MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1634, 28 December 1912, Page 9

MUSIC.

["By Tbeble Crar.l ,

Kirkby Lunn Again. It is said somewhere that one can (reft , too much of a good thiig.. This_is'usuaily. quoted freely to'children at this time of ■ the year. in the hope that it may check 1 their desire to eat more than is good for i them, but if the originator, of the. phrase intended it as a general reference,. he ia ' a long way out, for it is impossible to . j get too much, of anything superbly artistic, as for instance, Madame Kirkby Lunn , who, like the few really-great artists who ; have visited us, creates an,appetite that it is impossible to appease. ' The opinion has been commonly expressed that the more one hears Madame ! ; Lunn the better one likes her. I confers j that that is so in my case. Her art is bo,expansive and free, so expressive of the mood of the iriusic being sung that'each of hes songs has a different colour, scheme, and .each reveals new beauties in her noble voice. ... .' It is with pleasure .that many will learn of the intention, of Messrs, J. and'N. Tait to give two farewell concerts.- in swellington (on January -2- and 4) on-Madame's l way north to Rotorua, which wonder-spot : she is eager to see before: returning to the other side of the earth. : ,'lt is an opportunity for all-.those .who .missed her concerts here earlier in the 'present month, ; and for the many -who; Wore unable to. obtain admission'to 'The' Messiah" last week. . The advertisements announce a reduction in the prices of. admission—which ; will.also .be welcomed by all who have i spent a pocket-exhausting happy Christmas. . Saved from the Titanic. i . The last play written by Mr._ Jacques 1 Futrelle, one of the Titanic victims, will ■. j be produced in the autumn at a New. , York theatre, the title being "Lieutenant : What's: His Name." j ' Mr. Tutrelle had. barely completed the ! comedy when the liner's collision with the ■ ioeberg occurred. Ho had been engaged on the finishing touches during the first j days of the voyage. , i The manuscript was one of the fevr things savedby Mrs. Futrelle from the \ sinking liner before being compelled to j take to the lifeboat. It was he who.bub- i gested that she should take the play with' j her, though at the time few of the pas- j Bengers realised that the 6hip was in any, : ■ real danger of going down. i The,comedy is said to be a olever portrayal of certain New Tork _ types. and ; social fads, with characterisations'of cer- j tain well-known society people and officers of high rank ■in army circles. Most oi the soenes are laid at army headquarters, j on Governor's Island, in' York ; Harbour. Richard Strauss's New Opera, 1 j ' The Berlin' correspondent of the Loa* i -don "Observer," writing on September 12, j says:—Dr. Richard Strauss has again. 1 shown the versatility of. his' genius ■ lo : "Ariadne auf-Naxos," a unique work . i 'which defies classification in any of the categories of whioh his previous works Have been. assigned. "Ariadne" ,is not ■/; erotic like "Salome" j nor neurotio like i "Elektra": nor broadly farcical like "Den ■; Rosenkavalier.". The libretto- .at , first 1 j glance indicates only a harmless littlo | operatic divertissement projected into a ; milieu half-mythological, half-mundane,- , i and. would seem to offer but slight scopo j to a painter of such heroic musical canvases , j as those associated with the name ofl < Richard. Strauss. But it is 6afo to as- , sumo that a work in the construction ofi ; which Strauss and his henchman, Hugo j von Hoffmannsthal, have collaborated will' j contain more than the printed word imSlies, and that when the curtain goes, ; own on tho Stuttgart premiero no one' , ■ will have reason to complain of any our* ■, bailment of the Straussian surprises.- On«' ■ ; 0 f these surprises is a culinary one. Some' j years ago a wag said that. Richard Strauss' ; : j could "set to music anything in the heav-' i ens above, the earth below, or the watera under the earth. The next thins w© shall j hear.will very likely bo a musical,menu"!' ; And he has been taken at his word. The • banquet scene has been amplified into a diverting intermezzo, with a big'ballot; of cooks and serving tqon, obbligato musia : to stimulate both wit and appetite, and a i menu served ala Strauss. There will be I Rhine 6almon with white Burgundy; leg j of mutton, Italian fashion, with Bordeaux; thrushes and larks with wine of Epernia; and, as a crowning effort of the I'cordon bleu who presided over M. Jour- . : dam's kitchen, an omelette surprise. j In this work Strauss has -forsaken tlia paths of orchestral, virtuosity and written a score which is raffino rather thain flamboyant. Instead of 120 musicians making . I a holocaust of euphony, 83 players, each a : I master instrumentalist, will be united in an ensemble which will be an ultra- • modern interpretation of the style of tha earlier chamber music. There are hints of intricate contrapuntal devices, of ingenious Straussian tricks of verisimili- . I tude, of an Echo which, with a "soulless ; birdlike voice," gives baok the plaint of • Ariadne or the roundelay of the light- . i hearted Zerbinetta. j

An amusing little episode has already leaked out from' the rehearsals now in progress at Stuttgart. At ono place in the score a violinist, bending low over his instrument, whispered. to his neighbour, "Bon Juan!" Strauss caught tho sotto voce remark from his position at the conductor's desk, and retorted, "Quite right! But don'rt you agree with me that this passage is quite good enough to be used Again?"