Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 17, 26 April 1911, Page 14

Music and Drama.

By

BAYREUTH.

BOOKINGS. (Dates subject to alteration.! AUCKLAND—HIS iMAJESTYS. April 15 to May 6 —J. C. Williamson (“The Whip”) Co. May It—'William Anderson Dramatic Co. May 1R to June 10 — J. C. Williauison June 12 to 14—MacMahon Bros. July 24 to August s—‘‘Jack and the Beanstalk.” WELLINGTON—OPERA HOUSE. April 15. May 6.—J. C. Williamson, tlay 8, 17.—Allan Hamilton. May 18, June 7.—J. C. Williamson. June 12, July 1. George Marlow. July G, 20.—Clarke and Meynell. Angus! 17, 26.—J. C. Williamson. September 15. 30.—Clarke and Meynelt October 5, 25. —J. 0. Williamson. November 3, 16 —Clarke and Meynell. December 2, 16. - Max Maxwell. Christmas Season.—J. C. Williamson. Shaw's Latest Plays. XA ERNARD ■ SHAW has added I'w another volume to his published /■ k plays accompanied by the inevitV—able preface. The dramas arc his three latest, if “Press Cuttings” be his three latest, if “Misalliance” be omitted—namely, “The Doctor’s Dilemma,” “Getting Married,” and “Thu fellowing Up of Blanco I’osnet.” One of Mr Shaw's plays with one of his lengthy prefaces affords in itself a sufficient task for the reviewer. But three of his plays with three of these .weighty tracts bound up in a single volume present a field of discussion so vast that one may despair of touching more than the edge of it. The plays themselves have already been through the mill of public and private discussion since their first presentation on the stage. Clever, witty, and charged with ideas as they are, they are certainly not his best plays, and “Blanco I’osnet” is possibly his worst. When it was seen in Dublin eighteen months ago. critics marvelled at the commonplaceness of the melodrama no less than at its high moral tone to which the Censor objected, But if the plays do not show Mr Shaw at his best, on the other hand, the essays which introduce them are fine examples of his gift for exposition as anything which this writer of brilliant prose has done. Mr Shaw is beyond question a master of exposition. His ceaseless fusillade of witticism blinds many people to the fact that it is not the witticism he is aiming at but the argument. His rapid instinct is made powerful by his exact logical brain. lie can marshal an argument and bring heavy guns to bear with masterly precision whilst his quick-firing wit is pouring a storm of ridicule on the enemy. For the most part, if you refuse to be blinded by his mere brilliance ami steadily examine his argument you find it to be almost a model of sweet reasonableness. Occasionally he departs from that, and then he is appalingly and mischievously plausible. But generally one is astonished that so brilliant a man can be so fundamentally wise and right. His plea for the abolition of the Dramatic Censorship is not .only far the most effective practical exposure of the Censorship that has ever been written, but it is a far-reaching and drastic philosophic analysis—first, of the meaning of liberty in "the expression and propagation of moral ideas; ami secondly, of the actual working of the present system. “My reputation has been gained by my persistent struggle to force the publie to reconsider its morals,” he says in the “Rejected Statement,” the presentation of which to the Royal Commission on the Censor which sat last year, affords one of those delightful true stories that only n Shaw can make so damaging. “I write plays with the deliberate object of converting the nation to my opinions in these matters.” That he has to a large extent already converted the intellectuals is beyond question. It is a significant fact that the most powerful modern writers have in the last ten years concentrated their efforts on exposing the tyranny of the established idea. Such diverse writers ns Mr Wells. Mr Galsworthy, Mr Granville Barker, Mr Cmininghame Graham, Mr Belloc, and Mr Chesterton have written books on the motive of which is savage indignation, or divine anger, or •utire, directed against the established

moral codes or intellectual habits. But Mr Shaw, himself following the then obscure Samuel Butler, showed the way for the others. His method was, and is, to combine argument with the more telling weapon of ridicule. In this book he exposes and ridicules the dramatic censorship. He exposes and ridicules the popular conception of happy domestic life, and in like manner the sujierstitiOn that the faculty of medicine is infallible. Public Superstition About Doctors. The picture of concerted professional fraud given up in “ The Doctor’s Dilemma” is, no doubt, an exaggerated one, but perhaps not more so than is legitimate for the purpose of satire. But in his long essay on the subject he is essentially reasonable. He docs not treat the doctor as a murderer or a pickpocket or a human vulture or even a cold-blooded cynic; he merely shows what must happen to the ordinary moderately decent, normal man, without any special moral or intellectual equipment, who becomes a doctor. “As to the honour and conscience of doctors, they have as much as any other class of men, no more and no less. And what other men,” he adds characteristically, “dare pretend to be impartial where they have strong pecuniary interest on one side ?” He analyses

the psychology of the practitioner and the specialist; he shows how much guesswork there must be, where even the most distinguished differ; in what manner we are all handed over bound, to the tender mercies of men who are often poor, overworked, unscientific, and if they are specialists, prejudiced. What be says about the surgeon and the specialist is more true than what he says of the general practitioner.' Long experience of varied illnesses is more valuable for the curing of simple, diseases than much so-called “scientific knowledge” ; and as it happens the life of the general practitioner is one which does result in promoting certain healthy cynicisms and human decencies which are singularly lacking in the specialist on the one side and the routine-driven hospital nurse on the other. On Marriage. The essay which precedes “Getting Married” is stronger in its attack than in its reconstructive proposals. It is interesting to find Mr Shaw confessing that “young women come to me and ask me whether I think they ought to consent to marry the man they have decided to live with.” Mr Shaw, of course, urges them “on no acount to compromise themselves without the security of an authentic wedding ring.” But has he any right to be surprised? If you attack an existing morality, it is only natural that the public should think you are advocating the corresponding “immorality,” as ]>opularly understood; and one suspects that Mr Shaw has, from thia natural misunderstanding, more to answer for than he

himself dreams of. When Mr Shaw call* himself an “inimoraliat,” he means that he is the true moralist; that he is going to substitute for a deeayed; outworn, conventional, and stupid morality, a morality based upon a rational human principle—a morality that will make society better. He wants us to get rid of the idea that the family, as at present constituted, is the highest form of co-partnership. "The people who talk and write as if the highest attainable state is that of a family stewing in love continuously from the cradle to the grave can hardly have given five minutes’ serious consideration to so outrageous a proposition.”

Home life, as we understand it, is no more natural to us than a cage is natural to a cockatoo. Its grave danger to the nation lies in its narrow views, its unnaturally sustained and spitefully jealous concupiscences, its petty tyrannies, its false social-pretence, its endless grudges and squabbles, its sacrifice of the boy’s future by setting him to earn money to help the family when he should be in training for his adult life (remember the boy Dickens and the blacking factory), and of the girl’s chances by making her a slave to sick or selfish parents, its unnatural packing into little brick boxes of little parcels of humanity of ill-assorted ages, with the old scolding or beating the young for behaving like young people, and the young hating and thwarting the old for behaving like old people, and all the other ills, mentionable and unmentionable, that arise from excessive segregation. It sets these evils up as benefits and blessings representing the highest attainable degree of honour and

virtue, whilst any ’criticism of or revolt against them is savagely persecuted as the extremity of vice. Mr. Shaw thinks that the matter can be solved by such simple economic expedients as making women economically independent and legitimising children. Such material for a play is characteristic of Shaw’s daring and originality. Whatever his views may be anl however much we may be inclined to disagree with him, does not alter the fact he ds the living evidence of his intense morality. His abstemiousness in the matter of food and drink, his simple habits of living and the deep-seated vein of kindness which animate the man (as his more intimate friends well know), raise him high above the conception conservative minded people, are apt to form of the dramatist as a man. , Shaw lives a clear century in advance of contemporary idea's of what is fit, proper and right in so-called home life. One needs an intimate personal knowledge derived by contact with the social problems of the millions in the older countries of the world to recognise the force and the justice that is behind a lot the dramatist says. Meanwhile students of the greatest of our modern playwrights will find very entertaining reading and food for infinite reflection in the brilliant pages of his latest volume. Garments and Habits. Apropos of “G. 8.5. Desmond Shaw writes in “The Coming Nation” as follows:— His saintliness is overwhelming. It is unnatural. It is Satanic. He has not a single redeeming vice. He has never tasted stimulants; tobacco he detests—he has a particular dislike to

smoke in any form, and he elothes hit* self in the swaddling clothes of a blameless life in the shape of Jaeger garment*. He eveu goes to rest, I have been informed upon excellent authority—that of ths maid who looked after his room when he was staying in the Midlands—in a sleeping bag, like an Egyptian mummy in a sarcophagus. In his early days he was the despair of his friends. They' regarded him as inhuman, where really he was unhuman. He was a man who never drank, never smoked,, never ate meat, and never swore—his. objections to the words “d n,” “devil” and “hades,” being significant, not to say pathetic. There is some hope of a man's reformation if he has been a sinner—but the case of Bernard Shaw Was hopeless, for there was nothing to reform. One man in disgust addressed him thus: “You don’t smoke, you don’t drink, you don’t swear- what do you do?” Shaw replied quite pleasantly, “I? Oh, I spit.” Commercialised Journalism.

Arnold Bennet’s striking play “What the Public Wants” has been produced at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. It is a drama of the newspaper world and unmistakably aims at (he (methods o| “The Daily Mail” and other Harmswort’h papers in the art of writing to please people, and sometimes writing to deliberately mislead the public. In his drama, Mr. Arnold Bennet has vividly portrayed the evils of this commercialised journalism. We are introduced to the head of a great newspaper trust which runs numberless dailies, weeklies, and monthlies throughout the country, and all on one principle-—“ Give the public what it wants; don’t give it what it ought to want, but' what it actually does want.” Sir Charles Worgan, the chief proprietor, is impatient with the moralists, who would have him be General Booth, 11. G. Wells, and the Hague Conference all in one. “When one goes into a tobacconist’s and asks for cigarettes, the man behind the counter does not think it his duty to tell one that •cigarettes are injurious and to hand one a pipe and tobacco instead.” Similarly must journalism be a trade supplying the demand of the public without inquiry as to its ethical and moral values. Whilst unashamedly asserting this principle and expressing pain that it should be attacked, Sir Charles thinks it perfectly legitimate to create the demand for his productions by stirring the worst human passions. “The circulation of the ‘Daily Mercury’ (does not one character in the play purposely say ‘Daily Mai..’?) must be a million in two months’ time, even if the country goes to war for it,” he exclaims, banging his fist' upon the table. In contrast with Sir Charles Worgan, enter Mr. Holt St. John, theatrical manager and idealist, who stages artistic plays before empty houses. “The majority is always wrong,” his philosophy runs, “and it’s we who change it.” The battle between these two conceptions is fought out (with the aid of a woman) in a dialogue that is brilliant and epigrammatic. The play is a revelation of modern newspaper methods, which are rather conspicuous in the politics of the particular journals which the author has in mind. Millionaire Bunglers. The millionaire’s theatre of New York which was intended to elevate the drama and be run on repertory lines, has come in for some strong criticism. The history of the theatre to date, writes Jeanette Gilder from New York, reads like a chapter of bungles for even the construction of the house itself, beautiful though it be, was a. bungle. At first the audience could not hear unless' they sat in the front rows. Then a quarter of a million, I believe that is the figure, was spent in lowering the ceiling, which has helped the acoustics, Ibut spoiled the beauty of the great dome. One still has to be well in the middle of the house to see all the stage, for the proscenium square —it is not the usual areh—cuts off much of the view from the sides. Now the directors have discovered that the whole house is a mistake for dramatie productions, asid It is generally understood that a newer and smaller theatre will be built for the production of plays and that the present' house will be given over to opera. What will be the name of the proposed theatre} Will it be called the Newest Theatre to distinguish it from the one first' built? The director seems to have been the right man in the wrong place, for he has resigned after untold difficulties. The board of directors is made of men of affairs, shrewd financiers', bankers, anS the like, who would no more think

putting an amateur of finance at the head of their business than they would think of flying. But when it comes to art they seem to think that any one can fill the bill and that training is of no account. Hence the trouble. No new director has yet been appointed. Dolores.

Mr. Janies Muir, manager for Dolores, writes to say that the famous singer will give three concerts in Auckland on 26th, 27th and 29th May. In the meantime, she will be giving concerts in the country towns. The tour will probably include the Waikato. Christchurch Competitions.

Mr. J. F. Montague, elocutionary adjudicator at the Christchurch competitions, had some interesting things to say at the conclusion of his busy week in the Cathedral City. He was emphatic on the point that these competitions were beneficial, and worthy of the support of all who were anxious to raise the standard of art in the Dominion. As an amateur he had taken the keenest interest in this kind of work, and he thought he might claim to have done even more than his share for the uplifting of the standard of English, which, unfortunately, required uplifting. Everything possible should be done to avoid the stigma being attached to us that we had an accent that was distinctiely of the colonial or the New Zealander. This was growing, and required to be combatted. It was painful to notice that throughout the public schools the English diction was so wretchedly bad; one saw it constantly in the competitions for children. It had been said, perhaps, with some truth, that the fault lay not with the teachers, but with the home surroundings, but at the same time the teachers might do a great deal. He had observed in some instances that the diction of some teachers was very deficient even in some of the secondary schools.

The Knotty Question. Another reference, a brief one, was made by Mr. Montague to the choice of selections in the elocutionary sections. It was all very well, he said, to speak of raising the standard of a thing, but the standard must not be raised over the heads of the public all at once. The society had to depend on the support of the public, and the public should be considered. It was not quite fair to give programmes which were not interesting to the public. The process of raising the standard should be more gradual. The public had attended in spite of the bad selections, but they would not go on attending if the impression got abroad that the items were dry and severely classical. Mr. Montague stated that directly he saw the selections for Christchurch he wrote to the executive and begged them to change them, but the reply was that it was too late. His criticism had not been induced by any journalistic discussion. He also suggested that the convenience of the public should be met by announcing the results of the various classes as soon as they were finished, instead of reserving the announcement until the end of the entertainment. One Quite Enough.

The idea of appointing two judges for each section, as advocated by various newspaper correspondents, did not appeal to Mr. Montague. If the right man was appointed not more than one was necessary. It might be worth con sideration whether separate judges should not be appointed for the instrumental and vocal selections. Christchurch this year had been fortunate in securing a gentleman who was undoubtedly a fine musician and thoroughly competent to deal with both sections, but it might not always be as fortunate as it had been in the past. Another suggestion made by Mr. Montague was that the definition of amateur should be widened. He did not think that a person who occasionally received a fee should be excluded from the competition, though it would be improper to allow a teacher or a person who earned the greater portion of his livelihood by elocution or music to compete. “ Via Wireless.”

The story of “Via Wireless”—the play which follows “The Whip” on Monday evening next in Auckland —has a strong flavour of melodramatic interest running through its sensational course. In the first scene the audience is introduced to Edward Pinkey, the manager of the Durant steel works at Elswick. A clever

scoundrel who masks his.villainy with the aid of a plausible manner and assumed honesty of purpose, Pinkey uses Marsh, a draughtsman in Durant's works, as a tool. Marsh has invented a gun, a 9-inch naval weapon, and the English Government, recognising it as valuable, have placed an order with Durant. Pinkey’s scheme is to get the lion’s share of the royalties. * He persuades Marsh to efface himself, making it appear that a German is the inventor of the destructive weapon. The manager proposes to draw the royalties in the German name, and pay them to Marsh, thus seemingly protecting the inventor’s interests. Lieutenant Somers, of the navy, has also invented a gun. which is being east at Durant’s. Somers is desperately in love with Frances Durant, the daughter of the steel magnate, with Pinkey as a hot rival for the lady’s hand. If the Lieutenant’s gun proves a success that of Marsh may be cancelled. In this condition of things the manager gets Marsh and a drunken foreman to spoil the Somers’ gun in the tempering. The plan of the manager works well—the lieutenant’s gun is condemned. In the second act we see Mrs. Durant and her daughter at the Hotel “Bella Vista” at Funchal, Madeira. They are on a yachting cruise. The warship on which is the lieutenant arrives, and he is informed that his gun exploded at the trial, killing several of the workmen. A Scotland Yard detective is at Funchal, and Somers is ordered home in connection with the investigation. Durant’s steam yacht is the only vessel leaving, and Pinkey is anxious to get to England first, so that he may prepare bis witnesses. He refuses to take Somers on the yacht, but Miss Durant insists. The wreck of the craft follows. It is disclosed in a dramatic way to the. “wireless operator” of the Mongolian, who picks up the' distress call. This is, it is said, one of the best effects in the play. The peculiar note of the machine, with its electric sputter, gives the scene a thrill. The intensity of the situation is increased by the operator on the helpless yacht not being able to give his position. Finally the anxiously awaited message is received. The big ocean liner, coining along in the nick of time just as the yacht is breaking un on the reef, in a highly dramatic manne ■, rescues the harassed travellers, an,l Somers, the hero of the catastrophe, is covered with glory. In the fourth act Marsh breaks down under cross-examination, and with the exposure of the perfidy of Pinkey the end of the play is rounded off in happy fashion. Another Revolution Indicated. A departure from the traditional method of scenic decoration has been made in Paris recently. The occasion was the production of Alfred de Musset's play “Fantasio,” at the Theatre des Arts. The first principle of the new art of scenic decoration, says the Telegraph’s Paris correspondent, with which the Theatre des Arts is successfully experimenting, is simplification. It is new only relatively, for it is in a measure derived from that of the Russian ballets of the St. Petersburg Imperial Opera. The new art of decoration starts from the exactly contrary standpoint to that of the conventional seene-painter. The latter’s aim is to fashion upon the stage a scene which will, as far as possible, deceive the spectator into believing that it is not a representation but a reality. The opposite aim is to put upon the stage a presentment of reality, as seen through an artist’s eye, or, as in the old phrase, through a temperament. The scene pleasing to the discerning eye always remains confessedly a picture, and never apes reality. No more cardboard flowerbeds with paper flowers and cotton blades of grass, set here and there irregularly to imitate the irregularity of nature, but a painted picture of a garden, so painted as to give the impression, not the illusion, of a garden. An essential process in such scenepainting is simplification. The realistic method complicates matters as much as possible to produce deception more or less completely, as details are more or less completely copied. The other gives only the broad lines and colours of the scene. These being true, the impression is one of greater reality than the best illusions of realism. Another essential practice is the use of vivid and simple colours, with simple lines and masses. Neutral and fine shades must not be attempted. The scenery for the toyland play brought out some time ago at this theatre was excellent. A typical example de a scene of a palace vestibule, with an arras background. The only

furniture is one settee. The only scenery is the back cloth," and on the latter are painted merely three or four huge garlands of conventional foliage in blue, on a ground of violent crimson. The scene is reduced to its elements, but the impression given is perfectly agreeable.

It is, of course, essential that the dresses worn should harmonise well with the simplified scenery in colour, a consideration which seldom occurs to the ordinary stage manager. An exampie is that of a rose garden with a trelliswork arbour, having three great oval openings, showing the sea beyond. The foliage and the floxyers are reduced to their elements of line and colour. At the wings two exactly symmetrical side scenes in bluish-green represent bushes schematically. The whole scene is a schema of what the rose garden would be in reality. The elements of winch it is made up are so true that there is more “atmosphere” about this elementary rose garden than about the most perfect work of elaborately realistic scenepainting and stage setting. "Der Rosenkavalier” for London. Mr. F. 0. Whitney has brought "The Chocolate Soldier ” and other Viennese productions to London, has acquired the sole performing rights in Great Britain and America of Richard Strauss’ master work, “ De Rosenkavalier.” Mr. Whitney has deposited on account of royalties the greatest sum ever paid to a composer. He is having the opera translated into English, and hopes to present it to Londoners during the Coronation season. The composer of the opera has only sold the rights for one year from June 1. For the privilege of producing “Der Rosenkavalier” within that period Mr. Whitney lias to pay £4,500 down and £B,OOO in a month’s time, lie gets an option for a further period than the twelve months, but if the production is a success in England and America the terms for the second year may be even higher. However, Mr. Whitney seems to think it worth his while to pay on this magnificent scale. He says he doesn’t hope to come out with a

profit in England, but America offers wider, field, .and there Ire expects to recoup himself for his outlay and make a good profit as well. Evidently Rickard Strauss knows his own value. And the fact that he can sell his work on such amazing terms shows that he does not overestimate its market price.

So London is to see “Der Rosenkavnlier” this year after all—probably in the Coronation month. Mr. Whitney will take the largest theatre available, and give the opera in English with English singers. Strauss has promised to come over and to conduct the first performance, so as to giv* the venture a good semi oil. Here, t.en, is a treat in store for Colonial music-lovers who will be visiting London this summer. Strauss’s new opera was performed for the first time on January 26, at Dresden, and achieved a sensational success. The critics acclaimed it as in many way’s the great composer’s best work. It is quite different from “Elektra” and "Salome.'’ being humorous in subject and in treatment, and the music is rich in melody, ami especially in waltz-tunes.

Londoners are not great opera-goers. Covent Gardens lives by the patronage of the fashionable world, who are only a handful in London's teeming millions. And opera at Covent Garden is an expensive luxury. But when Mr. Thomas Beecham lavished many thousands of pounds last year in giving London a good opera at cheap prices, the response was lamentable, and Mr. Beecham lost his money. Love of fopera in Britain has been choked and stunted by a century or two of oratorios. If was a heavy price to pay even for the “Messiah.” Now that oratorio is on the wane, opera may begin to have a chance again, but as Mr. Beecham's unfortunate experience shows, it may take a long time to come into its kingdom. Meanwhile curiosity is sure to fill the house where “Der Rosenkavalier” is performed. People will Hock there in crowds, not because of any special love of opera, but because they will be curious to hear a work the author of which can command such princely terms.

Gorki'* Lateat Horror. A stormy scene marked the production of a new play by Maxim Gorky at the Nozlobin Theatre in Moscow recently. The public are accustomed to the famous writer's terribly realistic presentation of human woes and tragedies, but even the Russian audience revolted against the extremes to which he has gone in his latest work, “Vassa Yelesnovna.” Assassinations, poisonings, cruelty to children, forgeries, perjuries, and almost every imaginable crime abound in the new drama and the. whole story is a ghastly succession of horrors, which appear to lie piled on ruthlessly’ to show bow far humanity can be debased. After the third act the audience would have no more.. They hissed and shouted, and eventually came to -blows with a party of the playwright’s friends who (were endeavouring to applaud the piece. ■Finally the police were compelled to intervene and clear the house. Film Enterprise Extraordinary. Mr Cherry Kearton, the famous natur-alist-photographer, has left London for Singapore, on the most adventurous expedition ever undertaken in the interests of cinematography’. It is his intention to stalk and obtain films of the tiger and manlike orangoutang in their native haunts. He has equipped himself with a [Photographic armament valued at over £3OO, including a wonderful new invention, a cinematograph hand-camera, ■which, by means of pneumatically operated gyroscope spinning inside, eliminates vibration, and so enables pictures to be taken from any position or angle without the use of a tripod stand. The pneumatic power is obtained by using compressed -air, pumped into the camera with a bicycle pump, and the same force automatically exposes the film. The equipment includes ten thousand feet of film, and a complete canvas dark-room and outfit. Mr Kearton will develop his pictures in the jungle, and send them home as they are obtained. From Singapore he will go on to the Sultan of Ja'hore, in whose State he expects to cinematograph many animal and (bird subjects.

As in the ease of his expedition after lions, numbers of flashlight photographs ■will be taken at night when the tiger is visiting the water-holes, and will be used io enable Mr Kearton to become familiar yvith the animal’s habits and favourable haunts before proceeding to cinematograph him by day. These flashlight photographs are really taken by the animals themselves. When they tread on a thread laid across their path an electrical contact is made which fires the magnesium powder and -automatically exposes the plate. In the case of the cinematograph pictures Mr Kearton supported by picked big game shots will undertake the dangerous task of stalking the tiger through the thick grass on foot ns well ns on elephant back. As with the lion, he hopes to be able to meet and cinetnalograpli him at dose quarters, and face to face.

Public Its Own Censor. Some of the American cities have Evolved a plan whereby stage, censors are unnecessary, and the evils of “booming” are effectually checked. The system is quite independent, of the Press, the actors engaged, their friends, or Ithe managerial interests. The idea is this: A drama league with a widespread membership is formed. A number of ladies and gentlemen attend a now play on a night unknown to the management. They- pay for their seats, and. in the Caso of Chicago, they are mostly society leaders having no acquaintance With anybody connected with the theatre or interested in any way’ in the production. If -they like the piece -they issue a bulletin explaining their views and advising their members to attend. They’ are generous enough not to issue a bulletin if their judgment is unfavourable. The American public has ample need for protection of this sort, where the incidence of the big city render it impossible for it “to get round” whether a play is worth seeing. Occasionally theatre-goers in blew Zealand are victimised by -the miles of the over-zealous (advance agent, but wh.en an incident of this sort happens in one centre it is remarkably tiow quickly the word is passed on to the other cities.

Musical Festival for tbe Coronotiou.

London is to have a Coronation musical festival, a most attractive programme having been arranged for the end of May

al Queen's Hall. It is nine years since Jxmdon had its musical festival. Mr. Robert Newman organised the first in May, 1899. It was 'memorable for t'he opportunity it afforded to Londoners of hearing the combined bands of Paris and London in a friendly rivalry. The festivals were continued in the spring of each year until 1902. Tire revival in the Coronation year, when many foreigners as well as visitors from all parts of the United Kingdom and the Colonies will be flocking to London, should prove a highly successful experiment. The festival will include Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius,” Max Reger’s setting of the 100th Psalm, and Bach’s “Mars in B Minor.” British orchestral music will be represented by compositions from Professor Granville Bantock, Dr. Walford Davies and Mr. Percy Pitt.

An afternoon concert will be devoted to Dr. Richard Strauss, as composer and conductor. In the interpretation of Mozart’s music Dr. Strauss is inimitable, and the programme will include a symphony and a concerto by that master. There will be a first performance by’ the Queen’s Hall orchestra of the. tone-poem “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” and the concert will wind up with the “ Dance of the Seven Veils” and the closing scene from “Salome.” For the latter Mme. Aino Ackte, who made such a striking impression in the title .role, during the recent performances of the opera at Covent Garden, has been specially engaged.

Stray Notes. Frank Morton, who has been lecturing both in prose and verse to the good people of Rotorua and the Waikato, is making an onslaught on to an Auckland audience on the evening of Thursday, 27th inst., at the Y.M.C.A. Hall. His title is “Gods and Geese.” Many

people who intend going to hear one of the most original and prolific writers in New Zealand journalism to-day are understood to be in some trepidation as to whether the inimitable author intends to classify them according to the terms of his subject. Our lady friends need have no fear on that score.

Mr. Frank Hutchens, the young New Zealand pianist, who has had a promising career as a student at the Royal Academy of Music, was to give his first recital on March 31 at the Beehstein Hall, London. He was announced to play the Beethoven Sonata, in C minor (op. iii.) and selections from the works of Debussy, Chopin, Tobias Matthay, Caesar Franck, Brahms, Liszt, and Dale. Mr. Hutchens says that, he will very probably be returning to New Zealand for a short stay in the course of this year.

“The Balkan Princess”—a musical comedy of “The King of Cadonia” type —is to be the next production of the Williamson New Gomic Opera Company. The company that Mr. 11. B. Irving is bringing out with him to Australia promises to be a strong one. Of course, Miss Dorothea Baird (Mrs. H. B. Irving), who was specialty chosen for the part of “Trilby” in the original production of that piece by Mr. Du Maurier when still a girl in her teens, will accompany her husband, and among the other members will be Mr. Frank Tyers, who has been a London actor for the past thirty years. For nearly twenty years of that time he was a member of the late Sir Henry Irving’s company.

and the list of the parts he played under that management covers a whole column of the “Green Room” Annual. Another old London actor who is with Mr. Irving is Mr. Henry Vibart, whose character work had for many years been a feature of one London success after another. Mr. Arthur Whitby, another member, lias been trained in the school of the Benson Shakespearian Company, and has played right through the whole series of Shakespearian plays. Still another prominent member of the company is Helen Rous, who has been playing Grande Dame parts with Mr. Irving for several years, previous to which she appeared under all the leading London managements, including John Hare and Charles Frohman. “ Falsely True," t'he play written 'by the, daughter of Mr. John Redmond, the Irish leader, has been produced in London.

Very large and influential representations were made to the London County Council to grant the first refusal of a site facing Charing Cross for a Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. The site is known as Springfield Gardens, which the L.C.C. will vacate when they remove to their new offices facing the Lambeth Embankment of the Thames. The decision of the Council is not known yet. Mr. Herbert Trench, who proJu: ed “The Blue Bird” and other notable plays in London is the latest to give his views on the question of evening dress in the theatre, which has been pretty freely before us of late. “For my part,” says Mr. Trench, “I prefer the Continental fashion. Let evening dress be optional. The fact, is the motor car has imported a new element ifito the question. People coming from the suburbs, or even further, run down to the theatre after an early dinner in their cars. Now what would they do if you insist on evening dress?

They are not going to motor in swallowtails and low-necked dresses, and they are not going to bring their dress clothes in the basket. No, let people consult their own convenience as to their clothes. That is all that matters.” Thus Mr. Trench is of one mind with Messrs. Vearenrie and Eadie, who do not' ask for swallow-tails at the Royalty. T'he King and Queen have announced their intention to be present at the Imperial Concert to be held at the Crystal Palace, in connection with the Festival of Empire and Imperial Exhibition. Dr. Charles Harriss will conduct the perform ances of the choir, which will consist of 4000 voices, while the Queen's Hall Orchestra and 'fta able conductor, Sir Henry J. Wood, have been engaged. The programme will consist entirely of British music.

Of the boy composer Erich Wolfgang much has appeared in English and foreign papers. He was born on May 28, 1897, and already at the age of eleven composed a pantomime, “The Snowman.” His Trio in D for pianoforte, violin, and ’cello, Op. has been published. It was performed for the first time in England recently at a meeting of the Concertgoers’ Club in the Royal Academy of Music. The music is remarkable for boldness, modernity, and cleanness of form. Moreover, none of the four movements is unduly apun out. It is evidently the work of an exceptionally gifted child, and one whose career will be watched with deep interest.

lire. PatrMr Campbell in light eomedy. This is a startling armouneemetit which hit Ijondon rcvently. The piece is Rudolf Rosier’. “The soul of Patriot”—his latest work. The dramatist, it Wiitt be recalled, is the author of that delectable comedy “Don,” which was give* fully in these pages some time ago.

The Kaiser’s project fot the construction of a new Royal Opera House, in keeping with the artistic importance of modern Berlin, is now approaching realisation. Preliminary discussioas leading to a d'-finite settlement began in the Budget Committee of the Prussian Diet on March 2. It is planned to spend £1,050,000 upon the acquisition of a site and the erection of the new building. The Kaiser will personally contribute £150,000 of this amount. The new opera bouse will probably rise on the site of the present Royal Operetta Theatre on the western side cf the great “Square of Victory,” of m hi--h the eastern side is flanked by the Reichstag buildings. The old opera house, Unter d. n Linden, will probably 'be sold to the city of Berlin, possibly for use as a museum. Mme Tetrazzini recently, returned ta New York with two maids, a courier, an accompanist, her manager and a press agent, and many trunks. She has been receiving five hundred pounds a concert. Asked what she thought of Mr. Kammerstein’s new opera venture in London, Mme Tetrazzini poked fun at her former impresario, and expressed doubt regarding the New Yorker’s ability to gauge London’s requirements. Mme. Ada Crossley lias left Loffdon for an important concert tour in South Africa. The celebrated contralto, will be supported by a concert-party, and is due back in the middle of September, in time for the Norwich Festival. She was obliged, however, to refuse an engagement for the Sheffield Festival, ■which was offered her.

Mme. Paderewski, wife of the famous pianist, who lives at a beautiful country seat on the border of Lake Leman, has been nominated by tbe French Ministry Otyevaliere du M,erite Ajgricole. Mme. Paderewski’s passion is her poultry yard. 'She has over a thousand chickens and fowls of all kinds, and she has succeeded in creating some new species by cross-breeding. Iler poultry’ are of great value, and recently she sold to an American purchaser a couple of white Orpingtons for £l5OO. Paderewski’s farm is stocked with several presents from Sovereigns, including a flock of English sheep given him by the late King Edward.