MUSIC

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2902, 14 October 1916, Page 13

MUSIC

(By "Treble-Clef.") ,

Faganinl and Liszt. Liszt claimed that-Paganini. never had a friend, but this is an exaggeration, for he was on very intimate terms with. Rossini. He once helped the'famous composer out of a (jreat predicament. It was ilr Home during the early part of tho violinist's career, before, lie had loft Italy. Rossini's now opera,' "Mathilda von Chabran/' was to. bo brought out at the Apollo. Theatre,, but on the day before the production, tho conductor had a'shock, 'and there'Vaß no one to take his .place. To_ Rossini's greatest astonishmeut/Paganini volunteered to conduct tlio novelty, and- although ho had only a few hours to acquaint himself .with the score, . ho led the work with such a penetrating insight into the composer's intentions and such fire and elan, that singers and orchestra and public were all carried away. It was such an enormous success that Paganini was called upon to. conduct three further performances. It demonstrated Paganini's musicianship, and Rossini never forgot tho favour.

A Talented Struggler. Miss Dora. Oberman, tho charming mezzo soprano vocalist, who is so popular at His Majesty's, is well above thoaverage ballad singer. • Her production is good,. consequently she sings easily and without tiring. Tho texturo of her voice is strong and vibrant, more suited to dramatic than lyric work, and, a Jewess and a brunette, that vocal work should be her metier. Miss Oberman is a native of Perth, but spent fourteen years at Broken Hill before her father's physical breakdown oompelled the family to return to Perth. As a schoolgirl she made acquaintance with hard work, and after school hours served in her father's j shop and kept his books, yet. managed to keep her smile and srood looks. In Perth, she was placed in charge of. some twenty girls, most of them older than herself,- and became the mainstay of tho family. A few years ago she discovered she. had a voico, received some tuition, alnd, as ;a' bSIM singer. Clara ..-Butt' heard ",ho'r. sing, admired the^ : jiuMity ( of her voice,, and encouraged'her to'pefGist in a career. A syndicate in Perth was preparkl to finance her to Europe, and all was going .well when , the war j broke out and settled everything. Later Mr. Ben Fuller "heard her' sing, and immediately offered her an engagement. Miss Oberman says that'up,till two years ago 'she did not know what it was to have any recreation, and consequent ly she is enjoying herself immensely in Now Zoaland. Singing and Acting.

"Show me an actress," said; Miss Mario Tempest in a recent interview in Now York, "from whose lips in slovenly syllables fall sentences as ugly as tlie toads and scorpions of the_ other fairy, in the same storyj and I will show you a girl whose yesterdays were not spent in song. With us in .England the list of actresses whose diction is beautiful because of a training in comic opera that is a brilliant one. ' Not very long, but brilliant.. Here to-day you have our Constance Collier who. graduated from the Gaiety Theatre, and little Billie Burke, who phrases and pronounces her lines with a clearness and precision learned during her novitiate in musical comedy. On the French stage there's Jeanne Granier, Jane Hading, and Mme. Rejane, each of whom speaks her language with classic purity and charm because of her faculty for pure diction acquired in singing. , So that I feel that my good long yesterdays as a prima donna were something of- # preparation for to-dav's.acting."'

Music at the Front, The Band of H.M. Scots Guards returned to London in mid-August from a three months' visit to the British front. The bandmaster of the Scots Guards, Jir. Fred W. Wood, in an interview with a representative of. the "Westminster Gazette," said that more bands would be greatly appreciated "for the present regulation of one. band to a division is totally inadequate. Some of the battalions, however, are now forming bands out of their own rauks, with excellent results, .the principal handicap being the want of in-, struments. When I went over to France in the .spring I was naturally somewhat in the dark as to tho songs which would be most popular with the 'Tommies.' A friend had given me the quiet hint that the catchy melodies of tho current revues gave the most pleasure. Why? Well, perhaps because it brought back reminiscences of the last night of an all-too-brief leave spent in London. Consequently, I made arrangements with the various publishers to "send me 7rom timo to time outstanding new revuo numbers as they came out*. I then bad the words printed on slips of paper, and they wero handed round for the benefit of those members of my audience who had not heard the songs before. You ask mo to name the song most favoured by Uio soldiers in Franco. Rather a puzzling quostionl But I am of the oninion that at tho moment Darcwski's' 'Boys of London Town' holds pride of pTaco, closely followed by 'Tipperary,' 'Good-bye, Virginia,' and 'Keep the Homo Fires Burning.' Our concerts were given in camp squares or in market places when the troops wore in billets; and wlien we had no 'officers' moss' 1 divided my band intosections, which I sent under band-ser-geants to play in tho sergeants' messes and the canteens. In tho whole of mv long career as an Army bandmaster T have never derived any pleasure to lie compared -\vitli that v.-hinh T rccoived from these rough-and-ready audioneos. Their enthusiasm was unbounded, their appreciation unrestrained and sincere; whilst their pluck and grit have uevcr been equalled in the hirtWj of tho world. My one desire is lo return to fliem 1"

. Miss Amy Castles, the 'Australia!! soprano, has loft Melbourne for England, via Amerioa.