Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 10, 8 March 1911, Page 14

Music and Drama.

By

BAYREUTH.

BOOKINGS.

(Dates subject to alteration.) AUCKLAND-HIS MAJESTY’S. February 2Otb to March 11 —Katherine Grey Co. March 13 to 25—Hugh Ward’s Farwell. March 27 to April 15 Marlow Company. Mareli 27 and April 15 — Marlow Company April 17 to May 6 — J C. Williamson. yay 18 to June 10 — J. C. Williamson (“The Whip”) Co. W ELLINGTO N—O PERA 110 USE. •.meh 29. April 12 — Hugh J. Ward Co. April 15. May 6.—J. C. Williamson. May 8, 17. Allan Hamilton. May 18, .lune 7. J. C. Williamson. June 12. July I George Marlow. July G, 20. —Clarke and Meynell. Augus» 17, 26- J. C. Williamson. September 15, 30.- Clarke and Meynell. October 5, 25. J. C. Williamson. November 3, IG—clarke and Meynell. December 2. IG. Max Maxwell Christmas Season.—J. C. Williamson. Irish Home Rule in the Drama. THE spirit that stiffens the back of John Redmond in Parliament inspires also the minds of the young Irish playwrights. No longer are they content, like Wilde and Shaw, to make an English holiday by slaughtering their racial emotions. They yrite their own plays charged with the insolence of rebellion, ami in Dublin they boast a theatre devoted to the Irish National movement. While their contentions are chiefly aesthetic, the drama, nevertheless, becomes in their hands a sword for Irish freedom. The record of the Irish dramatic movement goes bark to 1899, in which “The Countess ( athlc-en” by W. B. Yeats was produced. The company, was, however, composed of English players. Yeats, George Moore, and Eady Gregory, the translator of old Irish sagas, were the dominant intellects of the movement. A group of intensely nationalistic young Dishmen turned to this circle as a haven of hope. Chief among these was the late J. M. Synge. This fiery young rebel is the most Irish of all Irish playwrights. His most characteristic production, ”1 he Playboy of the Western World,” is ranked by his enthusiastic compatriots among the masterpieces of the' world’s dramatic literature. “The Plavbo.y,” we believe, was produced once unsuccessfully in the United States. The hook has run through three editions in England and an American edition is announced for immediate publication. The Intoxication of Language. The Irish playwrights are above all lovers of beautiful words. Their plays abound in rhapsodies, not in action. “In writing, ‘The Playboy of the Western M »rl I,’ ’ Synge remarks in his preface, “I have used one or two words only that I have not hoard among the country people of Ireland or spoken in my own nursery l» fore 1 could read the newspapers.” In the hippy ages of literature, this author thinks, striking and beautiful phrases were as ready to the storyteller’s hand as the rich cloaks and dresses of his time. When the Elizabethan dramatist took his inkhorn and aat down to work, he used many phrases that he had just hoard, as lie sat at dinner, from his mother or his children. The Cult of True Joy. “In the modern literature of towns, richness is found only in sonnets, or prose poems, or in one or two elaborate books that are far away from the profound and common interests of life. One has, on one side, Ms liar me and HuysDiana producing this literature; and, on the other, Ibsen and Zola dealing with the reality of life in joyless and pallid a*ords. On the stage one must have reality and one must have joy; and that is why the intellectual modern drama has failed and people have grown •ick of the false joy of the musical comedy, that has been given them in place of the rich joy found only in what is superb and wild in reality. In a good play every speech should be as fully flavoured as a nut or apple, and such sjM*ech<M cannot be written by anyone who works among people who have shut their lips on poetry. In Ireland, for a few years inure, we have a popular imagination that is fiery and magnificent.

and tender; so that those of us who wish to write start with a chance that is not given to writers in places where the springtime of the local life has been forgotten, and the harvest is a memory only, and the straw has been turned into bricks.” What Is Wanted in Drama. Yeats, in his original charge against the commercial theatre of the day, outlined the programme of the Irish Theatre as follows: “First,” he asserts, “we have to write or find plays which will make the theatre a place of intellectual excitement. Such plays will require, both in writers and audiences, a stronger feeling for language than one finds in the ordinary theatre. Second, if we are to restore words to their sovereignty, we must make speech even more important than gesture upon the stage. Third, we must simplify "heting, especially in poetical drama, and in .prosedrama that is remote from real life. Fourth, just as it is necessary to simplify gesture that it may accompany speech without being its rival, it is necessary to simplify both the form and colour of scenery and costume.” Local condi-

tions favoured the enterprise, in that they secured it an immediate notoriety. The idea of an Irish theatre had been originally conceived in the obscurity of the patriotic societies which sprang up throughout the country after the tall of Parnell; and the young men of such societies were willing and eager to test the “intellectual excitement” which Yeats and his friends were about to afford. Though they cared little for literature they cared much for Ireland, and were therefore ready with their criticism of any enterprise that called itself National. They were quick to praise or blame the play which dealt with the life of the peasantry or with Irish history, and thsy would sit out even the play in verse for Ireland's sake. “An audience,” wrote Yeats, “with national feeling is alive; at the worst it is alive enough to quarrel with.” Yeats and his audiences never ceased quarrelling. In “The Countess Cathleen” the heroine sells her soul to the l>evil in order to save a suffering people from starvation. An Irise newspaper, backed up by an Irish Cardinal, declared that under nd circumstances could an Irishwoman do the like. Thus the very first production of the Irish theatre was threatened with riot and was carried out only under the protection of the' police. Two years later “Cathleen-ni-lloulihan,” by the same author, was put on the stage. Yeats owed this play of 'OB and the Rebellion to a dream "of a cottage where there was well being .and firelight,” into which entered “an old woman in * long cloak who was Ireland

herself —that Cathleen-ni-floulihan for whose sake so many have gone to their death.”. The French are landing at Killala; the'son of the house forgets his approaching marriage and follows the old woman out into the darkness to win back for her her “beautiful green fields." This time it was the Unionists who were incommoded. The loyalist minority were shocked at this piece of sedition and forsook ’ the theatre for a while, leaving it to the “rebels,” who were correspondingly delighted. Yeats defended himself. When J. M. Synge appeared, the gathering storm burst. Of the five plays that he produced during his short working life in Ireland, three gave mortal offence to the Sinn Ferners, “The Playboy of the Western World” being the occasion of the biggest theatrical disturbance ever known in Dublin. Norreys Connell’s “The Piper” received similar treatment. But both “Playboy’ and “Piper” held the boards for their week, though played on the first few nights in dumb show. In the end a hearing for “The Playboy” could only be ensured by the presence of the police, who, it is said, numbered inside and outside the theatre five hundred. Defying the Censor. In search of further adventures, the directors of the Abbey Theatre, next tried a fall with Dublin Castle by producing Bernard Shaw’s play, censored in London, “The Shewing Up of Blanco Posnet.” The Censor’s powers do not ex-

tend to Ireland; yet the directors, on announcing their programme, were warned by the Lord Lieutenant not to proceed. They disregarded the warning. Shaw’s picture in the Bret Harte mamner of life in an American mining settlement won Dublin’s approval, an approval due not perhaps so much to the merits of the play as to the dislike of all classes for the Castle. No one objected to the horse-’ stealer’s blasphemies, if, indeed, they were blasphemies. But then Blanco was not an Irishman, and that made the difference! The fortunes of the enterprise had now turned. The “Playlioy,” put on the boards again, met with better appreciation. A Representative Passage. How Synge “restored words to their sovereignty in the theatre” may be seen in that most beautiful passage in “The Playboy of the Western World,” the love scene between Christy Mahon and Pegeen. The Playboy in bis flight lias reached a little Connaught shanty. There he is installed as pot-boy; a sort of “general help” to Pegeen, the publican’s daughter. He has told how he, hitherto a |x>or, half-starved slave on his father’s farm, revolted at last, “killed his da with a loy,” and set out across the world. So “ganiey” a fellow this Christy seems to people who have lost all vigour that he becomes the hero of the countryside. At Hie local races lie rides the winner. All the girls press their favours upon -him. isxnlted beyond -himself lie becomes a glorious ptfet. ; Pegeen. (Radiantly, wiping his face with her shawl.') Well, you’re the lad, and you’ll have great times from this out

when you could win that wealth of prizes, and you sweating in the heat of noon! ■ Christy. (Looking at her with delight.) I’ll have great times if- I win the crowning prize I’m seeking now, and that’s your promise that you’ll wed me in a fortnight when our banns is called. Pegeen. You’ve right daring to ask me that, when all knows you’ll be starting to some girl in your own townland when your father’s rotten in four months, or five. u.u . Christy. (Indignantly.) Starting from you, is it? (He follows her.) I will not then, and when the airs is warming in four months, or five, it’s then yourself and me should be pacing Neifin in the dews of night, the time sweet smells do be rising, and you’d see a little, shiny new moon, maybe, sinking on the hills. Pegeen. (Playfully.) And it’s that kind of a poacher’s love you’d make, Christy Mahon, on the side of Neifin, when the night is down? Christy. It’s little you’ll think if my love’s a poacher’s, or an earl’s itself, when you’ll feel my two hands stretched around you, and I squeezing kisses on your puckered lips, till I’d feel a kind of pity for the Lord God in all ages sitting lonesome in His golden chair. Pegeen. That’ll be right fun, Christy Mahon, and any girl would walk her heart out before she’d meet a young man was your like for eloquence, or talk, at all. Christy. (Encouraged.) Let you wait, to hear me talking, till we’re astray in

Erris, when Good Friday’s by, drinking a sup from a well, and making mighty kisses with our wetted mouths, or gaming in a gap of sunshine, with yourself stretched back unto your necklace in the flowers of the earth. Pegeen. (In a lower voice, moved by his tone.) I’d be nice so, is it? Christy. (With rapture.) If the mitred bishops seen you out that time, they’d be the like of the holy prophets, I’m thinking, do be straining the bars of Paradise to lay eyes on the Lady Helen of Troy, and she abroad, pacing backward and forward with a nosegay in her golden shawl. But Christy is not a patricide after all. For the “loy” has failed to do its work, aiid his father Mahon still lives. Mahon, with bandaged bead, follows his son and finds Christy’s refuge; and, after a scene of great brutality in which Christy again attempts murder, the pair leave together for home amid general derision. Pegeen, who has denounced Christy for a boastful bungler, is left broken-hearted. But Christy’s experi - ence has made him master of himself and of the world; and it is Mahon who is now the slave and Christy who is the ruler. The Truth. “The Truth,” which is to be staged by the Katherine Grey” Company during friieir Auckland season is quite one of tint most representative dramas from the pen of Clyde Fitch. It is a much superior. aiid more mature work than “Lover’s Lane,” and, of course, it wHI be infinitely better played. For a very deft

and acute wtndy of a woman who findsthe greatest difficulty in speaking the truth at all times, even to her husband, whom she loves, the . play can be confidently recommended. I saw Marie Tempest play the part of “Becky. Warder” at the Comedy Theatre shortly after its production in 1907. The piece had an excellent run, and appealed to many by reason of its vivid representation of real life and real people on the stage. All theatre-goers who like to see character sketched strongly jjj,. every individual part, who are. delighted to discover a wholesome moral underlying a play of very clever dialogue, and want the human things of our present-day life discussed, will find “The Truth” very much to their liking. It is a fine comedy woven in a serious vein, and instantly raised the prestige of the author to the front rank of American dramatists. Will Pnecini Be a Sullivan ? Despite the success of Puccini’s opera, “The Girl of the Golden West,” the great Italian opera-writer is about to forsake the more serious side of his art. As comic opera can be presented with financial profit night after night, while the very finest grand opera existent can only be presented intermittently, it is small wonder that Puccini is said to have delivered himself of the following words of wisdom:—“l have decided not to proceed with ‘La Femme et le Pantin’ or ‘Marie Antoinette.’ These were projects which I had in mind before I took up ‘1 he Girl of the Golden West.’ But now I have decided to work on a comedy, I shall drop them. No more heart-throbs; I want a good lusty comedy.”. This, looks as if he were going to. follow in the footsteps of Sir Arthur Sullivan. Sullivan was born to greater things than: “Patience” or “The Mikado,” and has been blamed before now for forsaking the serious side of his art and devoting the latter years of his life almost exclusively to comic opera. But, providing that a composer does not prostitute his talentsj there is no shame in his keeping one eye on his muse and the other on the boxoffice receipts, .. Sullivan no more degraded himself by sticking to comic opera than did Burnaiid or Andrew Lang or Thackeray by turning their attention to “Punch.” Mozart himself is not’held in less' repute bec’ause' fie' wrote comic works. A really good comic opera is' rar«7 aiftl a joy to witness when"it isF found. It is to be hoped that he will not lower his,standard of excellence any more than Sullivan -did, but will; like him,' simply direct it along a lighter channel of thought. Modern Orchestral Effects. Nowadays composers ’are constantly vying with one another in attempts to obtain new effects of colour in instrumentation. It was Richard Strauss who introduced “the heckelphone,” and there is one passage, it will be remembered, in “Elektra” when a birch-rod is added to - the orchestral hurly-burly. Equally effectual, of course, is the wind-machine employed by the same composer in his “Don Quixote” Variations. Mr. Joseph Holbrooke has not invented a new instrument, but he is the only composer wl’.O believes in the virtues or tire concertina as an adjunct of the modern orchestra. Then there is Paderewski’s fearful and wonderful tonitruone—a piece of iron in a wooden frame, shaken by hand—which he found necessary, apparently, for the salvation of his symphony. And now one learns that in his new opera, “The Girl of the Golden West,” Puccini, in order to reproduce a banjo effect, “interlaces the strings of the harp with paper.” Furthermore, at the elose of the first act, “an underlying tonal effect is produced by a very soft murmuring tremolo bn the metalyphone ag'ainst an unresolved chord on C.” “No doubt our ignorance is abysmal (says the ‘Telegraph’), but we confess to complete unfamiliarify with the instrument last mentioned. Possibly it is the metallophone, which one of the musical dictionaries describes as (1) “n kind of pianoforte, with tuned

steel bars-instead ‘of-Strings-,’’ or (2) "a species of Zylophone, with metal bars.” In any ease, the instrument in question must be reckoned .an addition- to modern orchestral resources, . -j , Wellington Choral Society. The musical year ■in Wellington has been one of note, not only in regard to the work done by the Choral Society and the Wellington Musical Union, but by the exceptionally successful efforts of Mr. Maughan Barnett in the production of “The Dream of Gerontius” —to be sung here in the winter by the noted Sheffield Choir—and the formation of the first municipal orchestra in Australasia, says “The Times.” Mr. R. T. Caldow, speaking at the annual meeting of the Society, said that recently he had made it his business to go to Gloucester, where he heard “The

Dream of Gerontius” rendered by a specially picked chorus of 270 voices and an orchestra of 80 professionals. It was sung in one of. the finest cathedrals in England, with the accompaniment of a grand organ, conducted by Elgar himself, so that .the Conditions were-os-perfect as, they could bettor q fine rendering. When he, heard the 'VyelliiigtoHf, .Choral -.Society in the work Itg could hardly believe he was listening To tire localj society; it san’g the miIBR’ e ’So splendidly, he wonder--ed what change had come over the society whilst he was away. (Laughter.) The fact was that he had thought the Wellington Society could not come up to the Home standard. He thought that Mr. Barnett himself must recognise that the members of the chorus were ready to encourage him, and that they put their whole souls to produce, as far as possible, the effect the conductor desired. “I was delighted to hear such a grand rendering,” he concluded, “and it compared very favourably with the chorus I heard under such splendid conditions at Home.” “Der Rosenkavalier”—A Blaze of Triumph. The first performance of Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” ended after three and a half hours of music in a blaze of triumph, before perhaps the most critical audience ever gathered together fin a theatre, writes a correspondent from Dresden on January 26th. The work was given with a completeness of ensemble which has probably been rarely surpassed, even at Dresden. The music is scored for an orchestra of 103 instruments —namely, strings, 16 first and 16 second violins, 12 violas, ten violoncellos, and eight double basses; wood wind, three flutes and piccolo, three ciboes and cor anglais, three clarinets, basset horn or bass clarinet, and three bassoons'; brass, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, and bass tuba; two harps, celesta, and percussion.

The celesta’s chief use is to add colour to the silver-rose theme, to give the suggestion of the payment‘of cash to Vnizaechi and Annina, and to illuminate the beautiful interlude between the filial' trio and the final duet- In the percussion arc ineluded four species of drums, cymbals, triangle,, tambourine, castanets, and glockenspiel. There. is a bell which is used in connection with the Field-Mar-shal’s wife’s little negro, and those who are in the habit of regarding Dr Strauss as mainly q, purveyor, of unusual instruments —and such people still exfist —will have to be content on this occasion with the large rattle which accompanies the four children in the .third act, ai;d apparently illustrates the mechanical nature of their vocal efforts. In addition to the main orchestra a band behind the scenes is used for the “Tafelmusik” in

the third act. ' This consists of a string quintet, flute, oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, trumpet, side drum, harmonium and pianoforte. The love music v at the beginning of the first act- made.' an ineffaceable impression, following'the spirited; prelude; and tlie scene . between the Field Marshal’s wife,. .Octavian, and the. Baron,, ig. one of the highest comedy, which Vanbrugh

would not have been ashamed to sign. Heir Strauss has done nothing betteu x th:in the bleijding of nienuets and waltzes with his own style in this aet. It seemed to carry the audience away, an I th? 70 minutes occupied by the action passed like ten. If the first act is interrupted by the genre picture of the lever, the second act is pure comedy, from the first bar to the last. There is nothing more brilliant in the work than the music which accompanies the Baron throi »ghout At the end of the act there was immense enthusiasm, and the composer and artist were recalled at least ten times. The third act is largely different in character from the others; its is rather broad farce than comedy, and the music changes accordingly. . By the device of a stage bind the eompox“y smooths over the excessive contrast which his large adoption of waltz rhythm in this act would otherwise cause. The manner in which the charming waltz tunes are thrown backwards and forwards from the orchestra to the stage band 'is fascinating. As for the final trio, nothing of the sort has been written since the quintet in the “Meistersinger, and the succeeding duet is admirable in a totally different way. The accompaniment to the latter, formed of the silver-rose theme, is exquisite. At the termination of th? work every one concerned was recalled some 20 times, and Herr von Schuch, conductor, finally received the roi cognition to which his splendid labours entitled him. 1 remember no such scene at Dresden since the production of Paderewski’s “Manru:” but there is no doubt that the work will have a very different ultimate fate. The unvarying delicacy of the music is extraordinary; there is never any cause to feel that the composer is experimenting for the sake of experiment; cause and effect are perfectly balanced throughout. If this work is not universally successful where proper means exist for its production, lit will be time to despair of public appreciation of work which deserves it. Return of a' Clever Cellist. Those who remember the sympathetic playing of Mr. F. S. McLean, ’cellist, will be glad to • know that he has returned to Auckland, and intends teaching (his delightful instrument; as wejl as giving concerts. Mr. McLean, who is from the Conservatoire, ~ has for several years been living in Sydney and Mei-

bourne, v>rtT has now decided to settle down in Auckland, where he has many friends and admirers. Hugh J. Ward's Farewell. Hugh J. Ward and his popular associates inaugurate a farewell visit of New Zealand al His Majesty’s Theatre on Monday evening next, when they stage tlie farce comedy ‘'Seven Days.” Billed as the joint work of two dramatists, the new play is in reality an acting edition of the amusing story “When a Man ■Marries,” by Mary Roberts Binehart and Avery Hopwood, the American authoresses of “The Circular Stairease” and “The Man in Lower Ten.” Save that the Japanese butler does not figure in the caste, the plan of the story has been closely followed, and the roofgarden episodes may be said to have been dumped out of the book on to the stage. Apart from the domestic element, and what is called “a trial engagement,” the fun hinges on a dinner, which is given by Jimmy Wilson, and which ends in everyone being quarantined on account of the illness of the Japanese, who is supposed to have smallpox. In the play, it is explained that the trouble over an oflieial notification on yellow paper and a Japanese servant enmeshed and mixed up ten respectable members of society and a policeman. There are three acts, the first in the drawing room, the second in the kitchen, and the third in the roof-garden of a riverside house, where all the characters of the play are seen. The cast of “Seven Days” includes Miss Grace Palotta, Miss Celia Ghiloni, Miss Maud Chetwynd, Messrs. Hugh J. Ward, Aubrey Mallalieu, Reg. Wykeham, Rob. Greig, and 11. H. Wallace. “Glittering Gloria,” a song farce by Hugh Morton (author of the “Belle of New York”), will be the second production of the Hugh J. Ward Company’s farewell season. The play is described by the Australian Press as a three hours’ bombardment of irresistible fun. “The Scarecrow,” a fantastic pantomime sketch, that Mr. Ward produced at Drury Lane, London, and the Chatelet Theatre. Paris, and in which he made Iris European reputation, will also be seen during the Company’s season, and a revival is also promised of that popular farce “A Honeymoon.” Katherine Grey Season. Those who like their drama mellow would probably vote “Paid in Full,” the last piece of the Katherine Grey Company at His Majesty’s, Auckland, the best in the repertoire. It is the nearest to melodrama that the company has put on, and in consequence is decidedly- popular. Miss Grey, by her consummate acting, elevates what would otherwise in less experienced hands degenerate into the shriek-and-tear-it-to-rags sort of thing. The company gave a very even performance, Messrs. George Bryant, W. Desmond, and Cyril Mackay being particularly good. The season closes on Saturday evening. Miss Campion. Miss Kitty Campion, who is going Home to study, was tendered a benefit concert in Auckland this week, at which much enthusiasm was shown. The course she is now to pursue was recommended by no less a judge than Madame Calve, who considers her voice well worth a (European course of training. Everyone will hope to hear pleasant news of Miss Campion’s success after the years of hard work which lie before her. Wail from Wanganui. In an editorial under the heading of “Abuses That Want a Remedy," the Wanganui “Herald” last week observed:—The proprietors of the circus which visited Wanganui two or three days ago, advertised seats at 4/, 3/ and 2/, and would-be patrons were disgusted and indignant beyond measure when the doors were opened to find that prices had virtually been put up a shilling. A rather angry though haphazard demonstration was made, many who could not afford the extra money went hrjne, while others paid up and tried to look pleasant. There was no remedy in sight for this action, and a police officer, on living appealed to, could do no more than advise people to stay away in a body. Had they done no the proprietary might have been brought to their senses, but as the advioe was not taken, the higher charge was continued. The circus pitched its tents on public property, owned by th® •ouncfl, and thi* fact give® the council a

right to interfere in this case also. Even were a circus pitched on private property, the council, as the body which licenses places of amusement, would still have the right to impose terms to prevent the exploitation of the public. Tire Composer of the Futurs, Years ago it was a cant phrase to talk about “the music of tire future,” and scornfully to voice the hope that it would always stop there. Nowadays the expression is seldom used, having become somewhat threadbare, besides which the future of music appears so obscure that no one cares to assume the role of a prophet. If all accounts are correct, however. —and they would seem to be so — there is at the present time a youthful prodigy who bids fair to make his mark in the world. His name is Eric Wolfgang Korngold, and he is the son of Dr. Julius Korngold, the musical critic of the “Neue Freie Presse,” the well-known Vienna newspaper. He. was born at Brunn on May 29th, 1897, and therefore is not yet fourteen years old. A member of a musical household, it is not surprising that the hoy’s thoughts were early turned to music. By the time he was five he could play the piano, and by the time he was eight he had begun to compose, while a year later he wrote a dramatic cantata. At the age of eleven he composed the music for a pantomime, “Der Schneemann,” which was produced privately last spring by the wife of the Austrian Prime Minister, the success being so pronounced that in October the work was brought out at the Vienna Court Opera House, where also it made a great impression, both by reason of its musical ideas and the evidence it afforded of uncommon gifts of intelligence and dramatic expression. The composer, it should be said, had only scored his work for pianoforte, and his master, Alexander von Zemlinsky, scored it for the orchestra. The boy’s ideas are said, however, to be essentially orchestral in character, and when he has advanced in his studies we are to look for remarkable manifestations of his talent. Abnormal Prodigy. This pantomime was written some two years ago, and since then Eric Korngold has coinposed other works, a piano sonata in D minor, a “Don Quixote” suite for the piano, and last of all a trio for piano, violin, and ’cello, which is to be heard in London before long. These compositions are said to show a marvellous advance bn “Der Schneemann.” In fact, at the age of thirteen and a-half Eric Korngold appears to be the most advanced composer of his time, one who has attained his present position without passing through the probationary stages that one would have expected. He begins where Strauss now is, except that possibly he is even more “modern,” his “Don Quixote” containing progressions that out-vie the composer of “Salome” and “Electra.” That the boy has real gifts may be taken as certain, otherwise such men as Strauss and Nikisch, not to mention many other German musicians, would not have borne so emphatic a testimony to them. The further progress of this prodigy should prove interesting. Is he to be the composer of the future? Notwithstanding his abnormal musical precocity, Eric Korngold is described as being otherwise an ordinary boy, fond of games as a boy should be. Certainly his portraits give the idea of a stout, healthy lad with nothing about him of the weediness that too often attaches to the “forced” prodigy. But then with this boy music-making appears quite as natural as breathing, even if the .result is more complicated. Stray Notes. It is some time now since we heard of one of New Zealand’s greatest favourites, Madame Amy Sherwin, who made three of the most successful concert tours of the Dominion. News comes that her pupils have lieen doing well, including Mr. John Harrison, Miss Muriel Gough, Miss Dorothy Webster, and Mr. Fraser Gange. And what is probably of more interest to the people of New Zealand is the news that the daughter of the Collector of Customs at Dunedin (Mr. Sibbald), formerly of Auckland, who now calls herself professionally Madame Zela, has entered upon a professioiml career under the auspices of Madame Sherwin. Little over a year ago Mr. Sibbald consulted Mr. Hugo Gorlitz as to what to do with his daughter (who is Mrs. M. Rylance) in the Old Country. He said that she had studied in Vienna, Italy, ami Paris, and did not seem to make any progress professionally. Mr. Gorlitz naturally recommended her to go to Madame Sherwin, his wife, and the conse-

quence is that in less than a year’s time New Zealand’s finest soprano has had some of the best engagements in England, and is now specially engaged for the opening concert of the great Festival of the Empire at the Crystal Palace, London, in June,, when the King and Queen will be present. The success which has attended the visit of Miss Katherine Grey in the various provincial towns, has induced the management to extend her present tour, and a return visit to each of the following centres will take place: At New Plymouth on Monday, March 13th; Wanganui, March 14th; Palmerston North, March 15th; Masterton, March 16th; Timaru, March 18th and 20th; Oamaru, March 21st; Gore, March 23rd. Miss Grey will make her final appearance in New Zealand at Invercargill on Friday and Saturday, March 24th and 25th, in the “Lion and the Mouse” and “The Third Degree.” Mr. Will Crooks, the M.P. for Woolwich, tells a good story, says “M.A.P.” Two men were conversing about the Yiddish inscriptions which abound in the region of Whitechapel. “Could yer read that, Joe?” asked one. answered Joe, “I can’t read it, but I could play it on a flute!” A schoolgirl, when asked to explain the term sotto voce, replied, “In a drunken voice manner.” Francis Ross, easily the most distin-guished-looking and most capable of leading ladies introduced to New Zealand years ago by Bland Holt, is again to appear in the Dominion. This time

she cornea, not with Mr Holt, but with Mr. Allan Hamilton’s Company, winch opens in Invercargill in April, and gradually works North.