Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org VOL. XVIII. No. published Every Saturday. OUR £UROP£AN THE COVENT GARDEN CONCERTS- A SINGER'S BROOCH AND A ROYAL SCANDALA SPICY PARAGRAPHA STEINWAY PIANO FOR THE " VALIANT "GENERAL POINTS. LONDON, Aug. DEAR MUSIC TRADE REVIEW : 14th, 1893. The Covent Garden Promenade Concerts are on, and with such conductors as Mr. F. H. Cowen and Mr. G. H. Betjemann, an orchestra of excellent quality, and a remarkable array of vocalists, they bid fair to excel all previous records in point of musical excellence and attendance. I am told that Sims Reeves is to emerge temporarily from retirement to appear at some special concerts of the series. That will prove a drawing card. More, I am informed that Saint Saens' Opera, " Samson et Delila, " will also be performed concert fashion during the season. This work cannot be given on the English stage, therefore its production in this form will be another strong card for the management. So as to cater to the various tastes of patrons, there will be classical programs on Wednesdays ; Mondays and Saturdays will be devoted to popular works, and on Fridays English composers will have a representation. That is an admirable arrangement. ABOUT DRURY LANE. It now seems that Drury Lane Theatre will continue to exist despite of what has been written concerning it. Early next month it is to be opened with a new drama of the sensational order by Henry Pettit and Sir Augustus Harris. There will be the usual pantomime later onthis time it is to be devoted to '' Robinson Crusoe "and after the Christmas taste is satiated Shakspeare's "Henry V." will be brought out in sumptuous style. NORDIC A'S BROOCH. Certain society papers here are indulging in much gossip about the brooch which mysteriously disappeared during Madame Nordica's recent visit to the Queen. This is one spicy paragraph from a weekly of that class : " By the way, the loss of Madame Nordica's brooch at Osborne, while on a visit to the • fiew YorH, /lugust 26, 1893. Queen, has caused Her Majesty much annoyance. This, coming so close upon the loss by theft of Lady Wilton's and Lady Howe's jewellery, has given a very plain warning to the Scotland Yard people that some of our most experienced thieves are now busy. '' It must not be for one moment imagined that our police authorities have not a very distinct idea who are the guiding spirits of these audacious robberies ; but, of course, a distinct idea is not sufficient to arrest on. People who fondly imagine that the fruits of these theftsthese thousands of pounds' worth of jewelsare enjoyed by the horny-handed ruffians who actually break into the house and remove the " swag " are lamentably in error, and by no means upto-date in criminal matters. " The real thieves, or, to speak with greater precision, the chief thieves, are gentlemen who by no means have horny hands or live in the slums, but very ornate individuals, who live in sumptuous dwelling places in the West-end, have horses, carriages, and so forth, and belong to tolerably good clubs." PLAIN ENGLISH. Nordica, however, found the brooch. Referring to a well-known titled thief called "The Bart, " the same organ says : " Could the Bart, they asked themselves, have actually got hold ofi. e., tampered withany of the Royal servants, and was the Artful Dodger thus brought into close proximity to the Sovereign herself? The thought was painful, indeed, and great was the general relief when poor Nordica's brooch was discovered so mysteriously in the drawing-room at Osborne in the morning, and this, notwithstanding the fact that the moment she had discovered the loss, the evening before, the cantatrice had given the alarm, and that the most natural place to look for the missing jewel was, one would have thought, the room in which the lady had last worn it. "The Queen, we hear, well rewarded Mr. Charles Fraser for finding Madame Nordica's 250 diamond brooch on one of the rugs in Osborne House drawing-room. But one wonders what the Queen would have done had Nordica not found her brooch. Would Mrs. Great Britain have made good the loss by a cheque or by another brooch ? Her Majesty would not, of course, have been in one way responsible, but yet in another way she would, for the entertainment the other night at Osborne was a small and private one, and the distance from Osborne House, where Nordica sang, to East Cowes, where she stayed, was a short one, so it was not like a big State concert at Buckingham Palace, where the singer would have had to come all the way from her residence at Hampstead. If the Queen cannot entertain a few friends at her private residence in the Isle of Wight, and invite a singer who is staying almost next door to drop in and give them a song, without the said $4.00 PER YEAR. SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS. singer being robbed of her property, why, all we can say is, the sooner ' Beware of Pickpockets ' is written up on all the walls of our Royal residences, the better." En passant, I am surprised that Labouchere has not paid more attention to this matter. "Labby," a prince of snobs, himself, albeit a "radical"save the mark!always loves to dabble in such questions. A YOUNG LADY OF TALENT. The most notable prize winner at the Royal Academy of Music this year has been Miss Llewela Davies, to whom was awarded the medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians for being the most distinguished student in the Academy. Miss Davies holds medals and certificates for harmony, the piano-forte, sight singing and reading, besides the John Thomas scholarship, the Macfarren scholarship, the Santley prize, the Louisa Hopkins prize, and the Sterndale Bennett prize, and, finally, the bachelorship of music at London University. Such a musical record in any academical career is unique, and the greatest hopes are entertained of Miss Davies' future achievements as a musician. THE NEW VANDERBILT YACHT. A newspaper friend of mine who went down to Birkenhead last week to see the yacht " Valiant," which has just been completed for Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt, of New York, tells me that she is a magnificent and luxurious vessel one of the finest afloat. She cost over $750,000. However, these particulars have doubtless already been published on the American press. The " V a l i a n t " contains about twenty staterooms, exclusive of the dining saloon, library, and smoke room. The dining saloon has been fitted by a Parisian firm in the Louis Quatorze style. The dome of the saloon rises to the upper deck, and a soft, subdued light is shed from its stained-glass panes to the saloon below. The carpet, both here and in the passages, cost some three guineas a yard, The library is furnished in dark walnut, with beautifully carved panels and pilasters ; the panels containing some beautiful paintings. What will interest you particularly is the fact that music will be furnished this floating palace by a " Steinway " piano, an elaborate and beautiful instrument in appearance. PATTI'S MOVEMENTS. Madame Patti has now arranged to sail for New York by the Lucania on October 27th. Signor Nicolini will accompany her, and the rest of the company, which includes Madame Fabbri, MM. Galassi, Lely, Novara, and Mascheroni, with Signor Arditi as conductor, will leave by the Paris from Southampton on the same day. The season will open in New York on November 9th, and in all 40 concerts will be given, the first part of each program being devoted to an act from a favorite opera. Towards the end of the season also Madame Patti will produce a one-act opera from the pen of Signor Lizzi. NIRVANA.