening phrase from No. 11 of Beethoven’s Bagatelles Op. 119, is as much of an intellectual and emotional incarnation to him as Strauss can derive from ‘Don Quixote.’” Reger's Theory. The best, and it may be the most attractive introduction to Reger, we read further, is his small text-book, "The Theory of Modulation,” published at Munich in 1903. Here Reger propounds his theory in one hundred examples of modulating cadences from the common chord of C major through every possible—ami. according to more than one critic, impossible—key and transpository sequence. To Reger a chord of music resembles a human individuality. It is subject to environment and capable of infinite development and variety. \\ hen once a chord is born ho wishes its growth to be fostered with the best of what he calls "musical logic. ’ It must be held up and nurtured and sustained. But it must also be given liberty to grow. The result, of his method is thus described:—“lf tve play over Reger's examples consecutively upon either piano or organ, without a break, the ear receives an impression -of a wonderfully full-pulsed mingling of tone. It can be harsh and strange, forbidding and puzzling. But it never once sounds exhausted or thin, or insipid. Its texture is finely woven, without being opaque. It modulates so instantaneously that at first it can leave one with a bewildered dazzling sensation as of a kaleidoscope of sound. To jump suddenly from the older ideas of modulatory movement to the. conclusions of Reger is, as it might be, to emerge from a stage coach and hop into an aeroplane. Each time that we turn to him, though, we can rest and dwell upon his badehees with more and more satisfaction. " When we dissect his component parts, especially the inner voices, we find how strongly wrought and melodic each voice can be in itself. We may call Reger a musical Euclid.” London Choral Society. The London Choral Society, conducted by Mr. Arthur Fagge, commences its new season in the Queen’s Hall, when the principal work to be performed is Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius,” hi which Miss Phyllis Lett, Mr. Gervase Elwes,' and Mr. Thomas Meux will be the principal vocalists. A nq-velty will be provided on the occasion, tor the oratorio will be preceded by a work entitled “Sursum Corda,” composed by Mrs. Margaret Meredith. It is a short choral and orchestral piece, which has not hitherto been produced in the form in which it will then be given. At the second concert, on December 1, Handel’s “The Messiah” is to be heard. The solo singers engaged for the occasion are Mme,, Cotfly, Miss Gwladys Roberts, Mr. Ben Davies, and Sir Charles Santley. The last-named vocalist will sing, inter alia, tbe bass aria "Thou art gone up on high.” For the third concert, fixed for February, 15, a specially attractive programme has been arranged. It will include all t-by three pants of Mr. Granville Bantock’s “ Omar Khayyam.” The first arid second parts of the , work have already bpen twice given by this society in the fpetrbr polis, but this will be the first performance, in London, of the third pari, which only obtained its initial hearing at the Birmingham festival last week. \'pe!alisls will be ‘.he same as at the Birmingham performance’, mitnely, Miss Phyllis Lett, M l '- John Coates, and Mr. Frederic Austin. Fot the fourth concert the programme lias not yet been determined oil, but it will either include some new successful work which may bo produced at one of the autumn provincial festivals, or failing this, Bach’s “St. Matthew Pqssion ” or a selection of unaccompanied pnr|,ipußic, which will among other things comprise Mr. Granville Bantock's new unaccompanied cantata, "The Rock.” The programme would also comprise several numbers by eld English madrigal writers, Motets ’-y Bach, Peter Cotnclhia, etc.

Stray Notes. The “’Eart of an ’Em” is the strictly phonetic rendering of the latest artistic Creation that curdles Australian blood. It will be a marvel if New Zealand escapes it. Madame Calve, Miss Amy Castles, and the Besses o’ th’ Barn Band are all to tour New Zealand during the coming year under the direction of J. W. Tait. “Jack and Jill” Pantomime Company have settled down to rehearse “Aladdin,” which will be staged in Melbourne at Christmas. The principal boy —Lily Iris —has arrived in Australia. Melba sails from Perth on 31st January. Messrs. Dick Steuart and Charles Berkley are to pilot “The King of CadoIlia” Company through New Zealand. The tour of the Oscar Asche-Lily Brayton Company will probably be extended to South Africa, South America and the United States. Messrs. Clarke, Meynell, and Gunn are arranging terms for the appearance of the conipany in the countries mentioned. New Zealand is apparently only fit for film, bubbles and shriek.