MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 764, 12 March 1910, Page 9

MUSIC.

(By Treble Cle?.);

Williamson's Grand Opera Company. Among the> passengers who arrived at Fremantle by tho. N.G.L. steamer Konigcn Louise last Thursday week were two tenors, a baritone, two sopranos, and' prima donna of Mr. J. ■C. Williamson's Grand Opera Company, which is to produce "La Bohctne," "La' Tosca," and "Madame" Butterfly" in English. Mr.'Mario Hazon, son of Conductor Hazon, accompanies them, and sees that they speak English all the time,, a fine of one shilling a, word being imposed for using "Italian. The personnel ■is as follows: — 4 Sopranos.—Mdlle. Bel Sofel (Paris), prima- donna; Mdlle. Maria Pampari (Ital'ian), Miss Eily' Barnato* (American). Tenors—Blarney (English), Zerga (Amer-ico-Italian). ■

Baritone.—Zanelli Martinez. (Chilian). So far nothing hiis been whispered as to the -possibility of-the opera company visiting New Zealand, though the musical people have been straining their ears to hearthe first of; tho, glad . tidings. So far as the modern Italian operii is con-' cerned, we in New Zealand still grope in .outer darkness. .We have, had "Caval-: leria" in concert form—champagne- that has been standing in the . glass for "an hour. We as a community know not the dramatic ferocity of "I Pagliacci," though frequently introduced • to - it. through the medium of the Prologue and Puccini, whose ' f La "Bolieme" and "Madame Butterfly" have caught" and held the whole world, are merely names to us. Even if Mr. Williamson hqs to cut down his orchestra and chorus, ibis to be.devoutly lioped , that, we shall hear this Angloi' a " a h Opera Company. Of your charity, Mr. Williamson,' think it over.

A.Wagner Manuscript. A Munich bookseller is offering for sale the manuscript of Wagner's early and unfinished opera, "Die Ilochzeit." The price J asked is ;C101)0. The. MS. is inscribed, iragment of an unfinished opera Die Hochzeit/' by Richard Wagner. Dedicated -to the Musical Society of. Wur* burg." It is dated "Wurzburg, March .1, 1833." Reference is made to the YIS ill question in Mr. William Ashton Elis's English version of. Glasenapp's "Das Leben Richard Wagner's," where it is stated, that after, well nigh half a centurv (1879), Wagner learnt of tile existence of the completed score of tho first , scene, in good preservation, as a manuscript of 36 folio pages announced for public sale without notice or exhibition to himself Desiring to renew acquaintance with the long-forgotten relic, he declared his readiness to buy his own handiwork, and inquired its price. The man' in possession, a Wurzburg music-dealer, asked him the sum of 5000 and, as Warner regarded the demand as extortionate he commenced a law suit against the holder of the MS., who, according to existing laws, could not raise any .claim to its contents, while for the mere paper and ink such a price was accounted preposterous. However, two German courts of justice decided against Wagner, whose claim was dismissed, with costs amounting to IiOO marks. A point of interest in connection with "Die Hochzeit" is a suggestion of tho leitmotif by the use of a figure m a recitative which appears again la the followinc chorus,