The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-08
THE MUSIC THAT MAKES ME CRY
By DAME NEIIIE MEIBA, D. B. E. (I'he Singer Famous World Oyer)

l Human nature is like a plant, and | In the garden of the world natures
 vary, but music and song comes like | a refreshing rain in summer and like
 warm sunshine in the winter-time of | experience.
 1 Some ratHres arc hard, of cJu ::ie, IT less Impressiona ole than ot-ier. To | these people the golden measure of song comes and I"Hsses with little | effect, just as the rain and the sum- | shine have little move apparent in | fluence upon such people than the | passing of a tramway-car. l Other natures are more delicate. I more delicate, more sensitive, more fragile. They respond at once to the
 warmth and rain. Touch a hard plant ! and it leaves no effect. Toucn an orchid ard q it wouic reveal its senst- l tiveness.
 So it Is with human nature all over | the world. The beauty of music to some people is almost too much for | them; 1t produces a reaction which | might make them want to cry or | which would give them the astonish | ing miracle of a wonderful exultation. | They feel their own nature rise ana | expand; they are for the time being ' super-human; their feet of clay be- | come winged, and their hearts and ! Dllnu DeCOlne 1 Battle music has the effect of mak- | ing men feel like heroes and act like | heroes.
 | My Little "BIub." I feel the emotional influence of | music intensely. Ire other night J ! heard Coates conducting Seriabins | Poem of Ecstasy" It was excruciat- | ingly beautiful, and after I had my | little "blub'' I felt I must shake the | composer by the hand, and I did. | had wonderful experience in America which 1 rave never talked | about since it happened. 1 I was in New York, and there was | a performance of "ParsifaI.' It began | at eleven o'clock 1T he morltns and | as I had sung the night before I ! felt rather sleepy and tired. | AS I had never witnessed a per- i formance of this opera I was deter | mined to go.
 1 I went, and when the pe-fo -nianco | began there was a thing which an- | noyed me very much. | Right in the range of my vision | was a mars bald Ia ,d: it belonged to i the conductor, and I felt it would IT, | ritate me.
 l But after the music began forgo.
 everything, and as it continued I be- | caIrre more and more engrossed. At | the end of the first act there was a l pause of utter stiffness, and I did
 not realize the curtain was down. ! The first thing I knew I said to l myself, "Why have I got my hat on 9"
 was absolutely fin another sphere.
 I did not know where I was; I know | was not on this earth. | Some friends then came into my
 box and took me by the arm and
 had to walk me up and down in the | snow before I came to myself. It was the most wonderful eSperi- 1 ence I have ever lad in my life. It
 was a brief translation to heaven Right down in the bedrock of hu-
 man nature -here Is something which
 responds to music and song. 1t ;s | the deep calling to the deep. It Is I the divine in human nature answer
 ing to a divine element
 The Power Of Music.
 Music ennobles and regenerates. l and my belief Is that the power of
 perfect music surpasses any other
 power in the influence it can exert over the human s-rI.
 Not all music is perfect; there Is l much that is imperfect, and that is ! the real reason why it's influence 1s not universal. wht n it beCorncs5 per .
 feet the response will be universal. Music affects different people in | different ways That is ssen not only | individually but nationally. There Is | the essentially British audience, and l the New York audience, and the Aus tralian audience, and the Russian aud- ! fence.
 The English people more re- | served. but they are very, very sin- l cere. The English public are such a
 faithful public that when they love some one it is for ever. 1 The Australian audience? An, they
 love me so much that they take pos l session of me.
 cannot forebear relating this lit
 tie incident which occurred the other 1 day:
 | was walking along the street, and
 I saw two Australians. I realized they | were talking about me, and one of l them stopped me and said: Excuse me, are you really Mel
 ba?"
 "w,ll. my name is Melba,'' I answeI- | ed.
 There I told you so," exclaimed
 one of the men and regardless of grammar. he added. Didn't I know
 it; of course it's her"
 They were Australians and lovers of music and song.
 Il In New York people call out for a
 long time at the end of the opera.
 Here people go away before the end
 of the piece, and get up and move | about in their seats-whfch annoys
 me very much
 In Petrograd it used to be very much like New York. The audience
 was moved to. wonderful pitch of
 enthusiasm and never left the Opera
 House until long after the perform
 ance.
 The -fuence of Lmsic and song all
 over the world is wonderful. Any
 thing that is beautiful belongs to
 the world at large; and let us mould
 our minds by these things, and all
 the dark happenings in Eu-opo, the
 War and all the dreadful things os
 the past-let us try and forget them!