The record-union., 1898-07-24

in the practice of music, the London
Musical Times says that he used to
play the violoncello, and possessed
charming tenor voice, and that Judging
only from his speaking voice, one can
easily believe this to be true He al
ways showed a very keen appreciation
of, and love for, the divine art. Next
to the loving ministrations of those
dearest to him, nothing more gently
soothed the wearineSS of the long and
painful, but patiently borne, sufferings
of his last illness than the strains of
consoIing music. In 1882 Mr.. Glad
stone said, in course of speech: Now
I am bound to say that / take a san
guine view of the capacity of this ma
ton for music. / do not heSl-
tate to say, in looking back over the
last half-century, that / have wit
messed no change more remarkable
among the many changes and the many
developments which have marked that
half century, than the change in the
sentiment, and, if / may say so, in
the attitude Of the nation with respect
to music. The music in the
ordinary churches of the Church of
to the country and to the religion it
professed. l remember one particular
case, not of an obscure village church,
but of village church hard by one
of the ancestral mansions of this coun-
try, and where the benefice was held
at the time by a member of the FAM
lily that inhabited the mansion, and in
which, in utter despair of redeeming
the music of the parish from it's dis
grace. the alternative had been to ex-
tinguish it altogether"
Verdrs new sacred compositions are
shortly to be performed for the first
time in Germany by the Berlin Phil
harmonic Choir, under Herr Siegfried
Ochs direction, together with a grand
mass by the late Anton Bruckner,
which will likewise be heard for the
first time on this occasion. The COM
mittee, formed for the purpose of erect
ing a monument to Wagner in Berlin,
has just issued a general invitation Tor
subscriptions. 1t is most representa-
tive body, including Ministers of State
financiers and professional men of all
classes, including among musicians
Hermann Levi, Richard Strauss, Gus
tav Mailer, Schuch, Humperdinck,
Johann Strauss of Vienna, DR.. Kretz-
schmar, Professor Klindworth, and
many others. Two admirers of Wag-
ner named Leicher and Loeser have
signed 10000 marks each.
London is to have a new school for
dramatic instruction in connection with
the Guildhall School of Music on the
Thames embankment. The building is
of white stone, three stories in hight,
and classical in design On the ground
floor there will be a theater fitted with
every modern improvement, with seat
ing accommodation for 900 persons. The
stage will be fitted with all the latest
mechanical appliances. In the orches-
ira there will be room for forty in
strumentalists The floors over the
theater will be occupied by classrooms
and dressing apartments, and access to
them will be obtained by an electric
elevator. In the theater practical in
struction will be given in every branch
Of dramatic art. Drama, tragedy and
comedy will each be dealt with. The
student will have to pass through
course Of study extending over speci-
fed period, at the end of which will be
an examination.
The Wagner furor in London affected
even the Patti concerts, which were not
SO we'll attended as they used to be.
One of the critics says that at her last
concert she sang airs by Handel and
Verdi and two by Mozart as encores,
with perfect beauty of voice, the in
creased power Of her lower register
compensating for the loss Of her ex-
ceptional high notes, which earned her
so much reputation when she first ap-
peared in London more than a genera
ton since"
The name Of August Emma is not well
known outside of one or two European
countries. He is a Danish composer,
and his new opera Cleopatra" has
had as many as twenty-five perform
ances at Amsterdam during the sea-
son which has just come to a close,
and of which it was the principal sue
cess.
NJ. Lassalle, the famous Paris bari
tone, appeared for the first time in the
German Capital last month, and gave
a series of representations at the Royal
Opera. His reception was very fiat
tering one, the part in which he was
most admired being that Of Mephisto