THE DE MURSKA COMPANY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 184, 6 October 1876, Page 12

THE DE MURSKA COMPANY.

We regret to say that Dunedin has seen the last of Mddle. lima, de Murska and her talented company. The concerts given this week, with which the season terminated, were quite as successful as those that had preceded them, and the tendency of the famous prima donna's visits has been to awaken to a keener appreciation of art, the intellects of those who formed her audiences, and to help in refining their tastes. A great artist, possessed of genius and the highest cultivation, has been amongst us, and those who have had the privilege of hearing her magnificent singing, or witnessing her no less wonderful acting, have acquired an experience to last them a life time, and of which they will speak to the rising generation in terms as glowing as those in which the critics of a former period described to us the powers of Malibran, or some other queen of the lyric stage, who in times past-by gained for herself undying fame. We believe that it {is now the intention of the De Murska company to proceed from Tnvercargill to Tasmania, and, when they have spent a certain time in that island, and revisited Australia for a farewell season, to return to America, where, during her former tour, such enthusiastic applause attended on the efforts of the Hungarian !Nighting«le. We are happy in being able to inform our American readers, that they may look forward to welcoming back to their shores the fair vocalist in question with powers unimpaired, or, indeed, if anything, reinvigorated by the clear atmosphere of the Southern hemisphere. We may also congratulate them on the acquisition they will find in the person of Maestro Strauss Ilia, who is already — par avance — secure of a triumphant progress through the great Republic, where the expression, polish, and brilliancy of his style will obtain due recognition from a people notably capable of distinguishing genuine art, and anxious to encourage and reward it, and •where his predilection for American music cannot fail to be duly appreciated, and the sudden transitions, wherein he delights, will not jar quite so much upon the feelings of his audience, whose patriotism will support them under the infliction of "Yankee Doodle" or the " Nigger Dance," close following upon a brilliant performance by the ■Maestro — justly so-called — of some classic composition. A marked feature in this series of farewell concerts in Dunedin has been the admirable performance of the band of local musicians brought together to form an orchestra, and who have proved themselves, in a high degree, capable of sustaining the musical reputation of the c>y. Whether in orerture or accompaniment- tlicii u'uiiu_y was very evidiiit all through, but, if we may particulnrize eny o? their efforts as of more than usunl excellence, the manner in which they accompanied Mdrile de Murska in Mozart's exquisite " Gli Angui d' lnferno," and tbei> performance of the Oratorio music, on the last evening, were especially deserving of commendation. We cannot close our last notice of the talented company, which, we i egret to say, has all but taken a final farewell of New Zealand, without a tribute to the clever management of Mr. Secil Medcalfe, to which was owing in great part the comfort of the audiences, and but for which, perhaps, it would have been impossible for Dunedin to have enjoyed the rare musical treat we speak of.