MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 728, 29 January 1910, Page 9

MUSIC.

(By Treble Clef.)

Elnar the Industrious. '.;.;, "There,'is "gopd < .news for,' cpnecrtgoers,".; says the London.V"Truth,"-in the/Ystate-; ment, made apparently on good,authority,! ' that'; Sir ; 'Edward' ; Elgar is now working ; hard at his second symphony, and that he,hopes, to have it completed by. the" iearly part, of, next.year. /.The'prodigious success which:has attended his first symphony / might well havo:f stimulated any composer -to produce/a/second,'as speedily as'possible, and 7 in-Elgar's/ case-itj is only to 'be regretted that ho left:' it■■ so: long before produciug : his.i first./K/Cer-i :tainly,. it is a .tolerably safe .prediction ; that tins symphony is.likely to putlast/a; j good deal of his'oratorio music^tnc.writing/of: which, delayed its earlier/ ance.' ;As to the new work' on' which' lie is now engaged, it is,, of course, Impos-'-sible to say anything at present;," for Sir Edward is never very communicative regarding the. work he has in-hand;;: But it is well known to his friends • that years ago he' prepared sketches for, a! big symphony,.none of which were'used', in "the symphony which wo have at - present, and it may be, therefore, that.the .work now in hand l will embody: some of .tliis hitherto unutilised material." ' : '-\ ■;■ - !""' Beethoven Music in "Beethoven." . ;';• Boethovo'n has been made tho/subject ./of a play in three acts by M. Rene I'aiichois, -.which has been performed, at, His . •Majesty's . Theatre in London,.;'' ;■' It ap- - pears to be rather a series of scenes from the life of the composer than ' a .jilny ' in the: ordinary,sense of the,;term. 'Tlio first act is ,occupied with.the famous love affair between Beethoven and.., Giulctta': Guicciardi,. which: has' become 'quite .wrongly .;• associated with .the . miscalled '.."Moonlight"- Sonata, and during tho act ■the sonata, is played by the. orchestra, for which it has been arranged. There is a suggestion.; here /for \the: increase-:'of. the orchestral-repertoire wliich' i"' may bear fruit. . If one pianoforte sonata can he .effectively scored for,-tho orchestra, • why not tho rest?. The, second act depicts pathetically, the. growing deafness of tho hero, and he is made to discover his irreparable.lossiduring tho playing of ouo of his string .quartets. The'last act concludes 'with, the death, scene, amid, tho crashing '.'of-.a-'.-thunderstorm, ,to the strains.of the.funeral march from tlio Eroica : Symphony. There is a series of tableaux representing, the .'nine great -symphonies;' and each is accompanied by a short selection from .the symphony in .question.' Tile orchestra was conducted by Mr; Landon Ronald,, and the selections played'were,' in addition to- those already .specified; the Lconore-No. 3, the ,first movement of the.:C Minor Sympliony, the overture to "Coriolan," and nil extract'from "An:die Feme Goliobte." Sir Herbert Tree played the name part,' and, tho. wonderful success, of his ninkcuu is commented on bv all the critics.