Hasta la Vista!

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 899, 26 October 1956, Page 26

Hasta la Vista!

HE visit of Victoria de los Angeles to New Zealand is_ probably the greatest musi. cal event of the year in this country. The num. ber of performances were only few, but there is no doubt that some. thing very important happened to the few professional and _ the many amateur musicians who attended these concerts. They went home with some new insights; they could practise their own music in a fresher, perhaps more rewarding style. When I met Victoria de los Angeles, or Madame de Maigrina, as she is called off stage, she was on the point

of leaving for a concert in Christchurch that had been arranged for her at the last minute. I was amazed to see her composure; one did not feel that she was in any hurry. We started talking about the Spanish tradition in music. Senor de Maigrina, taking over for a minute while she packed, told me that the oldest known opera in the history of Spanish music was called Zarzuela (Little Flower). It is usually of a comic nature, reflecting customs, fashions and political situations with Spanish gaiety and wit. Today this tradition still exists in Spain. One still sees the peasants trundling along the roads in their horse-drawn carts, strungming their guitars, and making sgusic and song. Senor de Maigrina explained that when the Arabs invaded the South of Spain in the 8th century, it was the music of the conquered that prevailed over the Moorish conquerors, It is this indomitable tradition of Spanish songs that forms the background of Victoria de los Angeles. At this point she joined the conversation and told me that she was sorry that she had been unable to study the people of New Zealand. "But this is how it always is. Always the packing and the moving on." "T have not studied interpretation of singing from any of the hundreds of music teachers in America," said Madame de Maigrina, "I look for the truth of the words and the music in my heart and try to convey that to the people, keeping in mind, of course, the tradition of the music." "Victoria likes to compare interpretation of song to the art of great painters such as Rembrandt or Vermeer," said her husband. "Several artists may all choose the same subject to paint, but each one will create an entirely different work of art between which there is no comparison. Victoria never attempts to imitate another singer’s Megceieie, of a song." ‘Speaking of the problems met i people who want to become singers, Victoria de los Angeles said that confi-

dence in one’s own creative work is one of the most important factors in the performance of a singer, so also is her contact with an audience. "The relationship between an audience and a performer is very ‘deli-cate-an audience is quick to detect any lack of confidence in an artist, who can be easily overpowered by the audience when she is. weakened in this way. We remember listening to a very wellknown singer in Europe who was singing a song which was far beyond her range. When she came to the very high passage we were amazed to see that her terrific confidence carried her through without any difficulty. One does have experiences of being unable to stir an audience. This’ can sometimes be the fault of the audience, which can occasionally be entirely stubborn; it has happened to me. There is an old argument that language is a barrier between the singer and her audience. I do not think so. The barrier is in the heart." In Europe she works mostly with the accompan¥@t Gerald Moore, "when I can get him." "Have you met him?" she inquired. My admission that my life had been restricted to the shores of this ‘country sent her black eyes rolling around the four walls of her’hotel room like that of a caged bird. "Oh! he is a charming person to work with, and such good company on tour." They both chuckled at the thought. "So much depends on the accompanist, whether he holds the voice up, or (with a sweep of the hand to the floor) lets it down," she said. "Every voice needs its own degree of support depending on its size." She added that Gerald Moore now lives in a beautiful house in London which the famous contralto Kathleen Ferrier bought for herself six. months before her tragically early death. And there, with the arrival of the taxi which was to take her to her rehearsal, this interview ended.

Ziska

Schwimmer