Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 18, 4 May 1910, Page 14

Music and Drama.

By

BAYREUTH.

BOOKINGS. • (Dales Subject to Alteration.) AUCKLAND-HIS MAJESTY’S. !Apri! 2.*» io May 14—J. C. Williamson, May 16 to 29 Allan Hamilton. May 30 to Jone IS Moy noil and Gunn. June 20 to July G J. C. Williamson. July 7 to 1G MeyneH and Gunn, July 18 to 31 Hugh J. Ward. {’August 1 to 13 .1. (’. Williamson. 1 to 3 Auckland Boxing Asso September " to 21 J. C. Williamson. September 2G to October I'J—Allan Hamilton October 20 to November t Fred Graham. THE OPERA HOUSE In Season - Fuller*# Pictures. WE LU NGTON—OF^R A HOUSE. April L’s to May IS- Marlow Dramatic Co. jZMny 19 t<» JuiH* 3. J. Williamson. June 1 tv Jun is Allan Hamilton. July 4 tn July 23. -Clarke and McynelL VAugust 1 to August Hugh Ward. TSept. 1 io Sept. 14. .1, C. Williamson. ..Oct. 7to Del. 2G. J. <'. Williamson. .’’Oct. 27 to November 3. Mian Hamilton. ' IH Nov. 12 to November 21 Fred 11. Graham, 2l. six weeks’ season.- J. C. .Williamson, THEATRE ROYAU (Vaudeville (permanent). ~l “ f Strauss Vindicated—" Salome ’* Freed from Censorship. THE triumph uf Richard Straus* lu England is complete. News by the mail tells that the ban laid by the censor on his “Salome,” founded on the play 3.»y Oscar Wilde, has been removed. It avill In l given during the next autumn season by Mr. Thomas Beecham, at CoVent Garden. The LiiglitniiiK Conductor. t £diauss was called the lightning conductor in London because immediately he after having travelled from Berlin through EurojK* and across the ChanJivl, the following dialogue took place be--tvveeri him ami Mr. Quinlan, Mr. Beecham’s manager, who met him. \Vht*n is the rehearsal tomorrow * , Alt. Quinlan: Eleven o’clock. • ’ ,; S irau -< ( >; aeca to): Why not ton O’clock ? i Mr. QVtiinlan (andante): We thought you might be tired. You can have a leGureh rvhea r>al. Str.in-- (presto): A rehearsal! Gott 5m Himmel! only one rehearsal! 1 ttired Mr. Quinlan (pianissimo): Of course, if — - iStraiHS (allegretto): I must have two rehearsal.** to -morrow. We must begin si I ten. Ten till one. then an interval for lunch. Then, two till live. Mr. Quinlan (tremolo): Of course, of course. Two rehearsals, Mi-s Rose. (This ■/to Miss Fumes Ro-e. the ( hrysoth&mi* of •'Eleklra.” who wib with him.) F When thr-c business preliminaries were ■finished. Dr. Strauss told a newspaper . <man that it was the crown of his life 4<» conduct “Elektra” at ('oveni' Garden. ••One has dreams,’’ hw said, “and my dream is to conduct • Elektra’ in every of the world. It is loginning to come true." die is delighted with Nn* reception of Jfhe opera. “1 do not read English, but •the criticisms have been translated. to ■no. They are just and generous, and I xtoel that my work is understood. 11 is mistake to t*hink that I write deliberately io confuse people. . . 1 write wluit 1 feel ami what I hear. I I write a lavndwn symphony? B > > » Ah. that depends. It would make a great symphony, the orchestra of London, the thousand and one noises -jblvnded together into harmony, repro* -Fontiflig -the spirit of the grey city. The lu>ot of the motor cabs, the iu»iso of cabpyhistles, the thunder of the trallic, the ‘Shout of the newsboys. But at present I am busy on my new opera.” The Sncceii of 4 ‘ Elektra.”

The Queen, Princess Victoria, and -mite Avcre .present at Covent Garden Opera 41 louse, London, last mouth, when Dr. the composer of “Elektra,” conducted the performance of his own opera. <Cvenr seal in the house was taken. So numerous were the applicants for tickets

that the theatre could have been filled more than twice over. The noticeable point in the interpretation of Dr. Strauss as compared with that of Mr. Beecham was an almost extravagant attention to extreme graduation in the matter of crescendos and diminuendos, and an insistence on prominent brass passages that rendered them almost barbaric in effect. There were scenes of much enthusiasm during and after the performance. The popularity of the opera during the season was extraordinary. “If we cotrid have got the artists to sing we could ■have given it every night and filled the (house to overflowing each time,’’ said a •representative of Mr. Thomas Beecham, who organised the season. No work of recent times has had anything like the vogue of “Elektra.’’ In the original programme five performances were arranged. This would have been doubled, and it is only because more , were quite impossible, if the scheme of the season was to I>e carried out, that- even this limit had to be -set. Enthusiastic Scene. At the close there was a scene of enthusiasm not often witnessed even at Covent Garden. The orchestra and the whole of the great audience that filled every corner of the house rose and cheered again and again. The principals were called at least a dozen times. Dr. Strauss appeared four times amid deafening applause. Still the cheers came from stalls to gallery. At last the audience obtained what they wanted. Mr Thomas Beecham came forward and received the triumph lie deserved. After the performance Mr Frank Rendle and Air Thomas Beecham gave a reception and supper at the Savoy. During the reception both Mr Thomas Beecham and Mr Joseph Beecham, his father, hinted at great surprises in store for opera-goers in England. It is understood that they referred to negotiations which are in progress to secure the services of Mme. Melba and Signor Caruso. Dr. Strauss was so pleased with his reception in London that there is a possibility of his returning in the autumn to conduct “.Salome.” Strauss' Comic Opera. Dr. Strauss has corrected a number of misapprehensions which have got abroad with regard to his new “comic” opera. It is not to be called “The Ox of Ler<chenn,” as hitherto understood, but "The Rose Cavalier.” The piece exists at present only in embryo. The first act is completed and ready for the printer, the second has been “thought out," and work on the third has not been commenced. As a concession to the complaints of modern baritones and basses, that composers are inclined to overlook their talents. Dr. .Strauss has written the leading role in “The Rose Cavalier" for a bass character, described as a rollicking fellow of heroic proportions, midway in temperament between Falstaff and Don Juan. The leading prima donna role will bear a resemblance to Countess Susanne in Mozart's ‘’Marriage of Figaro.” For the dramatic action of the opera, Professor Roller, of Vienna, has been commissioned to prepare two different versions. One will be specially suited to the requirements of great opera houses like Covent Garden, the other for more moderate-sized stages. The Royal Opera at Dresden, the birthplace of “Salome" and “Electra." will stage the premiere of "The Rose Cavalier.” Just when the event will take place Dr. Strauss for the present declines to divulge. Then—and Now. In the issue of the “London Observer,” published March 11, 1810, and priced at Old, the following appears: —“The expectation of hearing the Oratorio at t'ovent Garden Theatre drew a vast eoncourse of people to that place on Wednesday night; but they were disappointed, as the Lord Chamberlain had sent an order, forbidding any performances Oil Ash Wednesday.” That is just 100 years ago. Nowadays London's observance of Ash Wednesday, is musically and theatrically speaking, no more or no less than that of any other day. Our great grandmot her* and uncles would be horrified, it is true. But what would they

say to the Good Friday concerts that are regularly held at Queen's and Royal Albert Hall when a variety of music is given* The com {orison with what people of a century ago though 1. and what they recognise as national to-day, is striking enough. It only shows that evolution has gone on. It has still a long way to go yet in some countries outside the British Isles that are considered to be a long way ahead of England itself. “ Peter Pan “ and Its Reception. . The run of "Peter Pan" goes as merrily in Auckland as it did in Wellington. The house overflows every night with people—young and old. The reception of the play makes an interesting study of New Zealanders at the Northern end of the Dominion. The environment of the country does not seem to develop imagination in the people. There is no past, no hoary old stones ami romantie ruins to explain the existence of this age or suggest the possibilities of the next. There are no historic cities o’ castles to materialise in stone for the observant mind the dignity and the force of time. There are few, if any, fireside nights when stories are told, and the child's imagination fills and expands with all the wonder and magic of fairy lauds and beautiful lieings. We live, moreover. in atmosphere remarkable for its crystalline clearness (except in the cities), a short twilight, and none of the misty dream like effects that are to be observed over the greater half of Europe. Imagination, however, does not depend solely upon environment and the success of “Peter Pan," wherever it has been played, is one of the clearest evidences that it is by no means a lost quality with us. New Zealand happens to be in a stage of transition. We have been too busy developing commercially to give much serious attention to art — I use the word in its broadest sense, —- and for that, reason imagination has suffered. The corrective to that is coming already in the leisured classes that are beginning to congregate in the four centres. and demand better theatrical productions, concerts, and more literary festivals. Behind the cities too there is the extraordinary natural wealth of scenic glory, which, as the means of communication improve, and the knowledge of it is realised, seems bound to affect the national mind of the people. The clearest indication of that mind we have to-day is the theatre. Compared with the latter, no other form of -art—music, painting, or literature—is so popular, as the theatre, and therefore predominant in its influence upon people. New Zealand Wants Better Productions, T have frequently to refer in these pages to the deleterious effect upon the popular mind an unbroken sequence of musical comedy, with its sexual illusions, and melodrama, with its coarse inhuman sensations, appealing to the crudest emotions of the people, lias. When, therefore, a play like “Peter Pan" comes along, and creates a boom throughout the whole country, it is the clearest indication that the stage in New Zealand is deserving of something l>etter than the average production. “Peter Pan” has demonstrated that the so-called high-class” or •■intellectual” play is likely to produce a following sufficient to justify the necessary outlay by our principal theatrical firms. “Peter Pan” is "high class" and “intellectual” enough, goodness knows, for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. One might be tempted to add that, it also shows that good plays which fail in Australia, will not necessarily do so here, but for the fact that tiie circumstances surrounding the production of Barrie's charming play on “the other side" do not warrant the assumption. Opinions That Do Not Matter. There are. of course, in Auckland, as elsewhere, those who do not discern the qualities that made the boy who wouldn't grow up such a universal favourite, both in England and America. One lady came nway disappointed because the state of mind in which she went to see the play was indicated by her remark, “I am sure I shall like ‘Peter Pan.’ I love pantomimes.” A youth, who waa old enough to know better, disdained the opinion that the whole thing was “childish.” The more callow specimen of youth about town declared it was “a lot of rot,” whilst his girl dismissed it as “silly.” But they were the exceptions. The hulk of the people were frankly charmed with the dear little boy who first emigrated from Kensington Gardens, and when lie came to Xew Zealand by a marvellous

transformalion, assumed the charming features, and the .natural .grace of .Miss I.izette Parkes. It has fallen to "Mr. Barrie to evolve what probably for ths first time the New Zealand . stage has afforded —namely,- an entertainment creative of pure_faney in the ert.y-bred ch (Id, and quickening to the imagination of i)he little, people whose natural fairyland, W® grown-ups have posaeased—-an illusion qf a night during which the ’jnojth'er, or father and child find abundant delights in common, and realise new joys in. being complete chums. Staging and Effects. The staging of the New Zealand production was excellent. It was no.doubt impossible to give the {day a* it was produced in England, and for that reason the scene in the Never Never Never Land, known as "The Mermaid's Lagoon,” was omitted. The only scene falling short of expectations was that showing the exterior of the Darling's House. No more inartistic setting (inspired prob ably by a jerry-built suburban dwelling) could have been painted. It marred the whole production. The play makes heavy demands upon the light operators, and effective and well conceived as the majority of their effects were, the shadowy and mysterious atmosphere could have been better maintained without the necessarily rapid transitions from light to shade, and vice versa. The Veritable History of “ PeterPan.” Within recent years “Peter Pan" has became a very important personage. Up is probably the most celebrated of all the modern fairy creatures, although opinions may differ if his adventures as remarkable as tlio’se of “Tytye” and “Mylyl” in Maeterlinck’s “The BL.-e Bird.” While Mr Barrie, in the play that has become so famous, has faniilliarised the public with the present state of the delightful boy, much of his early history is utterly obscure. There are two books- on record from which we may catch glimpses of his boyhood; but even the most diligent research in the original authorities has failed to disclose how the marvellous transformation to which I have already referred came about. It is therefore my pleasant task to render accessible to readers of the “Weekly Graphic" something of the veritable history of that tragic boy, half human, half bird. Earliest Adventures. "Peter Pan’s” earliest adventures are indissolubly connected with Kensington Gardens in London. There we find “The Serpentine” a lovely lake where the birds and old Solomon Caw live. It is a beautiful lake, and there is a drowned forest at the bottom of it. If you peer over the edge, Mr Barrie assures us, you can see the trees all growing upside down, and they say that at night there are also drowned stars in it. The birds, of course, do not live in the water, but on a little island in the Serpentine. That is, they live, there for a time; eventually they all beeonie little boys and girls. All authorities seem to agree thatwhen he was seven days old Peter Pan flew away from home. This may seem very extraordinary, but we must remember that all little boys were little birds before they were born, and t-hat in the first days of their human career the power to fly is still latent within them. In fact, he was not the only baby that ever wanted to escape. In reality, all children could have some such recollection if they would press their hands tb their temples. Having been lairds before they were human, they are naturally a little wild during the first few weeks, and very itchy at the shoulders, where the wings used to be. Mr. Barrie indites this fact on tlm indisputable authority of little David, for whom the story of Peter Pan was written. Once We Forget. Peter Pan, we are told, flew out by the window, which had no bars. Standing on a ledge, he could see trees far away, which were doubtless the Kensington Gardena, and the moment he saw them he entirely forgot that he was now a. little boy in a nightgown, and away he flew, right over the heuses to the gardens, Thereujmn he alighted gaily on the open sward between the Baby’s palace and the Serpentine, and the first thing lie did was to lie on his back and kick. He had already forgotten that he had ever been human, and thought he was a bird even in appearance. When he tried to catch

a flv Tie did not understand that lie missed it because he had attempted to srtize it with his hand, which, of course, a bird never does. ' - - - - - —

Then, being thirsty, he flew over to the •Round Pond to have a drink. He stoop<4l ahd dipped his beak in the pond; he "thought it was his beak, but, of course, it ttas ;«nly his hose, and therefore very little water came up, and that not so refreshing as usual; so next he tried a pUiTdle, atid he fell flop into it. Now, when a real bird falls in flop, he spreads out his feathers and peeks them dry; but Peter eould not remember what was the thing to do. We are following the original authority here pretty closely, but the subject is too important to permit, the citation of any but- reliable witnesses. To his bewilderment, Peter discovered that the fairies he met fled from him. Tie heard the little people crying everywhere that there was a human in the Gardens after Lockout Time; but he never thought for a moment that he was the human. When finally he despaired of the fairies, he resolved to consult the birds, but now he remembered that alt the birds he met had flown away from him. "Poor little Peter Pan!’’ exclaims the historian. "Every living thing was shunning him, and even when he sat down and cried he did' not know that for a bird he was sitting on hie wrong part."’ “It is a blessing," Mr. Barrie continued, “that he did not know, for otherwise he would have lost faith in his power to fly, and the moment you doubt whether you can fly you cease forever to be able to do it.” So in his despair Peter flew to the island tfnd put his strange ease before old Solomon Caw. All the birds were asleep excepting Solomon, who was wide awake on one Jstilei He listened quietly to Peter's story and then told him the true meaning. A Momentous Interview. We insert here an authoritative account of that momentous interview: .“‘Look at your nightgown, if you don't .believe ipe,’ Solomon said, and with staring eyes Peter looked at his nightgown. and then at the sleeping birds. Not one of t.iem wore anything. 'How many of your toes are thumbs?’ said Soloarum a little cruelly, and Peter saw to his consternation that all his toes were fingers. The sh*x-k was so great that it drove away his cold. *' ‘Rutile your feathers,’ said that grim old Solomon, and Peter tried most desperately hard to rutile his feathers, but he had none. Then he rose up. quaking, and for the first time since he stood on the window-ledge he remembered a lady who had been very fond of him. “'I think I shall go back to mother,’ he said timidly. " ‘Good-bye,’ replied Solomon Caw with a queer look. "But Peter hesitated. ‘Why don’t you go?' the old one asked politely. “I suppose,’ said Peter huskily, *1 suppose I can still fly?’ "You see he had lost faith. “ 'Poor little half-and-half," said Solomon, who was not really hard hearted; ’you will never be able to flv again, not even on windy days. You must live here rui the island always.’ " ‘And never even go to Kensington Gardens?’ Peter asked tragically. .".‘How eould you get across?’ said Fwlomon. lie promised very kindly, however, to teach Peter as many of the bird ways as could be learned by one of euvh an awkward shape. "'Then I shan't be exactly a human?* Peter asked. “ ‘No.’ “ ‘Not exactly a bird?’ •• ‘Wliat shall' 1 be?’ “ 'You will be a Betwixt and Between,’ Solomon said, and he certainly was a wise old fellow, for that is exactly how it turned out.” The Origin of Peter's Pipe. All the birds have glad hearts, except when one robs their nests or when they have their tiffs with the fairies, and Peter's heart was so glad he felt he must sing like a bird all day long. Being partly human, he needed an instrument, so ho made a pipe of reeds and sat on t-he shore. prat t ising the sough of the wind and the ripple <>f the water, ami .taking hand fill' of the shine of the moon. Be put them all in his pipe and played them so I eautifull.v tint even the birds Were deceived. There waft only Ono drop of bitterness'in his. cup—hie inability to fly. .After many difll ult exploits, he at Insf succeeded in making for himself, with the help of the birds, a little Loaf, In which ho could paddle across the lake. It was here that he renewed his acquaintance with the fairies, with whom ho he.

came a great favourite. Their genesis, as propounded by uur learned author, is a decided contribution to demonology. “When,” he Bays, “the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies.” But, we learn from Peter Pan’s own month, every time a little child, says, “1 don’t believe in fairies,” some-

where in the world a little fairy dies. From the fairies he learned a good deal, but there were many things he had to find out for himself. He was very proud of playing like a human little boy. This was very pathetic, for he really did not know how to play. Nevertheless, he was very merry, and his musical talent soon rained for him the proud title of the fairies’ orchestra. One day it fell out that for playing so beautifully the fairy queen granted him the wish of his heart. 110 said he wished to fly hack to his mother. When he reached his house, he found the window wide open. Peter alighted on the wooden rail at the foot of the bed and had a good look at her. She looked sad. ami her arms moved as if they wanted to go around something, lie patted the little mound that her feet made gently. Certainly, he thought, it would be good to be her boy again; but on the other hand, what times there had been in the Cardens! He had quite decided to be liis mother's boy, but hesitated about beginning just then. “It would be splendid to tell the birds of this adventure,” he said, and in the end he flew back to the Cardens. lie was very slow about going back home a second time, but at last he went in a hurry because lie had dreamt that his mother was crying. But when he arrived at the house the window was closed. There were iron bars on it, and. peering inside, he saw his mother sleeping peacefully with her arm around another little boy. He called “Mother!” Mother!” but she heard him not. In vain he beat his little limbs against the iron bars. He had to fly back ‘sobbing to the Gardens, and never saw hits mother's face again. The Predecessor of Wendy. The date of the occurrence cannot be determined with any degree of exactitude, but it must have been very long ago. After thio tragic event Peter made the acquaintance of little Maimie, the predecessor of Wendy. “Do people know that I play games exactly like real boys?” he a.-ked, very proudly. But when he icvealed how he played. Maimie replied, ‘big-eyed: “All your ways of playing are quite, quite wrong, and not in the least like real boys’ play.*’ At this poor Peter uttered a little moan. After awhile he calmed himself and asked her to marry him. “Oh, Maimie,*'* he said with eagerness, “do you know why 1 love you?’ It is because you are like a Imaut.iful ne<st.” Somehow’, the biographer tells us, this made her feel unea-y. “I think you are speaking more like a bird than a boy now.” she said. “.After all, you are only a Beiwixt-and-Between.” This hurt him so much that she at once added, “It must be a delicious thing to be.” The match came to naught, because Peter told her that, from his own bitter experience, a mother is not always sure to want her child back; but they parted on friendly terms. And here the written record of Peter Pan's babyhood ends. When we meet him again it is in Never -Never Never Land, with which every person interested is now familiar. What Does ‘ Peter Pan ” Mean ? Critical estimates of the play in England and America varied widely. There was a tendency at first to regard it merely as a children's play. But when it took audiences by storm, the recognition forced itself upon the public that “Peter Pan’’ was a psychological masterpiece fraught with deep symbolic meaning. Every man. it has been said, is at heart a Peter Pan. Ami when Lizette Parkes proclaims the tenets of eternal joy, we feel that the character stands for everything that is Iwautiful and elusive in human life. Peter Pan is the spirit of immemorial romance unfettered by convention. When little Wendy asks him if hr has nothing >\v<vt to ask of her mother, hr hesitates awhile whether or not he shall enter the house. There are ♦ears rising to his eyes. Shall he marry Wendy, grow up and wear a tall hat? But the artistic temperament, the Greek joy of living, restrain his hands. Wistfully hr turn** back, ami l»egin* to blow his pipe, lie is Pan. the great god Pan, reincarnate*!. Or rather hr is Pan without the goat-foot. Keithor domesticity nor I lie love of a wohifln can biml his indomitable loul.

His true mate is Tinker Bell, the fairy, one of the most striking conceptions ever put on the stage. Mr Barrie has taken a flash and bell, and out of these, ingredients created a character no less alive, no les* real, than creatures of flesh and blood. “Peter Pan” is a bold protest against the materialism of the age. In it Mr Barrie restores, if only for a night, the kingdom of Queen Mab. Carreno to be Here in June. Madame Carreno, the finest of living women pianists, is to opm her tour of New Zealand in Dunedin about the 15th •Tune. “She will,” writes Herr Benno Scherek, “arrive in Australia by the Marama from Vancouver ami. after making one appearance with the Sydney Orchestral Society, will open her Australian concert tour in Melbourne on 28th May. Immediately after the Mcll>ourne season she will conn* on to New Zealand. The other Australian States will l>e visited after the New Zealand tour.*' Mr. Alfred Hill. All Mr. Alfred Hill’s Wellington friends are pleased to hear that he is in commission again, and arc looking forward to seeing him here as deputy conductor of Williamson's New Grand Opera Co. I hear that Mr. Hill’s health has not been greatly improved by the Sydney climate, and that hr will be very’ glad to return to the more temperate and salubrious air of New Zealand. Of all the places he has lived in. Auckland suits his health and temperament best, and 1 fancy it is very probable that he will eventually settle in Auckland to carry on his musical work, ami be near his beloved Maoris. Siner he left- Auckland thi- year he has put in a. good <loal of work on his old < omi - opera. “Tapu,” and has improved it- vastly, more particularly in respect of the plot and dialogue. AH the “tourist-tom-foolery.” as he called it, has been cut out. The pakeha hero of the opera is now a- surveyor a “Kai-rnrn.” as the Maoris call him and the story turns on his romantic adventures in the wilds of the Maori country. There is, of course, a beauteous Inown heroine, and there in an amazing old witch. A weird pakeha curio hunter supplies a good deal of comic relief. Mr. Hill will probably change the title of the opera. 1 believe there is every possibility that Air. Williamson will produce the piece, before very long. Amy Murphy and Horace Hunt. The appearance of Miss Amy Murphy and Mr. Horace Hunt at the < horal Hail, Auckland, on Monday, was much to be welcomed. Apart altogether from their individual merits, they have done a new and couragebus thing. The >pecta*le of two New Zealanders giving with success moderately high-class piano and song recitals in thru' of the principal centres in their own country is quite unusual. One might ri-e to the occasion with all the ardour and eloquence lann of a newly-awakened patrioti-m. That can be be>t left to others. Miss Amy .Murphy, a native of Dunedin, has been some years in Sydney pursuing vocal studies with vigour. She comes to us exulting in a well developed soprano, very flexible and pure in the upper register. She frills ami shakes with all the ease that comes of good training. Ibr bravura singing is as free as a bird. In numbers like the “Mad Scene from Hamlet.” ami "Sevillana.” from Massenet's “Don Cesar de Bazan.” her technique is displayed to great advantage, but finished and often brilliant as it all is, it- seems to me she lacks breadth of Tnodul.ition ami the finer insight of the arti-t. Her middle register is not as fine in quality as (he upper, whilst the characterisation of Liza LehmanuM delightful bird songs was not always convincing, although the rendering was excellent. In dealing with a tour de force like Ambroise Thomas’ ‘‘Mad ne from Hamlet,’’ it is as well to remember that it takes a Mrlba. ♦«» fullv develop its remarkable possibilities for florid singing. .Miss Murphy technically treated it to very good arcmint. particularly when li«*r fine up|>er register was c.illrd upon. If was perhaps too much to expect that she would ris*' to a pow'*rful dramatic inferprotaiion of the number. From the artistie stami }H»int. she was at her best in Tour's tin** song. “Mother o’ Mine.*’ .A native of Aucklaml. and now resi dent in Wellington, under the tuition of Mr. Maughan Barnett, Mr. Hum can be safely *!<•«.< rils d aw a young and promising pianist. ( 'mv ide ring his opportunities, his talent reveals a line <•.»parity for poetic frillng and treatment. He is jiirt at tin* time of life when it

should in evidence, if. as maturity comes in later years, hr i* to <*volve. into an artist. His touch is refined almost to the point of being delicate, and there is no doubt that with the contact of modern schools of pianoforte playing such as in \ ienna. it will become more intent ami robust. His treatment of the Chopin “No. h) Etude" and the “A Flat Ballade ' —-severe tt*ls for any young pianist were m«<<-sarily imma ♦ lire, but they showed him po'-<«*<s<'d of a felicity of expression am! depth of temperament sufficient to promise he will later on evolve into a tine interpreter of the mastei tom* poet. F’or his breadth of feeling, and hit* technique, Mr. Hunt ie fo Im* hailed as one of the most promising pianists in the Dominion, and it can only Im* hoped his talent will not be denied the opportunities he is well .leserx ing of. He was, lik.* Miss Murphy, very ent ieally ri'ceived, ami repeated ly encored. Mr. Barry (‘oney sang with only moderate succesH Verdi's welt known «-ena and aria, “Eri tn ehe Macchiavi.” and two songs of Berlioz.