SEASONABLE ADVICE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1817, 1 August 1913, Page 2

SEASONABLE ADVICE.

TO YOUNG SINGERS,

BY MADAME MARY CONLY. "Oratorio singers do not get their JEIOO and <ei")0 for a performance as they used to some years ago," said Madame Mary Conly when chatting to a Dominion' reporter. "There are too many of them nowadays. Even the- best of ilicm in England only command from .WO lo .C(io for a performance. A singer like Kirkby Lunn—who is a really great arlist— would get from JMO to A'GO according lo the place whero she would sing. Her engagement book is pretty well alwavs full. What a singer of German lietler! What an exponent of Brahms and Franz! She is absolutely at a the top of her class. I would: like to give concerts in. Xcw Zealand—my own programmes—Schumann, Schubert, lirahms, Li.szt, Tsohaikovsky. It is so seldom ono gels a chance in Ensland, where one i.s engaged so continuously in oratorio work. To toll you tho truth, I tire a little of oratorio at times. While there are some I like, there are a lot I do not care for, and I lon# at times to get away from traditional readings of tho old oratorio parts, and do something original." But § cannot you be original in gour oratorio readings: 1

"Bless you, ;io!" snid Madame, "no onp would dream of singing. a parage in any way but that which is known as the traditional way. That is why some of the be=t of ns pay Sir Henry AVood, Handover, or Fagge thirty shillings an hour. We don't do that to be taught anything but the traditional interpretation, which, if not followed, would shock people. It is very difficult out hero to understand the conservatism of England in music!" "The mo>t common fault in coloninl singers who go to England are that they are not musicians. T'.iiey may liavo lovely voices—many of them have— and their friends are so delighted' that, concerts are arranged, and the singer goes Home, /i'he first thing they discover is that they know next to nothing about music. They are asked to face,the music, and almost invariably they turn out to bo weak readers with tho vaguest idea of tempo. So they"find that though they have a vcice, and aro able to use if, they nro terribly handicapped in securing engagements through not being musicians. As 90 per cent, of the engagements mean singing to an orchestral accompaniment, it is at once realised how impossible it is to get on without a thorough knowledge of music.

"Another handicap to young singers," said Madame C'only, "call be stated in vocal mannerisms or affectations. You tako noto of ho.w few singers will sing au 'Oh' full and round as it should bo sung, or an 'All' with the widened mouth, and the teeth showing. Sooner than give the full and proper value to the vowel sounds, they will invariably make somo sound in between, which loses the effect of tho word in which the vowel round is accented, and probably robs tho phrase of its proper colour. The affected singer is my pet horror. Why they practico these nftectations they themselves could not tell you, and what they hope to gain by mispronouncing words is a secret known only to themselves. Tho person who will persist in singing "nato" for "night," and 'late' for 'light,' I regard as a lost soul!" Hinting that there was not so much money as formerly in tho virtuoso business, Madame Conly said that such artists as Busoni, Godowski, and De l'achmann, who formerly only gave their own recitals, were open for concert engagements last season in London. Speaking of the eccentricities of Do Pachmann — the greatest exponent of.Chopin—Madam© stated that she was at a Queen's Ilall concert where the Russian pianist was to play one evening. Ho came on, sat down, and played a 1 few rainbow arpeggio chords, then jumped up with an annoyed look and left the platform. A minute later he returned minus his collar, beamed at the (ludience, and said: "Now I will play beautiful!" And ho did.