THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE WORLD OF MUSIC.

GOSSIP OF THE PLATFORM. FROM PAR. AND iJEAR, (By ORPHEUS.) Schubert centenary festivals are being held at Salzburg, from July 26 until ' August 30, and at Vienna, over a period of about seven months, from May until tlie end of 1928. Richard Strauss, the famous composer, lias sold the copyright of his new opera, "The Egyptian Helen," which was produced at Dresden for the first time some months ago, for £10,000.

The Columbia Gramophone Company has decided to form a £10,000 prize fund for music on the lines of the Nobel Prize scheme. Each year from 1029 to 1940, the directors will award a prize of £1000 for the greatest service in the cause of music, either to an individual for creative work or an institution for musical service.

Madame Winnie Eraser will be the sopra.no soloist at the Timaru Orpheus Choir's concert on October 2. She will also sing for the Invercargill Male Choir on October 31, and in the Oamaru Operatic Society's "Arcadians" season, October 15 to 20, she will take tho part of "Sombra."

Tlie Puccini Opera Society is at present rehearsing a number of scenes from grand opera, and these will be performed at a concert which will take place in the Scots Hall early in November. The society has a chorus comprising about sixty voices, and the producer and musical director is ! Signor Constuntini. Among the items at present in rehearsal are the following:— Church scene from "lfaust," "Toreador" from "Carmen," a scene from "Madame Butterfly," and the "Miserere Scene" from "II Trovatore." .The society hopes in forthcoming seasons to he able to produce various operas which the people of Auckland.rarely have a chance of hearing, and in this aim it is certainly worthy of every encouragement.

■What will he tho eventual effect of radio on music? The two things have not been in contact with each other for a long enough period to judge, but that the appreciation of music and the public, taste for it must he affected very deeply sooner or later cannot he doubted. In conversation the other day, Bandmaster Christopher Smith remarked that in his opinion one of the results of radio would be that the musical public would become so thoroughly satiated with the cheaper sort of music that they would turn to good music for relief, and begin to realise that for anyone at all who possesses a musical ear, Beethoven has ,an infinitely deeper meaning than the merely tuneful music that is so popular at present. In the case of radio, good music and second-rate music are placed in juxtaposition, and tho contrast thus set up in the minds of listeners must in the end result in the sorting of the sheep from the goats, and sway public taste towards the more serious forms.

"Hundred per cent Americanism" has received another hard knock. A big national piano playing contest was held at Detroit the other day, and the "Music Trade Indicator" in speaking of it, says: "There are twenty names given, and. we should think that at least seventeen of these are not of tlie old British stocks that made New England, Virginia; and New York. While we do not pretend to bo able to distinguish between some of the .Slavic races as to name origins, we might tabulate the origins of the Detroit names as follows: Nine Slavic, two Jewish, three German, two Dutch, one French, .and four of British origin. And perhaps one or two of the British-sounding names are patronymics that have been changed from something else. It is specially difficult to pick out from such a list the names that really show a British origin, because negroes invariably bear such names, and Jews and other racials often change their names to those that seem to carry a Yankee or cavalier provenance. Is music in America to depend entirely on the foreign element?"

Herman Klein, referring to Queen Victoria's strong likes and dislikes in commanding musical celebrities to sing before her, says:—"Adelina Patti sang at a State concert when a girl of eighteen in the very year (1SC1) that she made her 1 historic debut at Covent Garden, but it was not until the 'nineties that the diva was honoured with an invitation to sing to the Queen in a drawing room at Windsor. On the other hand, Patti's great Swedish rival, Christine Nilsson, was often asked, and on one occasion it is recorded that she had the courage (not to say audacity) to request that she might be allowed to disobey the Koyal command. Her excuse was that she had made a previous engagement to sing that day for some poor nuns in a convent near j London. The 'Master of the Musiek,' Sir I William Cusins, greatly upset, rushed speedily to Windsor to report the circumstance, expecting no doubt to be incarcerated in the Round Tower. But, on the contrary, the Queen took the disappointment with charming grace, declaring that ( 'JIIIc. Nilsson was performing a true act of charity by singing to the poor nuns, and, if she could not come to the castle that afternor.'i, she must be invited for another day. . The 'Swedish Jyiglitingale' appeared in due course and sang her programme of pieces, after which she was rewarded with the gift of a handsome jewelled bracelet."

Russian music has been so sporadic and scattered in its origin that until a short time ago it was impossible to trace any distinct tradition in its historical development. During recent years, however, much research has been done and vast gaps Lave been filled in, with the result that several books have lately been written on the subject, -which cover it more or less fully. The most important of these is Sfioliolas Findeisen's "Outlines of the History of Music in Russia," a huge book, published some ten years ago, which has already had an enormous fnfluenee on .the modern Russian composers by providing them with a sense of their national tradition. Discussing the book an American writer said the other day that "this; permits us to look forward to a further expansion of Russian, music in the new conditions established by recent historical events. From this point of view Findeisen's work is supremely opportune at the present time, since it strengthens in Russian musicians their belief in themselves-and in the power of the national musical genius." In passing, I may recommend to those pianists who belong to the Auckland PubUc Library an excellent collection of gems, from Russian composers, which, is included in the new musical section. ' ~ ■ ' '