MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 9

MUSIC.

(Bt Treble Clef.);

Music in Cermany. , ' " ' In an article on music in' Germany -Mr, Carlylo Smytlie writes (in tho Sydney "Herald")': —"The most, notable feature of music in modem Germany is the phenomenal profusion and 'variety of musical entertainments. It is . only when one''comes, to travel through' the; country' with tho ;serious intention' of hearing sedulously all the--good.music to bo | heard that oiio appreciates tho '.''wonderful' [' variety and provision of : such', entertain-■ j ments in modern Germany. Like'the destiny, of the young-lady, in the nursery rhyme, tho' desiro of tho averago German to' bo that he 'shall have music wherever he goes.' Consequently travelling .through the; Empire is like voyaging through : 't'he Pacific Archipelago, where tho traveller. has scarcely. lost .sight of one island when he-picks, up' another; So in Germany, tlio strains of one. style'of musi<j havo scarcely died in the car when another form attracts one's attention; Opera," operetta, liedertafel, . philharmonic, choral, classical, military, fanfare,; garden,' 'arid 'bierkoller' music, good, bad; and iiidifI fereoit, meet ono on every side, in '..every . J. city., With such a luxuriant, provision .it is. only to ho. expected that .mucli .of the vaunted German mu-'sic .proves-,to. bo sorry; stuff. sAt the beautiful. English .Garden! in' musical Munich,, one of : the-most splendid' parks'in Germany, a band plays daily to a couple of thousand peoplo tliat is inferior to] 'what ; c.ni he hcaa'd on Sunday in .the Sydney Domain. Yet in another portion of-the, sanio; city, in a cafe in. tlie old Exhibition Grounds, t-hero was an orchestra of over.^fifty.,niusi.cians excelling the Marshall-Hall - band in. Melbourne. The crack military-band at the .'Zoological Garden, Berlin, 1 was iiifexior for. - quality of. tone, precision of attack, i; aiid : dy-' nainic gradation of tone to not only tho - Qarde Republica,ine, Paris, but td'tlio Guides ,in Brussels. On ttbo other Jwnd, a Beetliovoii ;Abeii'd by the Philhanuonie Society, Beriin,.: /Under. ! Weingartner,' a or' a W.agnerf.Aben'd/ bj' -.tlie, Festspieljferein at Mvriich,'- .leave riiemo-. iries of sensuous'and mteJli.-Ltual beauty that, riothingvean It was cohsequently ;,aJI itlie" inoro surprising to hear in -the. prdduction ot -'Siegfried' at the State'. Theatre,• Hamburg, the part of Mimo interpreted by an' artist who sang horribly out of. tune the' .wliole evening. One oould- scarcely ■ help feeling that Siegfried's,somewhat' ungrateful, "assassination of ' his . deformed', guardain was ,for. once thoroughly justified. Again.: .in the performance of 'Eleotra' at the Jtoj-ai-Opera House, Munich, with tho impeccable Mottl 'in the chair, tho parts of Agisthes aiid Ohrysothemis were given to singers, hardly good enough for subordinate roles in a second-rank house liko tlio Monnaie, Brussels. There is,' hoiVever, one stylo of musical culture in 'Germany for wlucli'- one* can ' have'' nothing.; but ..praise. Th is is the acadeniio performances of tho old masters by societies'existing-solely 'for that purpose.' They are, so to speak, societies for the prevoKtion of cruelty to dead geniuses. The old instruments for which Bach, Purccll, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart wrote, arid which have fallen into" disuse, aro; studied and faithfully reproduced. Tlio clavecin of the,powder and puff period and. the "gamba d'amoro"; have been .resuscitat-ed. So tliat it is once more, possible to hoar some of the" ■ old classics rendered 1 -pretty, well as their authors intended.' Again, the performances of Mozart's operas, for which-Munich is famous, are given,' not in t'lio Royal Opera House, but iu'tho Resident! Theatre, a small rococo auditorium holding only 700 listeners. Tlio example ;.in. this direction was- : taken from Paris, bat with that, t-horoughriess which■'distinguishes tho Teuton/some of tho . German artiste have thought it necessary not only to revive tho instruments of the pasrt, but to assume on tlie concert platform the dress of the period in; ojrder to procure complete historic fidelity. 1 This, is almost going as far as' tlid-Prussian stage-manager who in a'-stable, scene of' a piece by Hauptn»nn introduced, a fuming heap of stable re-fuse-in order to secure the-proper atmos-' phere of tho scene.

Schiller's Grandson. The "New York Tribune" of a recent date had the following: Instead of going back to his home in Hanover, Germany, .-Baron Frederick Joseph von Schiller, who was released on Friday .night by order of' President Taft from' tho military prison on Governor's Island, will, stay in this country : arid ; begin work at once"to fit himself for leading parts in a'revival of the plays of his grandfather, Schiller. • ■ ■•' 1 . ' '

His decision to do so is due not only beause of liis -gratitude to Mme. Alexander' fiarda, the Polish actress, who spent five iionths in working for his- release, but to a lonviction on the, part of tho actress that ; bo young man lias a special fitness to interpret the oreations of his grandfather, ilme. Viarda; who has played in all tho cading capitals of Europe, and has been jailed tho Polish visited'tliis city ■n 1897, and played at the Fifth Avenue ' fheatro in "Do bora," "Alexandra," and sther-works in repertory. At that time she was unable to speak a word of English, and spoke Jier- part in German, although supported by an English-speaking company, but her acting aroused generally favourable comment i from- .the; reviewers. Since young vori Schiller was sentenced to' threo. years for. desertion, Mme. Viarda, who is an old friend of his mother, has do'voted the greater part of lifer time 1 to obtaining his freedom, and it was through her representations to the German Embassy and to the War/Department in Washington that t'ho , Baran, who had adopted tho' name Frank .Goethe, after that of-his grandfather's intimate friend and contemporary, tliat tho Tresideut consented to remit tho sentence. Mme. Viarda is enthusiastic about '• the talent of her protege, and plans to''give him the leading male parts in such dramas as "Maria Stuart," "Don Carlos," "Die Jungfran von Orleans!" and "Die Brant von Messina." For the last-mentihued of Schiller's works, the Polish actress has has a special musical sotting presented to her. All the plays will he given in English, and it is Mlic. Viarda's intention ' to present' them after tho manner adopted in Berlin, without any scenory. Tho Baron's title comes-from .liumiro* ....