MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2540, 14 August 1915, Page 9

MUSIC.

fßr Tbebm 1 CLlfil No Professionalism. No taint of professionalism will be found in tho cast of "Les Cloches de Corneville," to be performed at tho Wellington Opera House next mouth by the Amateur Operatic Society. All the proceeds of the production are to bo devoted to patriotic purposes, and consequently there will be no superfluous payments to anyone, and none of the principals are to receive a penny in fees. . As a matter of fact this performance is going to be made all the more interesting by tho fact that not one of the .performers has ever appeared in opera in Wellington before iii anything like a responsible part. The two lady protagonists are to make their initial essay in leading roles. Miss Annie Sullivan, who is to play the role of Germaine, was in the chorus of "Tho Geisha" and "Paul Jones," now she gets her chance to make good. Miss Isabel Wilford 'lias boon cast • for the part of Serpolette. At pre-' sent her voice is on the thin side, but with experience and a little training on sound lines it will develop into quite a serviceable organ. If these girls will listen to the good advice and teaching of Mr. Tom Pollard they should both do well. A nice contrast is assured in colouring, one being a blonde and the other a brunette. Mr. H. G. - Shakes is to play Caspard, a great part for a young man, and one that is go good that it is impossible for. anyone to fail in it. Mr. Shakes has the necessary intensity, concentration, and temperament for the role, and should be a great success in it. Mr. Frank Charlton, should make an idea] marquis.: Mr. H.. Dunn is an untried quantity, and as Grenicheux will have to prove himself Should ho succeed there is a long line of tenor parts awaiting him in the future. Mr. .D. A. Kenny, cannot fail to be enormously bombastic and funny as the Baillie. and Gobo will be played, by Mr. Shaw, who I am given to underr stand has under-studied or played the role with amateurs in Syaney. The opera is beautifully melodious from the overture to the .final chord, and under Mr. Bernard Page, Wellington will be treated-to as fine a chorus as has ever been heard in the Grand Opera House. Tho Creat Thing. ."The great-thing in-singing is relaxation," said Melba in a recent lectur-ette;-and she impressed the necessity for relaxation —not only of the muscles of the throat, but of all the muscles of the body—upon the students agaiM and again. "Any one who stauds rigid can never hope to sing well. You must relax-the same way as a prize fighter does before he enters the ring." The distinguished teacher went on to say. that there was nothing more important for a singer than a broad, general education.. "It is not sufficient to learn how to sing.- I attribute a great deal of my success to the fact , that I was always' able to play the piano and the violin, and that I learned harmony and counterpoint. Every singing student must learn the .piano, and should be able to read music at sight. • Languages, both French and Italian,- are another important factor. Of. course there is no need for German at .the present time; but, for the future, I do not see why Waaner and Strauss should not ho sung in German. ' "No girl- should attempt to sing before she is seventeen years of age. men she begins to study -she should never sing except in the presence of her teacher. Later on she can practice alone for about a quarter of an hour at a, time." The Art of Irving Berlin.Who is there on earth tliat-has missed "Everybody's Doin' It," "Alexander's Rag-time Band," "Dixie, 1 and "Snooky Odiums?"- If there -be any such they must have lived in tho woods chewing leaves and hark,, because these tunes have haunted the jungles of civilisation like the flies do Cairo in tho summer time. ■ In New Zealand one may hear the milk being deposited-on the frosty doorstep to tne tune, of "I Want to be Down Homo in Dixie," or tho butcher-boy will enter the side passage whistling '.'This is the Life," or "That 'Mysterious- Rag," whilst the dogs' in the street bark "Alexander's Rag-tdme Band," "Everybody's Doin' It," and "That Mysterious Rag." -These world's most popular songs are all the emanations from that wonder man Irving Berlin, who says some remarkable things about his talent in an article in the Now York "Green Book." From this it would seem that Berlin (who is pure American) tarns out good catches under pressure or by/inspiration. He relates that he had written "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam'," "At tOie Devil's Ball," and "When I Lost You," when an urgent demand came from the Chicago branch of Berlin's business which needed two new songs, • so he made for his room at tho Hotel Sherman, and in two days had written "Snooky Ookums" and "In My Harem," whiclnwas suggested by tho Graeco-Turkish war. The story is that a Turkish officer has gone off to the war, leaving his harem in the.care of an Irishman. The chorus goes:— "In my harem, my. harem, There's Rosie,-.Posie, Josie, And there never was a. minute, ■ King Solomon was! in it. Wives for breakfast, wives for dinner, : Wives for supper. time ; : Lots of fancy dancing, And it doesn't cost a dime; In my harem, my harem, There's Rosie, Posie, Josie, And they dance they do, To mako you wish that you Were in the harem of Pat Malone.'® It is one of the best of Berlin's songs, and strange to say the one that has been the least sung in Wellington. "Everybody's Doin'lt," says Mr. Berlin, "is an example of phrasing at its best, with the. added glory of a marvellous title (Berlin lis not modest). It had the advantage of being a catoh phrase, one that- would apply almost to anytilling, that the public and tho newspapers would pick up and use. • That one point has made more than one song. Mr. Berlin advocates "punch" lines for songs, that is, lines that stick in your memory, that fairly punch your mentality when you hear them. In "This is the Life" he points out that the punch lines in the refrain are' "No more .picking berries, Me for cocktail cherries!"There you have the, extremes of civilisation—the prehistoric man picking his food off the trees and beside it in sharp juxtaposition that essence of modern hotel life, the cocktail and the candied cherry that always accompanies tho soothing mixture. "I am going to learn music," said Mr. Barliu, "for I want to do big things before I die. - One of my ambitions is to write a syncopated opera. It can be done. I know that ragtime has, because of it-s ryfchym, more dramatio expression than classical music: You can sing 'I Love You' just as convincingly in rag-time as in grand opera. Beauty can be as perfectly described, tragedy as 1 well expressed; pathos as well attuned, and comedy as well portrayed in ragtiino as in tho conventional forms. Syncopation is the timo of t2so times. I mean to prove it."Henry Ward Beechor, the erstwhile popular Brooklyn preacher, is credited with saying that "iv'lion God called a man to the pulpit He also called a congregation of hearers." If -this statement is true with regard to some musicians, we fear (sayis tho "Musical Courier") that a few of them at least got called by mistake, or else their