A TALENTED HUNGARIAN

Evening Star, Issue 19803, 29 February 1928, Page 10

A TALENTED HUNGARIAN

MADAME GITTA ALPAR THE THEATRE ACADEMY SYSTEM Madame Gitta Alpar, the Hungarian mezzo-soprano, who will give a recital of Hungarian folksongs in Burns Hall on Saturday evening, has much interosting information to impart about the theatre academies which are situated in all parts of the Continent, particularly in Hungary, where music is as much a part of the daily curriculum as working and eating , , , “ Most of these ' theatre schools aic controlled by the Government, although there are a lew kept by private coinpanics, and here and there a solitaiy one run by one man as a business proposition,”'stated Madame Alpar to a representative of the ‘ Southland Times. Madame Alpar’s information regarding these academies is explicit, and because she-herself took the three years’ course in Budapest, as one of its very promising pupils, sho can bo relied on loi that accuracy and picturesquoness ol detail which marks her conversation with unusual interest. Obviously there arc years of study and extraordinarily hard work behind the case and assurance of a snccesslul opera star, “The public knows what it wants, and demands it,” continued

Madame Alpar. “it knows what it likes, and applauds it. But how many theatregoers know of the years of ceaseless toil between the realisation of their demands and their applause? In this country such keen cofiipetition is unknown. Here it is more a matter of opportunity, and I am alrn id a matter of. shall wc say, laziness? J have been lung enough in your country to know that by far the” greatest activities in music arc in tho .hands of the amateurs, and that is good, because it takes the music into the homes ol the. people. Why should wc leave our music in the theatres ami in tho concert hails? That is wliy, 1 think, in so many countries to-day we. no longer write the folksongs; we leave our music in tho theatre.

“But.” Madame Alpar continued, with a smile, “the amateur must take the music seriously, and treat it fairly. How can one expect to be a, singer without much study of the music, the voice, and the acting, because they arc all used in proper singing; and in my country, when wo fake, up music seriously, it means much hard work. At the Theatre Academy we must take n course of three years, beginning as a rule at flic age of eighteen years; but the so bright ones begin sometimes at fifteen, which is the youngest pupil the academy will admit. But all the pupils have to study the same—they have fencing three limes a week and gymnastics two times. These arc in the mornings, and in the afternoons they have one clay a singing lesson, another day acting, another elocution, another philosophy, and also literature, several languages—in fact, all the things that one learns in what yon in this country call tho high schools. The operas arc studied, and all the girl pupils must learn the women parts, and the boys, of course, the men parts. If wc take up ‘ Faust J all the girls must learn the Margucrita and on another day Sybcle. Then wc must perform before the professors, and our names arc marked with figures from one, two, three, four, or five to show if wc arc good or very bad. At the end of the year our charts will show the professors in which parts wc were the best.

"This is not an examination. The only examination wo have is bclorc we arc allowed to enter the academy. It is most terrible. Wc must sing before the whole of the professors of the academy—and there are between sixty and seventy of them, ladies and gentlemen—and three judges. O-oh, it is terrible! There is the little girl, so nervous, and her heart going paiini-paum-paum.” (Aladamc’s hand moved vigorously to and fro to emphasise her already graphic description of the aspirant’s perturbation.) “While one judge will manicure Ins nails—so—and another will make the joke with his confrere, and before these the little girl must sing, and act, and dance, and recite—it is a most ’orrible fright; but wc who arc so keen do not mind if the judge is kind and will open lo us the doin' to the academy and ourluiure. They arc very severe, and if a girl does not make the good appearance in the-test they will say lo her ‘Go homo and cook,’ or ‘Go home and help with the washing. You are no good for the stage. Yon are not artiste.’ The academy charges entrance fees, but the, children of, poor people, if they arc worthy, do not have to pay.” Madame Alpar proceeded Lo say that in the second year the pupil goes every six months, at the end of June and at Christmas time, to take part in a big public production during the aUcrnoon. Every morning the second year pupils rehearse with the stage artists, and generally at night sing in the chorus; while the afternoons arc devoted to physical training and other studies. In their third year the 'pupils go into the theatre in small parts, and are often sent to the country theatres. “There are no prizes in the school. The prize is success. But there is a competition for the first-year pupils—a _ copy of a ' new song by a composer is given to each pupil, who must make a study of it without assistance, and sing it at the end of the year before the professors, and the best will receive a gold medal.”