MUSIC NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1457, 28 March 1918, Page 34

MUSIC NOTES.

(By

“G” String )

Madame Melba’s celebration of her American silver jubilee on Monday, February 4th, sends memories harking back to the days when “Madame Nellie Armstrong” was making beginnings elsewhere. Fortunately the great Australian’s fame and present capacities warrant the recalling of dates that would be harsh in the case of less favoured artists. It was William Ganz who always prided himself on introducing Madame Melba to the British public. “She came to me soon after her arrival from Australia in 1886,” he says in his “Memoirs of a Musician” (1913). “I asked her whether she had brought any songs for me to hear. ... So she sang the grand aria ‘Ah! fors e’ lui’ from ‘Traviata.’ I was delighted. . . I said I would like her to sing at Prince’s Hall, Piccadilly, at a concert given by a pupil of the late Emil Bach. I conducted the concert, and had a small orchestra, and Madame Nellie Armstrong sang two songs. . . and she was encored in both of them.” Melba next sang at Ganz’s invitation at the dinner of the Royal Theatrical Fund, with the late Sir Augustus Harris in the chair. Her singing of Gounod’s “Ave Maria” created the sensation of the evening. Ganz next tells of arranging an interview for Melba with Carl Rosa, with a view to her becoming the prima donna of the famous opera company. Rosa forgot all about the appointment, and Melba refused to give him another chance. Shortly after, she left for the Continent, later to make her debut in opera at Brussels, then in Paris, and finally at Covent Garden

in 1888 as Lucia, under the Harris management. Melba tells herself of the visit she paid Sir Arthur Sullivan about the same time as she called on Ganz. Sir Arthur suggested that he might be able to place her in “The Mikado” in a year’s time. Grigor Cherniavsky, a violinist belonging to the group which includes Leo, Jan, Mischel and Alexander, has reached Portland (Oregon) after a strenuous journey across Siberia and

the Pacific. The artist fought in the battle of Lemberg. Madame Elsa Stralia has been making successful appearances with the Beecham Opera Company at Drury Lane Theatre, London. The London critics are very eulogistic in their notices of her singing of the dramatic role of Aida. The brilliant Australian soprano has also completed a tour of thirty concerts in England with Madame Clara Butt