MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1639, 4 January 1913, Page 9

MUSIC.

lt ■ TBr Trisble Clbf.l i- Tho Last of Kirkby Lunn, is- •It isnrith profound regret that one sees y that .the farewell . concert of Madame i- Kirkby Lunn is'announced for this evenX iiig. Although tho audiences have on uo i- occasion been small, 'I am afraid that oven Wellington, which' usually does the d right thing, has not realised tho "pure [• gold" of mo.damc's superb art—that is, y compared with the way in, which other t .singers of lesser note who could'bo mon--0 tioued-have' been fairly rushed. a Why _is this?.' Well—who . can say? What h irrefutable is that Madame ;, Kirkby Lunn is a class of artist whom we 1 sec only, onco in a generation. Indeed, , there has been no ono that the writer re- £ members in New Zealand during tho Inst 0 ten years whom ho would class with j Madame Lunn, except, perhaps, Melba, n and that only after having had the privi- ... lege of seeing her in opera. ';. ;_■ For,, completeness vocally, temperament- 1 '. ally, and personally, there is possibly no !,: other English singor equal to' Madamo j Lunn. That is why it seems odd that . there aro any empty seats at all at her ». concerts. . A New Zealand Composer. ; Tho Berlin correspondent of the London ; J.'Daily Telegraph" of November 12 wrote: —"Mr. Georgo Clutsam's 'The Harlequin King" has been very favourably judged by the German critics. Those pf , them r whoso opinions count for most are unani-- _• mous' in '.pronouncing .him-a thownighly sound musician and a master of tho tcch- , niqtte of his, craft. On'the other hand, ' several of them profess' to have heard in j his work too .distinct traces of the influ--9 enco of other composers, and Wagner, (. Strauss, Puccini, and Debussy <iro all men- ,_ tioned in this connection. The notices of 'the opera contain the usual flagrant in- ( compatibilities. '0r.3 declares that tho 1 composer is completely lacking in that . melodic gift which another mentions as I an indubitable talent to which ho might well have allowed more scope.; Mr. Clutj sani was.not tho only Australasian to 3 ' come under the notice of the Berlin musit cal public last weak. Miss Leila Double- . day (violinist),: Mr. Arthur Alexander j (pianist), and Miss Maud Puddy, a favourite pupil ..of Leschetizky, who gave a suc- ' ccsshil pianoforte recital at tho Bech- [ stein Hall,] aro all British colonials from j tho same ..quarter of tho globe as tie coraj' poser of The Harlequin King.''" Mr. Clutsam is a New Zealander, who , rhas lived for twenty years in England, His [ first opera,."A Summer Night,'' was pro-. j. duced in London by Mr. Bcocham. The'following outline' of tho Clutsam I opera has' been published in a Berlin ': paper:—Tho composer has taken , as his . text Endolf Lothar's masque, "The Harle- [ quin King." The King of a. mythical ■ Italian State lies' on liis death-bed, and, [ the enemy is menacing the walls of his t capital. At this, juncture the dissolute i heir-apparent returns from Venice, but in- . stead of the anticipated military ' aid, . brings ,witli him a troop of .comedians. In a quarrel for the favour of the' Columbine of 'the company, Harlequin kills tho Prince, and, to /save his own life, diS- • guises himself as the dead man, whom ho had often impersonated in jest, ascends the throne, which riow falls vacant, and leads tho forces of the State triumphantly against tho foe. Columbino, . though formerly obdurate to tho addresses of Harlequin, discovers, now that she believes him to be dead, that she really loved him, 'and.. vows vengeance against his slayer. Tancred, tho'late King's brother, also conspires against tho life of the new ruler. To obtain an' opportunity of carrying out her design, Columbine gives au assignation to tho supposed King, while Tancred hires assassins. The action culminates in a banquet at tho Palace, where the players ar.e called upon to entertain tho company. The Uoyal chair is empty, but Harlequin suddenly appears among his old colleagues in his true character, and in what is believed by the guests to be a play, prepared for their amusement, 'reveals himself to Columbine. They leavo the stage in the banqueting hall'to escapo in a boat, but Tancred, learning tho truth from the falso. beard left behind by Harlequin, proclaims that tho: King has met with a fatal accident, and himself assumes the Crown. . The . choral prayer of the monks for the repose of'the dying King, tho Coronation procession and ceremony, tho accompaniment to the solo danoo at tho banquet, and tho rollicking chorus of tho inebriated guests in praise of women and wine, show tho oomposer equally at home in the development of sustained melodic thomes and the handling of traditional operatic forms. Lehar as Kapellmeister. Herr Franz Lehar has just made his debut in Berlin as "Kapellmeister," when he conducted a series of his works in tho Zoological Hall, in the presence of a throng of 3000 people. His,success is described as tremendous. When ho left the concert house a multitude of young girls i clung to his carriage, stopped tho chauf- ' feur—handing the maestro his own photo- i graph in one hand and their fountain pen in the other, and clamouring for tho "master's signature." "Tho master," who « was apparently in a hurry, signed a ( ootiplo of hia pictures, and then fled to ] his hotel, where ho ordered tho porter , to turn out all admirers. Herr Lehar, j interviewed by nil "Express" correspoii- j dent, said he was most anxious to return t to England, for thcro was no placo under , tho sun ho liked better than London. , "There is a foolish saying," ho said, "that ; tho English people are cold. Well, I j don't think it is tnie. In fact, they are A extremely warm-hearted, and tho why J they welcome foreigners, bo they compos- , ors or anything else, shows it conclusively. I owe London tho most precious rcmem- '. brance of my careen it wax when King Georgo received me in his lioyal box ;nt Daly's two years ago. Kings aro not usually so kind ns to receive operetta com- I posers; they had, so far, only extended r their favours to opera and symphony t writors, but never to one of our kind, t King Gcorgo's invitation was altogether a n now departure, and from that night it r seemed to mo that the art of operetta c had been officially recognised by the most n uowwlul manaroU of th.« lutiYerm."- J - >