MUSIC —:—^—

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2824, 15 July 1916, Page 6

MUSIC

(By "Treble-Clef.") A Declining Standard. Without the slightest desire to ho accounted an unconscionable carper—and that, I fear, is tho risk I take—it must bo patent to many others besides myself that tho standard' of choral music in Wellington is a. steadily declining one. This may nyt be so obvious to those who have only interested- themselves in performances given during tho'-past four or fivo years, but to those whose experience goes back thirty year* or su, and with memories to recail the quality of the performances given, tho latter-day low standard must Ijo as depressing to them as it is to the writer. I recall a vhoral festival given in what is now Everybody's Theatre, under the baton" of Jlr. Robert Parker, when "The Spectre's Bride," "Israel in Egypt," "The Golden Legend," and, I think, "Lobgesaug" and "A«is and Galatea." were sung, and really well sung, and there will be those who remember ■ the iine choral work dono at the Wellington Exhibition (held on the present site of the Town Hall), when Alfred Hill's beautiful cantata, "ilinemoa," wns splendidly sung, under the baton of the composer. In those days tho societies knew tho value of preparedness, and ■ thero -wns never any question as to the ability of tho principals to acquit themselves with credit. That is hardly the state of tilings to-day, if the recent performance of "Faust" by the Choral Union, be taken as a criterion. There is no one who does not "love to cpraise with reason on his side" more than the writer, but it is surely unwise, dishonest, and misleading to deliborately lavish praise where palpable blemishes, omissions, and hopeless tloundcrings occur. To do so would bo to place a premium on incompetency and encourage unpreparedness. • Reliable principals are scarce and expensive, but theso are essential to a creditable performance, and the committee of the Choral XJnion would do Hell to wqighvery carefully the merits of every possible candidate before ' announcing the cast. All Wellington will be delighted to hear Miss Treweok again, and Mr. Frank 'Charlton has that quality of voice that should fit Mm,' with study, for moro important roles than that of Valentine.

Dufault in Australia. Mr. Paul Dufaiflt has been receivedwith open anne in Sydtey. His first con- , cert at tlio Sydney Town Hall drew a tre-. mentions audieiice, far larger'than ever Jhe had known-before in, that : city, . and tliero was 110' doubt that the rest of the season would be equally successful. ■ A letter received from Mr. Dufault himself .states that tlie., concert was a great; sueoes, and tho enthusiasm simply iwonderful. _ Tho success of tlio tenor is very gratifying to me, as when he first came to New Zealand it waa my pleasing duty to-indicato that" he' was. the 'real' "star" of the Company, though his name did not then bulk tho largest in the- advertise.mcnts. Mo first visited Wellington with Eleanor do. Cisneros, a fine contralto in grand opera, who was like a fish out of water oil tlio concert platform. Do Cisneros mado sonsational successes in Sydney and Melbourne in a grand opera company that included such names as Alolbn, M'Corinack, and Edmund Burke, but her metier was - certainly not the 'concert platform; Dul'ault next came with Norilica, another grand opera artist, and, again ho secured tho honours. . Since then ho has* headed his own company, and 'has done better than ever on tho present occasion. It may not bo known to many people tbat Dufault was brought ovei from Americioij this occasion by a "Wellington company, of which Mr. Tired Shipman is tho manager, and Mr. Leau-champ-Plalis tho secretary. Tho "Wolf Note." In tho' "Proceedings" of tl\e Cambridge Philosophical Society (England), Mr. W. \V. White describes somo investigations in relation to a peculiarity found in all stringed musical instruments that are -played, with a bow. On all stringed instruments of the violin typo a certain pitch can bo found which it is difficult and often impossible to produco by bowing. This note is called the _ "wolf note,-" and -usually occurs at an.interval of. an eleventh or twelfth-above the lowest uote'of the instrument. At this pitch on cither string the bow refuses to "bite," and a soft, pure tone is almost impossible to obtain; if the pressure of tho bow on the string is increased tho tone resulting is usually of an unsteady nature with 1 considerable fluctuations in intensity. It was thought that ail, analysis of the vibration o£ tlio belly of tno instrument for frequencies in tho of the "wolf note" would settle the question of its origin, as to which there is consid'erablo disagreement among musicians.

Strauss "on the'Make."^ The attached is from tho Sew York "Tribune" of Sunday,- May 7, and was signed with the initials of tho music critic of that paper:— "There aro stories about Richard Strauss and his wifo which do not at all tax credulity. Variants of Strauss's remarks touching his willingness to do almost anything for money follow him in all his travels. To tho late Dr. William Mason ho said in Now York that he would polish stovea if thereby ho could add to his earnings, and to a gentlemau who begged him not to' give tho concert in Wauamaker"s store he replied: "I would conduct from a manure pile i£ I were paid for it.' To Gutmann he said: 'I have no, ambition beyond earning enough money to permit me .to retiro to tho Island of Ceylon.' And his wife explained that -Richard wanted to go to Ceylon to. keep warm, having a mortal dread of cold weather." Pronunciation of Tschaikovsky. In all the American papers, so far as I know (writes Mr. Henry T. Finck) excepting the New York "Evening Post," Tchaikovsky is spelled the Kaiser's way: Tschaikowsky. That is not tho Russian way; it is the German wav. But in a newspaper,printed in tho English language it is entirely misleading, and therefore idiotic, to print tho great Russian's name Tschaikowsky, simply because tho Germans print it thatfwav. Grove and all the British periodicals have'for many years spelled it approximately as the/ Russians pronounce it—Tchaikovsky, Tho Russ in Music. The recent advancement of Russia in musical matters is one of the most strik* ing phenomena in tho history of tho art. It is coincident with her i-ccent political rise, and if statesmen aro speculating as to Russia's immense possibilites in the future, so are those who tako a wide outlook upon tho development of music. M. Alfred Mirovitch, tho Russian pianist who has been delighting Sydney audiences, has no doubt whatever .about the position of his country in music. He is (says the "Daily Telegraph") a fine talker, showing a disposition to be fait and liberal in his opinions, with always a healthy patriotism in the background. "If you want to see Teal musttal lifo you must go to Russia," says this artist! "Tho Imperial Conservatoire at Petrograd. where. I was educated, has 2500 pupils. Thero are also about fifty private music . schools. Throe or four of these havo about 1000 pupils oach. Moscow .and Warsaw,, with their conservatoires, aro also great centres of music. The conservatoires of the whole of Russia are departments of. tho national educational system as it applies to music, and all branches are more or less under the guidance of the Imperial Society, whose' headquartors aro in Petrograd." The other conservatoire cities, it appears, include Tiflis, Odessa. Kiev, Haskofi, Samara, Saratov, Tomsk, and evon Siberian .Trkutsh and far distant Yladivostock. Then ther« are not less than 45 schools of music in other centres and towns, some of which would •orobably not bo found nnon the map. The teachers at all these schools and conservatoires havo all been former pupils of tho Petrograd and Moscow conservatoires. Tho music institutions all over Russia are crowded with pupils from all classes. Notes. At tho first production of Maseagni's "Pavisina," at the Politeamo Geuovese, jn Genoa, there was considerable enthusiasm for Mascagni, who conducted, but the work itself was not received with any great degree of favour. It will bo wolconio news to everybody who loves music to know that the Gonzales.Opera Company, now in. Melbourne,, are to, visit Now Zealand. It would bo all especial treat if wo could liear this winpany in His Majesty's Theatro in JTMllnirton.