MUSIC & DRAMA

Taranaki Daily News, 17 May 1919, Page 10

MUSIC & DRAMA

(By Pasticcio)

Music do I heaif? Ha, ha, Keep time.—How sour sweet"

music is When time is broke, and 110 proportion kept. So is it in the music of men's lives. —Shakespeare. # * * #

Musical, how much lies in that. A musical thought is one spoken by a mind that has penetrated into the inmost heart of the thing; detected the inmost mystery of it, namely the melody that lies hidden in it; the inward harmony of coherence which is its soul, whereby it exists, and has a right to be, here in the world. All inmost things, we may say, are melodious; naturally utter themselves in song. The meaning of song goes deep. Who is there that, in logical words, can express the effect music has on us? A kind of inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the Infinite, and lets us for moments gaze into that. Nay, all speech, even the commonest speech, has something of song in it; not a parish in the world but has its parish accent —the rythms or tune to which the people there sing what they have to say. Accent is a kind of chanting; all men have accent of their own, though they .notice only that of others. Observe, too, how all passionate language does of itself become musical—with a finer music than the mere accent; the speech of a man even in zealous anger becomes a chant, a song. All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very cenI tral essence of us, song; a« if all the rest were bujt wrappings and hulls! |The primal elements of us; of 113 and !of all things. The Greeks fabled of | sphere-harmonies; it was the feeling they had of the miner structure of Nature; that the soul of all her voices and utterances was perfect music. Poetry, therefore, we coll musical thought. The poet is he who thinks in that manner. At bottom, it turns still on power of intellect; it is a man"? sincerity and depth of vision that makes him a poet. See deep enough and you see musically, the heart of Nature being everywhere music, if you can reach it.—Carlyle.

According to the London Daily News, a German musician has just returned to the Fatherland after three years in Russia, and given a Berlin newspaper some account of Bolshevism in relation to the Arts. It appears that music and the drama are particularly flourishing, concert-halls and theatres being packed in spite of the increased prices of admission. The expensive scats are occupied by soldiers and working men; their former occupants now literally take a back seat- The returned German tells of the topsy-turvy condition of things in Russia. In response to an agitation for a war bonus the Government gave the Moscow Conservatoire (now known as 'The People's Palace of Music') the handsome dole of £20,000, stipulating that it should be divided equally among the staff. The stipulation was faithfully carried out, so that the charwomen and the director received the same amount! » * • •

Sir Frederick Bridge, M.A., Mus. Doc. (Oxford), M.V.0., C.V.0., who has been organist of Westminster Abbey since 1875, retired from the position at the end of last year. He has been succeeded by Mr. Sydney H. Nicholson, M.A., Mus. Bac. (Oxon). It is significant that both men came to the Abbey from the position of organist at Manchester Cathedral. Sir Frederick Bridge ig continuing his other activities, which include the position of conductor of the Royal Choral Society and King Edward Professor at the London University, Gresham Professor and chairman of the board of Trinity College of Music. It is understood he will continue to occupy the residence at the Abbey Cloisters, in which he has lived for so many years. The new organist is the youngest son of the late Sir Charles Nicholson, Bart., formerly Speaker of the House of Assembly, Sydney, and' Chancellor of the Sydney University. He was educated at Rugby.

Miss Constance Leatham's success at the Christchurch competitions is a matter for congratulations to her and to New Plymouth. Her win in the open class pianoforte solo w.as a distinctly meritorious one, and was summed up by the judge (Mr. Harold Greyson, Auckland) as follows: "This impromptu (F Sharp, op. 36) is one of the most beautiful of the larger Chopin compositions. To play Chopin well students must have ft good command over tempo. One performance stood out as pre-eminently the best—that of the first prize winner." There were six other competitors in the class. Miss Leatham also secured first place in a class of 15 in a sight-reading test, and was awarded first in the chief piano solo class. * » • »

Practically nothing hag been heard locally of arrangements for special music for the peace celebrations. In many placeg the choirs of the churohes qre combining to sing some appropriate choruses, notably the "Hallelujah." There is certainly no such movement afoot in New Plymouth at present, and yet there can surely be no reason why the Taranaki capital should be behind other centres in this respect A recent cable stated that in England a huge Victory Choir of 10,000 voices was being organised to give some appropriate music for the Entire Day celebrations The massed Guards' Bands will also participate in the ceremonies • • • »

J. and N. Tail's latest engagement for a concert tour of the Commonwealth and New Zealand is the famous English baritone Mr. Harry Death, who is reputed to be at the head of his order in England, and his extensive repertoire includes some of the newer oratorios, whilst he is also the accepted exponent of such roles as Elijah, Samson, and the baritone role in "The Messiah."

Pewgr Claridge, returned from the war ' r P rind P ai parts with the i. C. Williamson Ctomie Opera Comf«»y. The first of the many J. C. WilBawaoa principals to enlist, Mr. ClarUge saw three years and a-half of active service, having been strenuously en[W®* m several of the biggest stunts en the Western Rant. Arriving back W. Australia, his first job was to substitute for Reginald Roberts as Victor ifclibeau ia "Oh. Oh! Delphine" at the «heatJeß o yaj, Sydney. P.O. wi u be as the volatile dandy Claude Van Zandt.

* ewe reached Sydney a few weeks ago of the success on the operatic stage lof Mr. Cecil Sherwood, a native of New South Wales. This young tenor studied .'in Sydney under Mr, Andrew Blaek, and some five yeara ago went to Milan and entered the Verdi Segio Conservatory di M'wioft, where he gained a scholarship.

When that expired lie .studied privately under Maestro Pierraccini and continued !*to equip himself in general musical -knowledge as a pianist and by frequent attendance at the opera. This year he made his 'UTidSr'th'e gpu of Lionello Cecil ,at Vicenza in Massanetfs "Manon." Itajian prpßs notices are not always reliable, but it is pleasant to read that "in an excellent company of artists, second to none was the tenor, "Lionello Cecil," and that his voice is praised for "its vibrative senority and sweetness of timbre.". The young tenor was applauded with enthusiasm, so that lie gives promise of a good career. # • '« »

Mr. W. S. Percy, the well-known comedian, made a brilliant dobut in London last month in a new musical faree at the Criterion, "Oh! Don't, Dolly!" The press notices were unusually flattering. The Times critic said: "The one bright spot was* Mr. W. S. Percy. He is a comedian new to London, hailing, one may guess, from various indications laßt night, from Australia, and he might well have been overwhelmed by his reception. At times strangely like Mr. Barry, at others like the late Mark Sheridan, he adds a personality of his .own which will stand him in good stead."