MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1623, 14 December 1912, Page 9

MUSIC.

[Bγ Tbeble CiEF.I Star Cast for "The Messiah." . The musical event of tho month.—one might say tho year—is the Koyal Wellington Choral Society's performance of "The Messiah," which is to take, place in the lown Hall on I'riday evening next. The public have little- idea of the work- entailed in arranging a suitable cast for an oratorio in New Zealand, owing to the dearth.- of artists of a high enough grade to grace tho performance of a classic, and it is usual that a satisfactory result is only achieved after much thought and a great deal of negotiation with possibilities. On the present occasion the society has taken the bull by the horns, first by securing tho services of.Mr. Andrew Black (baritone), and Mr. Walter AVhyte (tenor), both of Sydney, and Madame Wieleart, of Auckland, and then bj' a grand coun completing an already strong set of princiSals by engaging as the contralto Madame !irkby Lunn (thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Frank Tait, of the firm of Messrs. J. and N. Tait).

Tho presence of so eminent and cultured an artist as Madamo Lurin, famed in oratorio in , -the- big musical centres of Great Britain, creates a vocal tour de force, which shou'4 provo irresistible, to all lovers of music of the highest class. Tho cast, which has been assembled by the Royal Choral Society, is probably the strongest ever known in Australasia. Placing Madame Lunn on a pedestal apart, and turning to the other principals, wo have Mr. Andrew Black, up till five or six years ago one of England's foremost baritones in concert and oratorio work, and an artist in all he does, the fortunate possessor of a rich and highlysympathetic baritone organ, with a tendency to the dramatic. Mr. Walter Whyte, is probably the best tenor offering at present in Australia. It is light in texture, but extremely musical in quality, and is always used with discretion. Mr. Whyte was the leading tenor in tho last Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company which visited Wellington. The soprano is Madame Wieleart, of Auckland, a singer well known to Wellington audiences, and. who, if not an ideal vocalist in oratorio work, is secure in her work.

For some years past tho organ lias supplanted tho orchestra,'.but for this important. ' occasion the full band is to be heard in Handel's fine music. No finer tribute could bo tendered to Mr. Maughan Barnett on- tho eve of his departure for Auckland '.than the important _ performance the society has so'.enterprisingly arranged for Friday next. ... '". . ■••

New York Opera Season. The two novelties to be produced during the pending New York opera season will be Walter Damrosch's "Cyrano," an operatic version of Rostand's play "Cyrano de Bergerae," in which Alda (formerly Francie Adher, of Melbourne),, will be seen as Roxaue, and the Kussian opera "Boris Godounoif," by Moussorgsky. A possibility is the new French opera "Lo Chomineau," by Savier Lcroux. Among the revivals, apart from the regular repertoire, will bo the two. "Manons," one by Puccini, the-other by Massenet; Mozart's "Magic Flute," Meyerbeer's '"Hugenots," Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann," and. Wolf-Ferrari's "II Segreto di. Susanna." This year the season is to last twenty-three weeks. v Notes. Mr. J. Nevin Tait, writing to a friend in Auckland, speaks very highly -f Miss Kitty Cumpiou's progress under M. Bouhy in Paris. It will bo remembered that Miss Campion left Aiu-Haud over J8 months at'o, havinij boon specially rcconimeuded by Mmo. Calve to study in Eiiropi'. Mr. Tait, after tailing her sing privately in Lombn a few weeks ngoY predicts that she will Iv.'i'omo a famous singer, with another year or two's study. He states that 'y-r vcico is indeed very beautiful, sind that she 1-ns naturally a perfect stylo, :ind ;s roceiviiig a special training lor xiniul. oi'era. Mr. Tait heard sliss Cani/jion sing ' The Jowel Song" from "Faust" at the Quern's Hail. 'Tho Minister of Public Worship in Germany is sendiiiß truck-loads of Gorman national songs to tho scattered German s«ttl«niejite in German Poland!-.-in order to counteract the Pun-Slavic eathus* LJJfWBOx