MUSIC & DRAMA

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1919, Page 11

MUSIC & DRAMA

(By Pasticcie-)- .. •■ . iTlils wonder which my soul hath found, This, heart of music in tha might of sound, Shall forthwith be the share of all our race, And, like the morning, gladden common space; Th'« song shall swell and spread as rivers do, And I will teach our youth with skill to woo * This living lyre, to know its secret will, Its fine division of the good and ill. So shall men call me sire of harmony And where great song is, there my life shall be. —George Eliot. • • » •

| Thpjjresentation of three plays at the Good Templar Hall last week in connection' with the effort on behalf 01 St. Mary's Parish peace memorial formed a pleasant change in the usual form of entertainment. The venture was quite a success, both from the point of view of the work of the performers and the response of the public. The productioa of J. M. Barrie's works is in no Bense an easy task and those who carried through tfie two works of his which were staged are to be congratulated on the result. The surprise of the occasion,' was undoubtedly the manner in which Mrs 15. A. Walker played the part assigned her in "Rokaljnd" She made an admirable landlady, and her success being in a sense so unexpected made it the more conspicuous. Not that the public did not expect Mrs Walker to sustain her part well, but being new to the stage her acting came as an agreeable surprise to everyone, and the applause accorded her was thoroughly deserved. The men in the plays were somewhat 'disappointing, neither of them playing tip to the standard of the ladies with whom they were associated. With the exception of Mrs D. If. 'Morrison who was most successful in her part in the farce, all the other ladies taking part were well known to New Plymouth cbncert'gbers, and have played before local audiences on previous occasions with much acceptance. • * • •

The orchestra which was organised in connection with the entertainments, and which played a number of enjoyable items as entre actes was an additional element of change in the common form of entertainment. It is gratifying to know that an effort is to be made to preserve the combination in a permanent organisation, and if this is successful it should meet a long-felt want in local musical circles. Hiss Leatham filled the position of conductress for last week's entertainments only, and is not remaining with the organisation. It is understood that Mr Eric Rowe has undert taken the position' of conductor for the present; '. ■ • • * »

Writing-from New York to Mr Alfred Hill, the Well-known New Zealand composer, Madame Carmen Picschol-Harris, the Melbourne vocalist, says: "I have been givjngvgjjr 'Waiata Poi' pretty and it is now becoming very populajiin Kew York. Everyone who hears it lovMjU4jf£jHlse of its originality and freshness. Its' repetition is always insisted on when ever I ?glve. it. I have had numerous songs of its kind, .iraU.l am 'sorry %o 'say 1 haw not any others. However, I sang your "Waiata Poi' again last week at the Victory Convention of the 300 women's clubs of New repeat it twice." *'■ " "*" •:..! * ♦

When Ignace Padei W8 ki w(ls verv young He* tried to get a. scholarship at the local Conservatory of tangle. He was told to' choose a practical such as -taker or butcher, but nVit. try and become a great musician. Paderew. ski left, his native city and became the most distinguished of living pianists. v>' • • »

Do we remember the "Sheffield Choir" and its performances through New Zealand some years before the war? Rather. ' That was part-singing; that was. It has proved unforgettable. The memory Of it always carries us to the conductor; toDr Coward, who, diligent disciple and master of Tonic Sol Fa, made th.at singing what it was when we heard its reveaffng power. Dr Coward has recently published some reminiscences. He writes in his foreword that in his youth, before he rose out of the narrow surroundings of a hard time, he used to be greatly excited and stimulated in spirit by reading Smiles' "Self Help." The book, he says, lost in later years its hold on the public, and more WW the pity, he thought. But the war came to the rescue, providing a host of men who by self help had mastered the bar of adverse fortune, and been advanced to the front ranks of the nation. At their head stood Lloyd George, Priine Minister of England, once the "little Welsh attorney," and Sir W. Robertson) who began as a private soldier in a cavalry regiment; the lives of these men Whose "footprints are oii the sands of time," though-they have not gone before us, »ere added to the Smiles publication, rand the old craving for "Self restored. -To add teethe encouragewfe'nt thus afforded to strive-, l>Dr Coward ■•publishes :.vthes> reminiscences. ".gtheW are deeply .interesting£ina.kirig a tremendous appeal/frota the human-aid*,?, i;..,:.,,.