Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 18, 2 November 1910, Page 14

Music and Drama.

By

BAYREUTH.

BOOKINGS. (Dates Subject tn Alteration.) a AUCKLAND—UIS MAJESTY’S. October 20 to November 4--Fred Graham. Kovember 17 to 19—Mr. Potter. November 21 to 20—Auckliiud Competition! Society. November 28 to December 3—MacMahon Bros. December 5 to 17—Meynel! and Gunn (George Willoughby). December 19 to 24—MacMahon Bros. December 2tt (three weeks’ season) —Allan Da mil ton. THE OPERA HOUSE. In Season —Fuller’s Pictures. TIVOLI. Vaudeville (permanent)WELLINGTON.—OPCRA HOUSE. Oct. 27 to Nov. s—“ Lover’s Lane’’ CsmI»a ny. Nov. 12 to Nov. 2L—Ma/malion’s Pictures. 24, six weeks’ Beacon.—J. C. Williamson. THEATRE ROYAL Vaudeville (permanent). I»ewis Waller Coming to Australia* -4 London cable dated 24th October — Mr. Lewis ’Waller, the wellIcuowh aclor-rnaHuger, will appear with a full London company in Australia. iit 'IfH2 under the Pianaycinent of Clarke and Meynell. 'rVAKssitS. CLARKE AND MEY- ■ II NELL are to be congratu.ll7 Jated on having secured for . / his fust appearance in Australia a very popular and handsome actor in Lewis Waller. The well-knqwn actor-manager, whose later productions have been associated with the Lyric fTheatro in Shaftesbury-avenue, has had a very varied career in the drama. He ■nade bis first appearance with the late fl- L. I oole in 1883, and ten years spbBCipienilv made his debut with Sir Herlicit Heerbolnu Tree as Orestes in “Hypatia”- at the Haymarket. In 1895 iVValler. beeame a joint lessee, of-the iiisAqi’ie old theatre, and staged Oscar iWjldcis “An Ideal Husband.” After farther Shakespearian anil other projduetions under Tree, the actor-manager made a big impression by a spectacular production of "Henry V.” at the Lyceum pl'heatre in 1899, and followed up by • still greats'*. popular success at the Comedy Theatre two years later with f‘Monsieur Beaucaire,” the first production of which ran over 400 nights. Wai Jer makes a popular idol as Beaucairc, Bild Oven though he has had many revivals of the piece, he is always sure of a house when the piece is announced. Lntil four yeans ago, he was for some time lessee of the old Imperial Theatre, In Westminster. which lately has (disappeared. It was here he produced B large number of plays. including JCoiian Doyle's "Brigadier Gerard.” In fllMHi be went to the Lyric, where immensely successful revivals of the lastliamed play and “Beaucaire” were given. “Othello,” with himself in the title role, and 11. B. Irving as lago, was also one of his successes. In the last' three (years none of his productions can lie Baid to have been money-makers. The best of them were “Kobin Hood” and the American play, “A While Man.” The drama in London, of recent years has felt severely the competition of the music-halls and theatres of variety. In ‘common with others, Waller has undoubtedly felt the brunt of it. When lie was not touring, revivals of his former successes have always endured him a conspicuous share of the support of the London public. His latest effort this season at the Eyrie is the resuscitation of Sheridan’s familiar old classic, "The Rivals,” •which is spoken of with enthusiasm by several London dailies. During hi* career Waller has been commanded to appear before Royalty at Windsor fissile three times. A Popular Idol.

Waller is an actor of exceeding good looks, commanding stature and a way with him that goes right to the heart*

of his audience. His claims on the intellectual drama cannot be recognised as of much consequence, particularly as in later years he has left severely alone efforts of his younger days, and plunged instead into spectacular productions..He fills a heroic part with all the histrionic graces that are best suited to capture the “popular” audience. He uses his mellifluous resonant voice with magnificent effect, and there is probably no actor of the day who has commanded the whole-souled admiration of that large section of the fair sex which delights in a handsome, 'bold, dashing cavalier. For his fifty years, he i.s a well preserved, commanding fijgure. with clear cut, .cleanshaven features, particularly well cast for the roles he -has occupied with conspicuous success in the past. He has probably quite eighteen months to run yet before liis advent to Australia will be due. and in that time, especially in London, a lot of changes can take place. One can but hope the idol of the great army of Londoners who love stage heroes

and romantic sensational dramas will repeat his successes on this side of the •world with all that vitality and vigour he has shown in London during the past. It is to be hoped that Messrs. Clarke and Meyuell have lieen able to include New Zealand, and not confine the tour to Australia, as was done with the recent Osoar Asehe-Lily Brayton performances. Parody on Shaw Play. “The Chocolate Soldier," played for the first time in England recently, is said to be the nearest approach to a Gilbert and Sullivan opera that London has seen since the end came to that unexampled series. The plot, it will be’ recalled, la based on Mr Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and •the Man,” and is at once coherent and fantastic. The music by Oscar Straus is described as delightfully liltful, and conceived in that lighter, easy vein which

has made Vienna the birthplace of many popular productions like “The Merry Widow” and "A Waltz Dream.’’.. Apart altogether from its characteristic • phHosophy, “Arms and the Mau” is capital fun, witty, acute, brilliant, and “ The Chocolate Soldier” is most amusing when it is most Shavian. The libretto used by Herr Straus is described as “an unauthorised parody,” written by Herr Bernauer and Jacobson, and done into English by the American, Mr. Stanislaus- Stange ...j Changed Names. The names of the characters are changed. Bluntschli becomes Biimerli, Raina becomes Nadina. Petkoff becomes I’opoff (an ancient jest-name this), and so on. Some of the lines almost sound like Shaw. One or two of the characters retain the Shaw spirit, notably the Chocolate Soldier himself. Generally the whole theme has been broadened, perhaps inevitably, blit enough of the original remains to make this new m'usieil piece quite distinctive.

Nadina, the Bulgarian heroine, is still a love-sick maiden. Bumerli remains - the practical Swiss soldier of fortune, preferring to fill his pockets with chocolates rather than cartridges. Popoff is an amorous elderly comedian, and Alexis (who used to be Sergius), the Bulgarian hero whose runaway horse forces him to lead the charge, and who is now (as he is

described in the original) “ait operatic tenor.” The first act is almost identical with Air. Shaw’s play, and afterwards the new incidents are generally in the picture.

Herr Straus’ score first and foremost possesses a waltz that was being whistled or hummed by nine out of every ten of the audience as they loft the theatre on the night of the first production. This particular waltz is haunting. It is said you must whistle it. It was cheered wildly half an hour after the performance began. It was used again as the finale of Act IL, and it secured a “ curtain" of vehement applause, and after the play was over the orchestra rendered the waits once more, and the gallery demanded an encore. The chocolate cream wultz- is quite certain to Ire the tune of the time. No barrel-organ and no Cinderella will be complete without iU

The Foreign Inraalon of Britat*. Writing in the “Musical Standard,* Arthur Pqyser has some ch*rgqteriatin remarks to- pass' on the Invasion of England by these “foreign” light opera*.: —“London is losing its own soul. It is acquiring, by adoption, the soul of Vienna. Our . popular uiusjctnakers live and Isave their being on the banks of the Danube. They send u» Merry Widows, Dollar Princesses, Girls in the Train, and throw in a Waltz Dream or two, and we accept them all. We are becoming the musical dumpingground of Europe. AVe . talk of. invasion; the invasion has begun in a ■much more serious way than the War Office anticipated. Our conquerors come not in ships of war; their weapons are not sword and musket. They come in stage trappings, their battery is that of the orchestra, they lure us to destruction'by irresistible’ melody, and down we fall before them. At one time, not so many years ago, we Englishmen would proudly boast of a school of light opera that no other nation could equal for delicacy, for wit, for musical charm. We possessed the first librettist and comic opera composer in the world. We slapped our chests, pressed our silk hats more firmly on our heads, struck the ground with our walk-ing-sticks, glared in defiance at the rest of Europe through our monocles, ahi exclaimed: ‘England before all’’ At 01* academies we were training young bloods to carry on the proud tradition when the old hands laid down the pen. We were proud, ’ too, of our academies, and we had real Doctors of ’Music at the head of them. One genuine Doctor of Music was worth twenty of those foreign. music-men, and we were not afraid to say so. We did not even touch wood after making the boast. Our musical army was invincible; we slept .secure in our beds. In addition to our regular army in London, we had a fine reserve of Territorials, who ran our provincial musical festivals. Our barrack yard drill was excellent; our youngstere could turn out immaculate fugues and canons, and could imitate Brahms to perfection. Oh, canons, what a happy musical family party we were, sitting down snugly behind our battlements and calling our souls our own! The future was well, for we were under the command of Major Mackenzie, General Stanford, and Colonel Parry. But after a time we began to realise that the grass was growing on our defences; that our young academic rough-riders were not of the stuff to make a music hero; that our commanders were becoming imprisoned in a network of tape of ruddy hue; that there were three deserters from our academic camp, and that these “soldiers three” had opened the main portcullis and let in the enemy. This main gate and two others had been opened to the foe. Henry J. Wood had let the Russians in at one gate; .Beecham had admitted the French and Germans at another; and George Edwardes had unlocked the third and welcomed the musicians of Vienna. Then the baud began to play. But it was not our band. Our puny academic defences hacL fallen without a shot being fired; the fields of orchestral music, of grand opera, of light opera were won without resistance. Our generals and colonels were discov‘ ered on their marrow bones, amid, the long, rank grass inside- the dismantled fortifications, grouped round the chipped statue of Brahms. And so was England conquered and here, at the. Lyric Theatre, we have, in ‘The Chocolate Soldier,’ one of the most charming light operas—as regards the music—it is possible to imagine. A score full of originality, of invention, of unfailing melodic charm, of skilful characterisation, of strength, delicacy, and masterly management of detail. Is it written by any of the hundreds of young Englishmen we have been training in the academic barrack-yard all these twenty years and more? No. It is from the pen of ‘one of our conquerors.’ Vienna has shown us how to write light opera; if we are wise we will learn our lesson while we may and re-organise our musical standing army. From the rise of the curtain (there is no overture os prelude) to its fall again the flow of delightful musjo goes on almost unceasingly. There is no padding, no dull moment, no academia tomfoolery. Most of the music suggest* a re incarnation of Mozart with twentieth century orchestral method* at hi* command.*

Blood aod Snnfflft The Hamilton-Maxwell combination have staged an unusaaHy bloodthirsty melodrama in! Sydney in Walter Howard’s play, "Why Men Love Women.” What the title has to do with the story is somewhat obscure. From it one would expect to hear a metaphysical dissertation 'or an acute analysis of the sex question, but alas! it is only ’ a melodrama — otherwise a commonplace, blatant production of the sensational type, in which one Ooptain Standoff, of the Russian secret service plots the ruin of his rival in love, Gerald Fielding, a young English artist, ami incidentally seeks to compass the death of anybody else who happens to stand in his path. The packed audience which witnessed the opening night’s performance in Sydney proved thoroughly receptive, and took the hero and heroine to its collective heart at once, so, that whenever Fielding rushed in and felled the villain with a blow, exclaiming “Take that, you hound!” there was a perfect volley of cheering. Fielding, of course, is wrongfully accused of murder. A Russian girl, Muriel . Zoluski, who tries to stab him, believing him to have been responsible for the dea th of her brother—another ,of Staniloff’s crimes, naturally—is herself slightly wounded by the stiletto, but as it has been dipped into some mysterious potion, she falls into a lethargy which is mistaken for death. Standoff, fostering the idea that she has been murdered, kills the only other man who knows the secret, an Indian doctor; but with his last breath Chundra Singh communicates to dear Violet the truth about the potion, and gives her a cordial which will restore the girl. Hence, when dear Violet appears, almost breathless, when the funeral procession is on its way, and shouts “Stop!” "the villain trembles because he knows what is coming, and the audience, also in the secret, applauds delightedly. The procession goes back into the wings and presently the Russian girl in her burial clothes, with the vivid limelight on her white face, a startling apparition, etonds in the doorway—back from the cardboard coffin! From this point the descent of the villain is easy. However, he -markes a last grand effort when he resorts to treachery in a duel with Fielding. The artist, with true melodramatic nobility, spares his life, but when Staniloff is about to beat a hasty retreat, Muriel Zoluski suddenly appears, also calijng out "Stop!” and shoots him in revenge for the death of her brother.. Sydney “bellowdrammers” are evidently having an orgy of blood and snuffle. The Yellow Peril on the German Stage. Europe has produced a companion piece to “An Englishman’s Home.” In the latter play an English colonel embodied England’s panicky fear of the Germans. "Typhoon,” a sensational new play by a Hungarian playwright, portrays with more artistic restraint Europe’s apprehension of the “yellow peril.” The little men who amuse us in "The Mikado” assume a threatening aspect in Melchior Lengyel's “Typhoon.” This “Typhoon” swept the German stage shortly after “Chantecler’s” crowing in Paris; the effect upon the box office receipts of the German metropolis was as -exhilarating as that of Rostand’s play in the city of Sarah Bernhardt.

Lengyel's play deals with a group of Jap.urce residents in Paris—in the Vienna production they were living in Berlin—students, men of business and professional men. Each one of these is entrusted by his country with a secret mission, and ceaselessly, resistiessly, devotes himself to its fulfilment. These Japanese, according to the “Deutsche Rundschau,” are shown with a biting distinctness, without sympathy, but with a certain affright in which wonder is mingled—a sentiment shared by so many of the audience that it explains in part the strong appeal of the piece. The most important member of the colony is apparently Dr. Nitons Tokeramo, to whom has been entrusted a statistical report upon French conditions with important political bearing; the others admire and respect him, but think it just as well to keep him under secret surveillance, exercised by old Kobayashi, partly because his mission is of such importance, partly because his conductwill certainly bear watching. For Tokeramo has fallen under the charm of a Parisian cocotte, Helene Laroche, brilliant, beautiful and depraved. Love, always dangerous to the conspirator, would in this case bo fatal. Helene’s charm for Tokeramo is, briefly, the at

fraction of evil; he igows all she is, eyW*a>"--*nd corrupt, a»d yet eannot bveak away frortr -her— her interest in him, however, has ceased as perversely as it began, and her instinctive repulsion 'becomes more and more unconcealed. They eome at last to a bitter quarrel; Helene works herself into a fury, and throws into his face a stinging insult to his yellow skin. Lt puts him beside himself, and the woman, delighted at having broken down the self-control of one always before so calm and contained, flings at him one last unendurable epithet. And he strangles her.

The deed is no sooner done than his reason reasserts itself; going to the telephone, he summons the fellowship. They decide that Tokeramo's mission is too important to be endangered; someone else must take the deed upon himself. They draw lots; the choice falls upon Hironari, the youngest of all; they further convince him that his life is the least serviceable to the fatherland. The seene plays with surprising naturalness; it is pure Orient in the heart of Western civilisation—or what Western civilisation believes to be pure Orient.

The third aet is full of thrills. It shows the trial —which goes on at first according to the plan arranged at the secret council. Hironari makes his confession; one after the other the Japanese confirm it with seemingly artless testimony. At last a friend of Helene's, an actress named Therese Meunier, takes the stand. More by her looks than by her words, she shows that she

suspects Tokeramo of the murder. All at once he breaks tinder the strain of passion and remorse, anil accuses himself of the crime. But’the Japanese instantly readjust to meet the crisis; old Kobayashi declares that Hironari is the son of an illustrious house, and lets it appear that Tokeramo',. out . of devotion, has taken upon himself the crime of the young nobleman, committed as it was in hot blood. The story- evolved on the instant—-seems to fit the judge’s ideas of Japanese feudal devotion, and one by one the Japanese build up anew the fabric of testimony until Hironari is condemned to a long imprisonment. The act-drop fails on Tokeramo free to fulfil his mission, free from both iii.s perils. But he is no longer the same. He cannot forget his love or his crime. Passion and remorse are destroying him; he feverishly uses his last, strength to complete the report. But he associates no more with the fellowship; his only friends are now Therese, Helene's companion, and Charles Renard-Bciusky, an author, her lover. With these he can talk of the dead woman. He has become a man without a country- a pariah of the soul; A New Actor-Manager in London. A new actor-manager, in the person of Geraid du Maurier. one of the cleverest and quite the most versatile of younger comedians, in England, has made hi.-s first venture in London. The opening pices

nt Wyndham’s Theatre is “Nobody’s Daughter,” by the lady dramatist who writes under the .name of. George Poston; "Without being a. great play,” writes a critic, “either in its eomedy _ or its more serious drama, it is distinctly happy in its blend of domestic humour with what very nearly becomes domestic tragedy.” A story of English family life, distasteful in itself, is told, with a wealth of drama and humour, in ’’ Nobody’s Daughter.” . •

A winsome nineteen-year-old girl, prettily played by Miss Rosalie Toller, is the child of Mrs. Frampton (Miss Lilian Jjbaithwaite) and Colonel Torrens, V.C. (Mr. Sydney Valentine). After the birth of Honora May, the Colonel married a practical little woman of the suffragist type (Miss Henrietta Whtson), and his partner in guilt became the wife of Mr. Frampton, a manager of pottery works (Mr. Gerald du Maurier).

Both marriages were exceedingly happy, the couples being devoted to each other. The Colonel and the manager’s wife continued to keep their skeleton locked securely in the cupboard for nearly twenty years, when the play opens and the trouble begins. Honora. Honora May has been secretly reared for them in a country cottage by an old nurse, Christine Grant (Miss Mary Rorke), whom Mrs. Frampton not unjustly derides as “a Calvanistic cat.’ She is ignorant of her parentage, and when Mrs. Frampton pays one of her infrequent visits to the cottage. she is distressed to find that the-filial affection

* for which she craves is being lavished by ‘Honora May on the motherly Christine. ■ A crisis in Honora’s life leads to desperate measure's. -The girl has fallen in love with Will Lenn-ard (Mr. Marsh Allen), a mechanic, a good hearty fellow, -but socially not her equal. Only one inducement will tempt Honora May to postpone her manage,—an invitation to live for a time with her so-called aunt, Mrs. Frampton. The risk is tremendous, but the father and mother agree to take it in the hope that contact with her own people will alter the girl’s outlook on life. A delightful scene, rich in feminine drollery, illustrates the introduction of Honora May into a home of wealth and luxury. “Oh!” she exclaims, “the scrumptious food that seems to eome by magic! And the clothes—oh, the ripping clothes!” Beautiful Honora May, half buried in bonnet-boxes, with volatile Mr. Du Maurier playing the part of milliner, and trying on hat after hat (“ Oh, to be nineteen with a new hat!”) is a sight that should draw the town. The Crash. At the end of the third act, and with the return upon the ycene of Honora's strict old Calvinist r.'trso, and of her artisan sweetheart, comes the crash. Half , in joke Frampton has bpen seeking io provide his pretty guest- with relations, and has been trying to find out something moie about her apparently non-existent family than her guardian seems to know, 'llien, suddenly, Ids

playful investigations lead him to douU tlm rather • Lame story hatched up by his wife and his friend, while his dreadful intuition is promptly confirmed by the confusion of the one and the agony of the other. Frampton’s quick change from comedy to tragedy— for he is no deliberate detective—is accomplished with most effective skill by Mr. du Maurier in his transition from nonchalance to earnest intensity. The man can not forgive his wife for her concealment of the fact that she is the mother of “nobody’s child,” and his punishment of the unhappy woman by leaving her seems inevitable until wiser counsels prevail from an unexpected quarter. The revelation which has stunned Mrs. Frampton’s husband has not greatly .surprised the Colonel's shrewder, but not less affectionate wife, who is, moreover, level-headed enough to recognise the futile injustice of blaming people for faithlessness to other people before they have ever met. Mrs. Frampton’s appeal culminates in the big scene of the play, and in its sueees.s fairly brought down the house on the first night of production. The play was said to be very finely acted, but doubts are evident as to its ultimate success on the boards.

First Performance in Britain. When the mail left London, rehearsals were in progress for the first production in England under th’ leadership of Mr. Thomas Beeebam, of Eugene d'Albert’s opera “Ticfland.” Up to the end of February last his opera had been sung upon the Continent no fewer than 1854 times.

It was first produced in Prague in 19113. It one year alone it was performed (147 times, a number almost equal to the number of times “Carmen” has been sung in a single year. The work has been translated into Italian, Czech, Dutch, Danish, Swedish and other languages. In Berlin alone it had been sung 273 times up to the end of February. Ihe English translation of Rudolph Lothar’s libretto is by R. IL Elkin, a libretto described as one of “strong human interest and dramatic power.” The story is intensely dramatic. In “Ticfland,” as in “Feudalisimo,” there are a prelude and two aets. The seene of the prelude is laid amid the picturesque, grassy slopes of the Pyrenees, where, in the small hours of the morning, two shepherds, Pedro and Nando, arc discovered engaged in discussing their dreams—dreams mostly of love. Pedro, a good-hearted, simply-minded lad of extremely powerful physique, deems marriage to be the culmination point of earthly happiness. Nando, sceptical and something -of a cynic, endeavours to disillusion him, but in vain. Both shepherds are serfs of Sebastians, an unprincipled, sensual man, owner of vast estates but none the less hard pressed for a considerable sum of money wherewith to satisfy the demands of his many creditors. The prelude closes with Pedro proposing marriage to Martha, Sebawtiano’s mistress, though Pedro is not aware of the fact that, she is his mistress. This is, however, common talk amongst ‘the villagers. Sebastiano himself is desirous that Martha should wed Pedro; indeed, he has arranged that she shall marry him, for not only is she about to become a mother, but -Sebastiano is anxious to marry a certain woman of wealth and of his own rank in life, which will enable him to pay his debts. At the same time he intends to continue bis relations with Martha after his marriage and hers. In the first aet, the scene of which is laid in the village down iu the valley, Pedro’s marriage with Martha has just taken place and Hie villagers have ail assembled to celebrate the event and make merry. Though Pedro still believes his bride to be immaculate, Martha has all along been under the impression that Pedro has married her well knowing the relations that have existed between Sebasthino and herself. The villagers de part. It. is night. Pedro and Martha are alone in their mill, the mill that has been placed at Martha's disposal by Sebastiano. Martha, discovering that Pedro is ignorant of what has happened to her, is filled with dismay. In a very pathetic scene Martha hints unmistakably the truth to Pcdno, apprising him also of her condition. Almost as shefinishes doing so and Pedro is I>t.-oming distraught through. di*ap;»o:utuiv.':t and rage, a number of villagers aro teaid without, singing -n mockery and taunting Pod re with his stupidity, his blindness. H'.'ing to the verge, of madness, Pedro v-iwr vengeance upon the betrayer of liis bride.

Brief, but Terrible. The final act is brief and terrible. Pedro, atilt beeida himself, has wandered into the inner room of the mill, when Hebastiano suddenly enters and finds , Martha alone. At once ho begins to make overtures to her, though she tries hard to repulse him. While he is thus engaged, Pedro, unseen by Sebastiano, peers into the room, his face livid, his eyes blazing. Early in the play he has described to the villagers how, single-handed and unarmed, he recently strangled in the forest an enormous ■wolf which had sprung upon him. Sebastiano now has Martha by the -wrists. He is struggling with and attempting to embrace her. With a bound, Pedro leaps upon him from behind; his muscular grip closes upon his tyrant’s throat; slowly, in full sight of the hor-ror-stricken girl, Pedro squeezes the life out of Sebasliano, and flings him from him in a heap upon the floor. Then, terrified at his act, and dreading the retribution that he knows must speedily overtake him if the crime be discovered before he escapes, he picks Martha up in liis arms, lifts her on to his shoulder, and when last we see him he is in the distance fleeing away with her to the mountain fastnesses that he knows so .■well and where none, will succeed in finding him.

'Wanganui's Big Win. The success of the Wanganui Garrison Band, under Conductor Wade, at the Ballarat competitions, bring the Australasian championship to New {Zealand. Nobody or no place will be better pleased er conspicuous in their appreciation of the fact than the good Tolk of Wanganui. It was a splendid achievement. In the test piece itself Wanganui ended up as many as 34 points behind Prahan, the crack Melbourne liand, who were in the lead. The test, it must be added, was played by Wanganui late at night, in a Bitter cold wind, making it necessary for the players to run about in overcoats to keep the blood in circulation. Under Such conditions, it can be imagined that it was difficult to get the instruments ■warmed up to their work, which suggests a practicable cause of their comparatively poor display. The judge’s remarks considered that Wanganui’s test was close to a well-rendered selection, skill and artistic temperament being •hown in the interpretation of it. In their own selection, “The Valkyrie," the hand took the judge by storm. He declared it an extraordinary performance, and a treat to listen to. The New Zealanders’ success was greeted with great cheering, they having gained 222 points, whilst Praha u made only 180—a difference of 42 in favour of Wanganui. Mr. Short, King's Trumpeter, and adjudicator at Ihe competitions, stated that he would like to have the Wanganui Band engaged for 12 months to illustrate the kind of musical material available in Australasia. 'The remark opens up the possibility of Conductor Wade's men making a tour at Home, but it is well to remember that whatever success may ■have been achieved in Australia, the probabilities of a successful tour in Britain would require a lot of careful weighing. An Unbeaten Record of Eight Years. •The most valuable tribute to the success of the band came from the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, who gave them an official reception at the Town Hall. On ■behalf of the citizens of Melbourne, he extended them a cordial welcome, and congratulated them on the gnat honour they hud achieved in winning the Australasian championship. He was delighted to think that a small town in the sister Dominion had displayed such pluck and enterprise in sending the band so long a distance, and at am>h expense. They might well feel proud of the honour they had won. The New Zealand l>and iiad an unlteaten record for eight years, and had now added fresh and greater laurels not only in music but in marching. 'Their performance was most creditable to New Zealand, and to Wanganui in particular. The visit of the New Zealander* was another evidence of the fine spirit which had prompted the DominiOH to take a prominent part lir the past in important Imperial questions. '

The result of the contest was a personal triumph for Conductor Wade, and on his return to New Zealand he. together with <l>e swensbers of 'the band, are mire of a popular ovation. The man who, in days to come, dares to stray into Wanganui and Ist it 'be known he had

never heard of “the” band will have few chaiices of emerging again on to the face of this, our mortal and very human planet.

The Brixton Bwrglary.'*As the paper went to press, Fred. Graham's company of comedians made their first appearance in Auckland at His Majesty's in “The Brixton Burglary.” The night was a deluge, but the popularity of the actor-manager drew a well-filled house notwithstanding. “The Brixton Burglary" is a farrago of comedy, farce and phantasy. The story is a flimsy mesh on which is woven the usual farcical incidents. There is the man who has had a night out during his wife's absence, the morning after, the u-nial friend with an eyeglass, the reprobate old father-in-law, the shrill-voiced maid, the same old tangle of falsehoods and explanations that wouldn't even deceive a cow, and bo on through three acts, to the inevitable “happy” ending. It is not the piece that really counts in such circumstances. You get all the bubbles of irresistible comedy effervescing through the night in Mr. Fred. Graham’s inimitable Reginald Pontifex, in Mr. Kay Souper’s “Richard Diggle”— a truly languid dandy of those attenuated proportions and spidery gyrations ■that would make even a scarecrow croak with laughter. Miss Florence Gretton (who, like Mr. Kay Souper, was a member of the Asche-Brayton Company) makes a typically fragile and simple wife, who exists only in the imagination of the maker of .the farcical comedy. Numerous songs and character sketches bob up during intervals whenever it suits the author to interrupt the action, and they really afford a delightful and amusing relief from the general agony of complications. The piece is well staged, it runs along at pace and all Baid and done it provides all that one can expect from the lighter side of things. I hope to return to the subject next week. The piece is preceded by a somewhat mediocre curtain-raiser entitled “The Power of the Idol.”

Stray Notes. In New York twenty thousand pounds is spent annually on open-air music and municipal concerts. In London the amount is under twelve thousand pounds. Wallington is the first city in New Zealand to support a municipal orchestra, but to save our blushes, we cannot mention the amount the city is prepared to spend, munificent as it may appear in contrast to the —ahem! — of other centres. The new leading lady for “Our Miss Gibbs,” the latest Williamson effervescence in Australia, Miss Blanche Brown, lias already established herself high in popular favour with Sydney folk. Says an exchange: “Her admirers are numbered not only among the masculine members of the community, but the women also are charmed with her dainty personality. Society lias received her into its ranks, and her stay in Australia seems destined to be most prosperous and happy.” Mr. George F. Boyle, the Sydney pianist and composer, has had his cantata, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” on Robert Browning’s poem, accepted by Chappell and Co. for publication. As Mr. Boyle has left England for America to take up his duties as a professor at the “Peabody Conservatory,” at Baltimore, he will not be present at the first production of his latest work, which will be performed early next year under Henry Wood, with the Queen’s Hall Choral Society and orchestra, and the 'best available artists in the solo parts. Mr. Boyle has had another cantata, “Don Ramiro," accepted for publication, and, as there is a demand for this class of composition, he has been requested to send more of his works to the publishers.

The first provincial tour of Maeterlinck’s fairy play, “The Blue Bird,’’ began at the Grand Theatre, lawds, on September 5. It is subsequently to visit the Court Theatre, Liverpool, and the other towns Included' in its flight are Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham, Southport and Birmingham—ten towns in ellwand the tour is to run for three months. Some idea of the gignsitic undertaking >of- evading a play like “The Blue Hird” bn tour may be gathered when it is known that the company travels 120 strong, and carries-with it many more tons of scenery and properties than any company that has left London for the past 20 years. In speaking of StNHiss* "Tod und Verk-

larung,” a critic of “The Timbs” recently declared “one may point to many crude passages and feel that the orchestration is often needlessly violent with the violence of Tchaikovsky.” It is really astonishing how respectable journals invariably become the vehicle for bigotry of this sort. One would think Straus's and Tchaikovsky were students at the Royal Academy. Mr. Laurence Irving, like his elder brother Harry, has long been a serious student of his Shakespeare, and he proposes shortly essaying that role of Hamlet in which, it is said, no actor has ever been known completely to fail. It will be very interesting to compare Mr. Irving’s reading, sure to be a thoughtful one, with those of his family predecessors in this many-sided role. Miss Dolly Castles has been engaged by Mr. Arthur Collins as principal girl at Drury Lane at Christmas in the pantomime “Jack and the Beanstalk.” The three leading comedians will be Mr. George Graves, Mr. George Barrett, and Mr. Harry Randall, and to them may be added Mr. Harry Lupino, the nimble dancer, and Mr. Arthur Conquest, a firmly-established favourite at Drury Lane. The question of who will play the part of the principal boy is not yet definitely settled. A new discovery of Mr. Collins is Miss Hilda Playfair, said to be a charming singer, for whom he confidently predicts a hearty welcome. Mr. Johnnie . Danvers, the well-known comedian, will also appear. The death is announced of Mr. 11. W. Hopkins, who, as “Paul Rodney,” wrote a number' of popular songs, including “Calvary,” “Albite on the Raft,” “Ferryman John.” “Love’s Dreamland,” “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” “Forging the Anchor,” “In a Garden of Roses,” “Sion,” and “Resurrection Morning.” Some interesting compositions of Paganini will shortly be published for the first time. It has long been Known r that the- famous violinist wrote some quartets for violin, viola, guitar-, and ’cello, six of which have l>eeu for some time in the possession of Mr. Alfred Burnett, the MSS. being apparently in Paganini's own handwriting. Six movements from these quartets have now liven arranged for violin and piano by Mr. Henry Tolhurst, and are now being published for the first time by Messrs. Ascherberg, Hopwood and Crew.