MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1818, 2 August 1913, Page 9

MUSIC.

TBy Treble Clef."] New Opera Artists. Tho new artists, who will appear with the Quiulan Opera Company, opening in Melbourne on August 16, 'include Miss Perceval Allen, one of the greatest singers of Wagnerian roles now beforo thts public; Karl von Cochem, a bass who has often been likened to the great French singer, Plancon; E. C. Hedmondt, a tenor who has won many successes in all the principal opera houses of Europe; Maurice d'Oisly, the famous tenor, who has made a reputation by his performances at Covcnt Garden, London;' William Anderson, 'Scottish baritono; Graham Marr, the baritone; Herr Franz Costa, a Bayrouth tenor of power and acting ability; and the most remarkable operatic star of tho day, Felice Lyno, whose triumphs in London, America, and Europe- sinco her debut two years' ago constitute roni antic episodes in modern musical history.

Mr, Blov's Concert. On Tuesday next a complimentary concert is to bo tendered to Mr. Herbert Bloy, the Wellington violinist and conductor, who has been suffering severely from ill-health for some time past. An attractive programme has been arranged by the Wellington Professional Orchostra, which will contribute such notable num-, bfrs as Tschaiko'vsky's "1812,". Liszt's "U-hapsodiie," and a fantasia from "Faust."' There should be a largo audience. • ' Opera for New York. Tlmt New York never does things by halves is proven alike by skyscrapers and grand opera, Not content with tho 1 acknowledged fact that the Metropolitan Opera House is supplying its patrons the very best opera in .the.-world, aild is doing what scarcely any other 'opera house is doing, namely, giving opera in four languages, not content ttith all this, Father Knickerbocker is to have two moro opera enterprises m full' blast. by fall. Both of the two new enterprises aro designed to furnish opera, for tho masses at prices one-half and one-third of the present Metropolitan maximum cost of , seats. '

One of theso is the new opera' venture of Oscar Hanuuerstein, ttho lour years ago .was bought out, lock, stock, and barrel, by l tlio Metropolitan directors, thus bringing to an end his dictatorship at'the "anfiattan Opera: House.. Now, chafing under the restraint of inactivity, Oscar U ammcrstein has bought a plot of ground on Lexington Avenue and Filty-lirst Street, and" will ercct a big opera house, giving opera in English only, at prices fangiiig from..'three dollars downward. His pian.s in detial have not yet Iteen divulged; also thtre is some chance of l'ifigation, us his contract with the Metropolitan directors, made at the time of. his sale, precluded his giving grand opera in New .York during a term of ten years from tho dato of the sale. But that feature docs not concern us rhere. The other schemo of cheap opera Is being fostered by tho City Club. It was born at a luncheon given at that club a year ago, when some metropolitan opera artists- discusftd grand opera, and innocently gave birth to an idea of furnishing tlio mosses with opera at popular prices. For a year this plan wa9 silently hatched, and then began to take form—at first a crude and impracticable lorm—for- it was originally planned to give eight weeks of such opera before the opening of tho Metropolitan season, and eight weeks after tlio Metropolitan had clojed. What was'to tceomo of the engaged artists between the two seasons had scarcely been worked out logically

At this point Mr. Otto IT. Kalin, chairman of tlio Metropolitan Board of Directors, leaped into the breach. It, was settled then that tile season of "Opera for the People"—as it is called—was to l>o given at the Century Theatre. And, more important still, was the fact that, instead of two brief, interrupted seasons, this opera was to run' about thirty-fivo weeks. Soenery and costumes aTe goin? to be lent from the amassed collections of the Metropolitan Opera House, whose warehouses are bulging with unused scenery. This opera is not to be given in English alone, but in Italian, German, and Fuench .also—<is in on-?ra at tlio Metropolitan. A fund of 450,000 dollars is! now being.raised to cover the deficits of a tluee-year run, and amounts are being pledged by individuals. A Rag-time Magician. ■ Jlr. Irving Berlin, twenty-fivo years old, aud drawing ,£20,000 a year in royalties on all the ragtimo ho has written, camu to- London lately. It is he who first gavo to tlio world the erratic lilts of "Alexander's Hagtiino Band"; it is ho who composed the accidental eccentricities of "Everybody's Doing It." Go where you ' will, you cannot escape from tlio mazes of music he lias" spun. In every London restaurant, park, and theatre you hear his strains; I'aris dauees to it; Berlin sips golden beer to his melodies; Vienna lias forsaken the waltz, Madrid Hung away her castanets, and Venice lias forgotten her barcarolles. Kagtime lias swept like a whirlwind over the earth. Ml'. Irving Berlin stnifed it. It is almost impossible to believo that this Loy —he looks nineteen—lathering his faco to an unconscious tunc ono morning, four years ago, hit oil the jerky, spasmodic bars of "Alexander's Hagtimo Band," and set tho fashion. It is still more incrcdiblo when you know: that. he cannot write a nolo if music, nor can lio play the piano. Tlio gods gave him a greater gift that picked him from obscurity and ilimg liiin head over heels into fortune. They gave him tho gift of making tunes all day long. It would be a waste of time for him to writo them. Ho dictates them to cn "arranger," just as a popular novelist dictates his thousands of words. The "arranger" comes to him, with pen and paper, and Irving Berlin reels out ragtime at him at a speed of eighty minims a minute. Sometimes, when tho "arranger's" hand is tired, and he has to take a day off, young Irving. Berlin gets down his dictaphone from the shelf, starts it working, aud chokes up tlio cylinder with syncopations. He can dictate new melodies at tlio rate of five a day—each one a popular success, worth dollars and dollars of royalties. One day his firm wauled an M.S. in a hurry. They rang up Irving Berlin in Chicago, and ho sang them a ragtime over the lelopliono to New York, where an "arranger jotted it down aud set it. It sounds like a fairy tale—it is a fairy tale—a fairy talo of modern life, the romance of ragtime. Once ho was a small bay in a sandy-floored bar in New York singing songs for half-nonce and washing glasses in between. Then, one day, ho went into a .small shop where they* pub. lish'ed music and pang a song at them. They "arranged" it, published it, and it was a success. He sang sonie'niore, and I hey were all sueeesse.-. He was retained by (lie firm, and began fo grow rich on royalties. Afler a year they made him a parlner in the firm, aud tho ragtimo inspiraton gavo' hni wealth beyond his realisation,.