MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 627, 2 October 1909, Page 9

MUSIC.

; ■ '■■ (Bi Thedlb Clef.); ■: I Calvo Interviewed. ■■ •' > .'•:"• * ■ : Sfadame Emina Calve, the famous "operatic artist, who is about to' visit' Australia ,, related some of her experiences among French peasants to a representative of the press, in .London. Sho saici: "i)urit)g the years I have! been, away .from.-London,. 1. havo divided ray time between concert-giving in America in the winter, and leading,the simple lifo at'ffiy. home in the Cevennes in the-summor. I ; atn nover so happy ns ,wlien,;lnmyin the country, and 1 havo turncdray- sojbu'rhamorig'inynativo v hills to Borne >account,'for 1 havo brought'With v me a number '.of 'provincial folk-songs;■ Some'"4! these'! have already! been set to, music"; by Bizet arid others! but : many of them have been orally handed down, air and words, from genoration to gqneration.. A selection of these will bo. included in my ; prograinmo at .the Queen's Hall, and eome 1 am also preparing for, my forthcoming tour of Australia. French music and songs are not nearly so well known and.- liked,' here as they should be. ' A. song now to an ; English audience will bo;"lfagalj, a chanson provencale, •by the -great Mistral, who is hardly' known in this country. 1 conld talk for I hours about v :my ; country and my own people. I: am so fond, of them both. On my birthday many of them catno in procession to see rno/and I.danced what'is called the 'bourree' with them. They say such quaint things! 'An old" woman once,-hearing me sing, asked: 'Doesn't it hurt you- to scroam-Jiko that ?'■ A pcaso nt onco ' told ' me' ho was sure the' proprietor of the. grotto would give, mo five francs a; day. to; sing !th'ero.,;'■ In' America the ,people were very. kind. ■ Once, : when , I was playing 'Carmen, . I was recalled ■ about eight.times, and: the , lights .had , to : be tiirned ■ ont,rto .make■; the -people go; a*ay, i'.-1 ■ havo" .-often'.-.been'-asked what'is", niy favburito'.'rble or opMaVarid t:.always:.say thaf..my- favourite is tho one 1- am .playing in at'tho time. Then I- am- asked if-I think it is well to go from the concerts stage..to operai That is a difficult question to.answery but generally I thinkMt is better for a singer to go into opera at once, if if is possible.; 1 :'havo not given up my: operatic singing. - After■: I; :in .1 may- go on a , tour • in: the provinces before going to and in the autumn L-shallitake up ! a new ,piece,-io -be. produced ln.-Paris."'- . ~:; ':,'■'■;'.'■-. '.'V •,; ,V"/r;,,^ r ;;..;^ Mr, Peter Dawson. ;. ,-■'■■ s , ■■■ .}■■-. ■■■ . ! _ ;JUr,;-Pe.ter -Dawson, '. the basso -' now -so : much" in; the. public eye' as, the result 'Of; his- erigagcraont by-Messrs. J. ahd:-N:;Tail,' finds4hat'.hiß :. nrst tour,.abroad has- taken him. homo! ■ He was.born in Adelaide, in 1882., arid studied.utf d« Mr. 'C.' J. Stephens, cguductor of some of the leading choral and orchestral. societies there, and was only 18 years of ago when ho appeared as soloist in Gounod's "Redemption " I His success, was such that,in 1902.h0 Ayent to [■ Sir : Charles Santley for two' years' study, dir-

;ing he attended harmony:classes ..at. the'.Guildhall' School of.. Jlusic,. . and' ! Accepted useful concert engagements.-. His I,first important: tour ■■ was' inv-Jltne. Albarii's partjT^which; t was .such' a> stronjr'combination that it also;'included- Santlej% 'William. Green," -.AddmryenieV- .SignorinK fcivogli',(contralto .I™^*° -KoyaKltalian Opera), and; Johannes .Wolff (violinist). :lt will.bo observed''that .nve-.01-:the styen-artists forming 'it'have tonred this, part: of the World; Sirico then Jfr. Dawson has.sung at tho'Queen's Hall Prdmcn--ado, and many other London and iproviricial concerts, -, notably in "Samson and Delilah" with the London Choral Society, at Queen's Ha , ami at the farst concert of the .Queen's Hall .Choral Society under Franco Leom early in the .present year. :..Mr. Davrson exhibits a Jeclinc both for humour, and dramatic effect and these qualities were probably in the mind ■ comtiospr of the ; new song "Eip Vqn Winkle," winch the , basso is now introducing wherever- he goes... Tho words and music, of this clever song are by Herbert Oarroll, a. pianist and composer, who' was ■at school with tho singer in Adelaide. Strauss in Sydney.,.• V ! ■ Sydney'Tohcert-Eoers/ are, to be afforded 'an opportunity of, hearing an: orchestral work : bv Kicnard Strauss. The one , selected is "Death and Transfiguratiqu," and it.will bo performed' br the; Sydney-Symphony Orchestra, under, the baton of.-Jlr..Joseph,Bradlev. ••. -\ -;•.•■, ~:-, Ernest "-Straussr wntes as ffpllows concerning -the worths' re: gards the union of; pure form with unalloyed purity; of material, "Death and Transfiguration is_ perhaps the most perfect thing'■ he. has done.. In-this work'. Strauss comes nearer.than anywhere else to/the,perfect fusion of matter and style that is the ideal of hllthoarts. -The poetic, scheme ■ is'.free from . any matter that is notefsehtially, miisical, and it' develops/ in 6uch a way as. to afford the musician the amplest facilities for, developments of his own special kind.: Tho tissue of the:work is.woven withi admir'able closeness and continuity,-. and at thesame time witlugreat economy of means. The.old material'is conitaiitly.being presented in-new forms;_ erena nicroly. rhythmical fragment . like /the. "death" • motive with' which the work opens becomes - charged, in the "sequel, with all kinds of significances, poetic'and musical. In "Death and-Transfiguration" we have quite a Bcethovenian unity and breadth of conception. The work is one and indivisible, lit: gives 'the firet sign of that breadth of.',span, ;that; ability to hold, all the detail of/'One's

scheme in tho hollow bfonoVhand, and see the. finished structure as,it-.will..ultimateiy,;hppear.'-that•• is" the'•characteristic only^df; the"greatest TjuSilders in 'art—what. Pater;; has '.called ■"the' architectural ;.conception of. work, which:.-fore-: sees-the end: in* : 'the.>beginning,-can'd never loses' sight : of. it,-and. in .every partus :consc'ibusVpfall the rest,- till' the; last sentence 3qes : .but w.itfi' undiminished'-'-vigour- unfold and ■justify'.' thefirst., '-.•,: '..'■.'■''Vv. "' ■ " : - ■'■■'■ '■■ ••':■' •;',.'■■'■'■' ■Notes., -;■;■. .V . ■■; , ;"r v ; 'v-')-:': ■ : Jean do'Reszke, the operatic tenor, is to.give iiiext year' a series of: farewell performances, in Englarid 'and • America under -the direction < of Colonel \Jlaplcson.' 'M. de Itoszke,'. who completed his fifty-ninth year Inst January,'made his London debut' in the Drnrj- Lano , Theatre, in April, 1874, as Alfonso in "La Favorita," and Sang .there, for .two, seasons'such baritone parts as'Don , Giovanni,, De 1 Nevers 'in "Leg Huguenots,'.'' and other roles. In June, 1887, he reappeared' atiDru'ry. , Lane,.this time,.'however, as a tenor, and undertook , the character of Radaroea in "Aids," and he was also heard ' -there as Lohengrin and 'Faust and as liaoul in "Les- Huguenots." Ho made his first ap'pearano at Covent-Garden in: Juno, 18S8, as iVasco de Gaina in Meyerbeer's "L'Africaino," and till 1900 he sang there nearly every year. ; In contemplating' tho grand opera . season ; -which has just closed at Covcnt Garden, the: one fact that strikes mostly is tho great success achieved by the; threo novelties produced (ob-. serves a, Ixindon critic). ■ In-former days it/was . no nncommoii-thing for .a jicw opera" to. bdpilt onperhaps for. a couple of herforrannees, and i then''relegated - to.a'shelf fron) wh6iico.it'was never.taken, down; But this yenr tho-two vid--1 lehtVy-contrasting . .works—linm'cly, \ Debussy's "I'clleas ct Jlelisando" and Charpentior's [ "Ijouise," the ■ one with . its vngue .myeticisih .; and the. .other with, its hold, lurid ; realism— i' h»v6 both scored a , triumph, .ind-wiirnndbubt- . cdlj- bi hburd-'uext. sensfiti, ;wW|e the third , fre/ih opera, Baron D'Erlanger's "Tess," d«-' ilwrvfia ff)t . to bs nesleoted.' ■ . .