MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 787, 9 April 1910, Page 9

MUSIC.

.(■By Treble Clef.)

"Madame Butterfly." | Tho Melbourne "Argus" engaged Mr. G. W. L. Marshall-Hall to proceed to Sydney to write a special notice of the first performance of Puccini's .tragic opera "Madame Butterfly," produced by Williamson's Grand Opera Company on Easter Saturday. In tho course of his notice, which is all eulogy, he says:

Listening' to the music, it seems very simple and direct. Even one. who was no musician would, after a third hearing, bo able to follow all the details with ease. Yet these details show the very finest musicianship. No one has better mastered tho art of concealing art than Puccini. And this quality gives depth and perennial freshness to the work. In such a short impressionistic sketch as this, in which there is no pretence of criticism or of detailed analysis, it is only possible to allude to olio or two points, which are so striking that even after a first hearing they remain in one's ,inind as ■an addition to one's stock/of life impressions. There is the love duet in the first act. If anything exists in Italian-music which is'so poetical, so tender, so full of innocent selfabandonment as this, I confess I.do not know it. It seems to be a supreme masterpiece. Then, in Act 2, where Butterfly's servant, Suzuki, says to her, "I never heard yet of foreign husband who returned to his nest," to which Butterfly, after a transient flash of fury against lier maid for her scepticism, rejoins,.. Why, just before ho went I asked of him,' Tou'll come back, again to me?'.and with a. heavy heart and a smile ho made answer, '0 Butterfly, my tiny, little child wife, I'll return with the roses.'" Tho pathos of the music hero and for the remainder of. this wonderful speech is so great that it is impossible to listen to it with dry eyes. Again, where, the sympathetic American consul advises her to accept the hand of another suiter, her reply to him is accompanied by a phrase on the orchestra which is too tragic for words, and which belougs to tho great poetic creations of all times. But of this, and of the terrible,, dream-haunt-ing third act, who'can speak? They must be seen and heard. And since the music-dramas of Wagnor I doubt if anything so intense has been created in any branch .of art. Henceforth, for mo. Giacomo Puccini is. oiie,among tho great masters, before whom -one bends tho kneo reverently,-.and with .a" heart full of love and'adoration.

■ The tremendous part of Butterfly was taken by Mdllei Bel Sorel. She possesses a charming, sympathetic voice, which quite answers the subtle demands made upon it. Indeed, the part demands- delicacy .and sensitiveness rather than great power. ' But Mdlle. Sorel had many thrilling moments, .in which her tones rang out over orchestra and all. ■'. The truth is, her acting is so fine, and her personality so entrancing, that ono almost forgets everything else.. She held the audience spellbound with tho power, the naturalness, and the charm of her representation. Her last scene haunts me still with'an almost horrible fascination. She did not act, she was "Butterfly." Of the other characters, suffice it to say that they were all serious, intelligent "artists, who did all in thoir.power, to : produce a lifelike illusion,, and they "succeeded to admiration'.

There was no blur, no jar -on tho general effect. Even the chorus was in tune, and in time, and reflected great credit 1 on its conductor. As for Signor Hazon, as a colleague I offer him my hearty congratulations on'';the'.-spirit with which lie carried the performance through—overcoming, as, alas ! t every Conductor has to do in this Country, almost superhuman difficulties;' The whole performance was such that the thousand miles I had to traverse to and' from..it ill,.'a'few days appear .nothing beside the glorious , impression gained,': which will'last a lifetime. \ '.','

"Elektra." Mr. Thomas Beecham opened his season at the Royal Opera, Convent Garden, on Saturday evening (February 19)_, when he" conducted with marked skill and success the first performance in this country .of Richard Strauss's "Elektra." Tho'score .of the work in question •is of greater ..complexity than that of any other /composition from the same source, no fewer than- "forty-five thomes "being employed: In the rank's of tho orchestra were. 114 instrumentalists, and over .-. this hugo force Mr. Beecham not only succeeded in estab-' lishmg complete control, but secured a •reading of the instrumental portions of the work, which, "while full of vitality, was devoid of roughness.' By this remarkable such it was—he established his reputation, as a conductor possessing in an exceptional degree both skill and nerve. In his illustration of Von Hofmaunsthal's play Richard Strauss again shows off his .magnificent technical equipment. His music, like the characters iu the drama, is frenzied and hysterical—at times almost, if not quite, .incoherent. He scarcely differentiates sufficiently, perhaps, the music allotted, to Elektra, and that assigned to Chrysothemis—very /opposite types—and -Klytomiiestra's' scene is too long. • There aro several-fine', and eloquent .passages in \ the / work, notablv Elektra's splendid apostrophe •' to her dead father, and the genuinely melodious duet at tho close,' and wo note again the skill; with which-the composer brings forward melodious utterance ' upon the . heels of specially strenuous and. harsh phrases, /thus obtaining striking contrasts.'' The'performance was excellent. : Miss Edyth Walker, who had already essayed the role in Vienna, sang the music of Elektra with fine dramatic vigour, while invariably maintaining beauty of tone.' Sho likewise acted superbly. Miss Frances Rose gave satisfaction as Chrysothemis, being, indeed,' well equipped in all respects. Frau von Mildenburg struck tho true iioto of tragedy in her impersonation of Klytomnestra, and revealed wonderful physical ..energy, and Herr Weidemann was a/dignified Orestes. A;.thronged, audience, headed by the King.and Queen, witnessed tho production of a very remarkable work.— "Sporting and Dramatic News."

Notes. Joseph Holbrooke is the English Richard Strauss. The orchestra he used at a recent London concert 'devoted to his -own works included, beside the more usual instruments, five saxophones, oboo d'amore, corno di bassetto, flugol horns, eight concertinas, four harps, bass flutes, haxhorns, bass trumpets, and tubaphoncs. "Why not telephones and • gramophones, occarinas, and jews'-harps, as thero are many other mere sound-making machines to bo heard on this occasion?" asks a London critic. Mr. Holbrooke's love for "queer colors" extends to his chamber'music. At his concert at Salle Erard, London, in February, a serenade of his was heard, written for five saxophones, two flugel horns, an oboe d'amore, and a corno di bassetto. Pianists are like sheep. 'Where one jumps the others follow. "It is curious," writes, tho Berlin correspondent of tho "Musical Courier," "that Beethoven's 'Appass'ionata' sonata is tho choice of nearly every pianist appearing here-/in recital this season; it has been played ,fully twenty times this winter." Sir Edward Elgar is reported to havo completed tho second movement of a violin concerto. Of course, there will bo a third movement. There is no particular reason why a concerto should iiavo three movements. But in the matter of form composers (unless they aro of the Liszt school) are guided bv tradition, not by reason.