MUSIC NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1163, 25 July 1912, Page 19

MUSIC NOTES.

(By

“G” String.)

During the Wellington season S Jhad the pleasure of listening to Miss Margaret Cooper several times. Seated at her piano with the darkened stage behind her and a crowded aulienee in front, Miss Cooper looks the personification of cool composure. But is is only her art which gives her that air. She is a martyr to nervousness. Every performance tries her just as much as though it were her first appearance on the stage. The difference between Miss Cooper and the ordinary nervous person is that «he has the will power to conquer and conceal her nervousness. In •everyday life it is the same with her. She is naturally a shy, timid, woman, but she has schooled herself till no trace of this ever appears in her manner or appearance. Emil Sauer, the eminent pianist, has been created by the French Gov--ernment an Officer of the Legion of Honour. It is stated that Herr Sauer is the first German pianist on whom the distinction has been conferred. An Australian choir of 120 voices will visit England in 1913, arriving in June. Mr Stanley Hobson, of the Toowoomba Philharmonic Society, has been appointed conductor. Thirty thousand people attended the funeral of Wallace Hartley, the bandmaster of the Tjt;anic,which took

place at his native town of Colne, Lancashire. Massed bands , played the “Dead March,” “Nearer My God to Thee,” and other selections suitable to the occasion. Madame Melba sails from Adelaide for London by the Orient liner Otranto, on the 9th August. Five hundred boys and girls from the London County Council schools took part in the great Whitsuntide International Musical Festival in Paris. The singers were drawn, from the schools of the huge metropolis, and the various divisions, according to their districts, were known as “red choir of boys,” “red choir' of girls,” “white choir of boys,” “white choir of girls,” “blue choir of boys,” and “blue choir of girls.” Before leaving London the massed choirs were heard in a final rehearsal under the conductership of Dr. John Borland. One of the numbers rendered was “The Marseillaise” in the original tongue. Miss Kate Malecka who, when on a holiday visit to Poland, was tried on a charge of treason and sentenced to penal servitude and banishment for life to Siberia is an Englishwoman. She is a musician, and was on the teaching staff of the Conservatory of Music, Sydenham. Over 140 performances of the “Jena” symphony, discovered a year ago and attributed to Beethoven, have already been given in various music centres. Much press approval has been lavished on one Martinelli, an Italian tenor, who is hailed as “a second Caruso.” The young man was born at a village near Venice, and until a couple of years ago was blowing a clarionet in a regimental band. His tenor voice is of the loveliest lyric character, and was first discovered by a compatriot, who had it polished and refined for public use. Covent G'arden then heard of the singer, and on the strength of an impromptu voice trial gave him an engagement for three full seasons. The other day Martinelli made his debut as Cavaradossi in “La Tosca,” and, although he had only six days to rehearse the part, he acquitted himself with triumphant results. He is now assured of the customary brilliant future, with the usual trimmings in the matter of £.s.d.