MUSIC IN ENGLAND.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1497, 16 January 1885, Page 2

MUSIC IN ENGLAND.

[Front •« J.»hn Bull and hu Maad."}

In London there is no cohbler bat hfti * piano in his back pailotr. It people lived in. apartment* her* v they do in Paris, Bedlam, Colnry Hatch, and all the othtr naeHwiiaM would nf r«r contain 'the Imiafie* that <he piano *nnld Knud tih*m. An it,, in fvervboriy h*s liis honM>, and the \il s not so gi>at.

Ewry worn i'.i. t mijlit say without vceptioi!, plays i h»« piano ; t»ut it % p ivat< toom I liaw i.tvpr iieani • lady o ajo .nd g« 1 i ■!•, vffll »»!iutt^h to

affj:d pleasure to a serious amateur. Ti^y play without the least expression. 0 • of my compatriots and friends, % distinguished professor and composer, who teaches this instrument of tortnre 1 » a gr«»at London ladies' college, com* phi led 0:10 day to the head ministes* tii*t his pnpila play«d without any f.e'i.g or expression. "Monsieur. aiHworeil the lady with a kind smile, «♦ I did not engage yon to^ teach 8»n-----tint nt to my young ladies.'' his the same sinking. Yon some* ti.ui* co i»i across pretty voices, but th»y inika no iiu[>r«*jio» upon you ; it is n idling *»ut noi*e. Not amovement, not a muscle of the face relaxes ; it i» * maehanical action of th* vocal chords, a merc physical phtn mm ion. I was one evwiiug in a drawing ro mi. A young lady wiio had travelled in Italy anl * udifi music then*, was ask« 1 1 j sing. Bif san?, and indeed wita a ,Okl deal of taste, the pretty sang by Arthur Sullivan : " Let "»• dream a^aiu." „ " That young 'ady sini?s f jry vreil, I sai<l to a"l idy by my side. "Ye -es," »lie replied, with a littl put Ko.n: »»,r, «j-f*S»t«i«ha is, roll! I* her ey^s, a.d pitting her lian.l • ier heart? AlUhose gwtictt--4atio-M .i'« l»i-c »'/ riJiciil-ja.-j d^.u v^, : improper. O»e would think she w;> an actress." . Th- E I'lish, who know what awaits them in th- d»wing-.-«»-n, hay« sun an appreciation for chamber music that the very sou- id of the piauo is the tigiial for general couveniatio-i. >> hen the pieop is finished the company h-ave off- talking, and reward the auiatein-. witli a " Thank y«»tt." Pu'ic'i, w!io knows th«m,r?pr«spnt Her.- B)i{ilo''iff*ki in the act of executing a piece Oil th • pianoforte. bee t i,. that e**ry»K>dy is engaged in conrnv ftitioit, Urn ;.au«^, «• 1 say» t» tllH m * tre«s Of til* ll0 1« : -I "°P« I» m »•* iii h • wij^ aui that Ido »<* disturb cjversatio 1. m _, •• J.i I 1>; At »U," r*.iliM Mvi Poi«on .y d«. Trn'ty is; " pray go on." Pi »ius «5 1 1 ja t«, on the other hand ar* . xvlmnt, an 1 always well attrn d^l. AH tie griatwt singers in th<woii'J oa.i ha hear I in L<»ndon. Th» «-u:i»str* of th* C yital Palace i»pe! fe ti<iJJ. T.ie popular e->'icerts of ft'-iwi <jal (tw*\o at 3. Ja-nes Hall j the Biobter caacerts, tayi« *t the Albert Hj»l, Coveit G l -deu, th« Floral Hall during Uih seasoti, e^n not Ud sur^apae.l. Thwt jou can hear Patti, Nil»-n, Al»»aui, Jji-hi-ii, B-ibniatriu, Caarles Halle. Fame, Nicolini, etc. J.»h 1 Bull i* »•*••/ tttsiitive at su ih eoucnrU H* li<ite"as with all his ears, Ym winder why he do-'S not listen to Sorr B^alni'tttl-jUi iv Mrs Ponaoaby, d* fo^yns'* drajriin^fo^o- TilH rea»>ii is • that J«»hn is chaigeH a guinea or half-aguinea at these public concerts and that lw only really appreciate* that whioh he ha» paid for an'] paid for properly. T-td or*torio fljumias in BngUnd, it is th« musio for whi^h Joh" Bull fhows a predilection. He likes th««se hiUlical suWjecU set t» music. Look at him Ih~ his stall (profanation ; I should say iv his pew) ; h« does aot move, his eyes are closed, that he may h«ar the Wtter, just as he closes them when he' listens to a sermon. H* is happy I it looks as if he had com* to church. Th« oratorio is for him a fore taste of the delights that await htm in the other world. At the Crytt»l Palace, ha %*t his 'oratorio with clioru* of five thousand voices. The rapt* there are the hotter b« is pt*aaed. •* Oh ; exolaimed an sJ'»gl» a l» m * n wu# sat near in* at these divine services, «• the Italians are all very well, hut for oratorio you must have English sin ge.s, you know." lam quite of his ojnuio:i. just as to mike pastry you must have paste. It is trna that s-»m<* of the orator* * contain Mplendid pistes, ao4 that a great number of ttiem wer« written by «<iuh ra»u as Hiydn, Handel, Bach, Mondelssohu. But it is a rather eurioas fact that most of them were composed in E.igland »»y these great meters ; p«rUap4 uuder th«" inflienoe of the •pleen; it is Thames fog aat to music.

An oratorio lasts from three hours in ibrad hvim aii a h*lf. \n the country, at the great mnsiea! testirals of Bristol, Hereford, Leeds, and 3irminijham, oratori«fc *w given nveiy day for a whole we«k, beginning with the Creation and so on through th« whole list: Abraham, Joaeph Elijah, *udat t JjaoeabtßU*, the Mettiah, tl* Martyr, nt Antitoch, by Arthur Bullivan, the Bullish Off-nttaoh, the Pa*ri>n, >/. Haul, Ac, 4o The Englisi wi 1 not da bappy nit I tue whole of t. a Bible is set to mnsie..