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MUSIC IN LONDON.
A BIG SEASON.
I FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.!
LONDON, 12th September.
THE coming concert season has been
heralded this week in trumpet-tones,
tho announcements covering a truly for
midable array of artists and fixtures. Tho
number of front-rank artists round about
tlie world is no. doubt much greater than
could be accommodated in any one city's
musical season, and it is true to say
now and then wc hear of, and sometimes
actually hear across the air, singers, for
instance, who have never yet been in
London, but whose powers arc undeniably
of the highest standard. The array,
nevertheless, of those, singers and instru
mentalists, who now arc announced to fill
our coming season is impressive enough.
The Sunday afternoon Albert Hall con-
certs will open wim rauoer, anct ine eariy
attractions to follow htm there are Menu-
hin, Krelsler, McCormack, and the Ber
lin Philharmonic Orchestra, with Furt-
wangler conducting. Furthermore, the re
cent sensational successes of Grace Moore
on the screen and on the Covent Garden
stage will bring her, also, to the Albert
Hall on a Sunday afternoon, no doubt
with the result of a stampede by film
fans and others for sight and hearing
of her.
' Queen's Hall, too, will house a succes
sion of' brilliant artists, for at that
rendezvous twelve Sunday afternoons will
fill with the- music of the London Phil-
haiinonio .Orchestra, with Beecham con
ducting. and week-night concerts will
bring tliore the gifts of Horowitz, Frida
Hempel (a great, singer of days gone by,
now to emerge from long retirement),
Heifclz, The Berlin Philharmonic Or
chestra, Hubermaii and- Toll dal Monte,
arnong others, while at other London con
cert halls the. Lener Quartet; Flatigorsky
— the. cellist who so. impressed us inst sea
son — Ria Ginster. lledcrsinger, and many
others, are listed for appearances. And
these arc the- announcements of one con
cert agency only. When the others put
forward their complete lists of proposed
attractions it will be seen that the com
ing musical season is to be crammed full
of allurements. Already, too, we know
of tho twelve Cortauld-Sargent concerts
that they offer the London Philharmonic
Orchestra under the Czech conductor
Szell. the Russian conductor Stlcdry, of
Leningrad, and Sargent himself, in pro
grammes which will include .things of
such interest as Sir Donald Tovey's new
cello concerto, with Casals as soloist,
Rachmaninoff in his new pianoforte 'con
certo, Berlioz's Enfancc do Christ, and a
now symphony by Hindcmilh; and the '
London Symphony Orchestra announces
eight concerts under various conductors.
Rutland Houghton's New Opera. -
Boughton pursues the curious tenor of
his w;ay noiselessly, save for an occa
sional, utterance from that remote seclu
sion of his down in' tho West of Eng
land, which for a long time lias been ills'
chosen fastness. And yet, whenever ha
dnnc hrnat Infn cnndnli Tin Ic llclcnnrt fn
eveir. though ,he ; lives, quite uhadyertiscd
in", : but, not of, ,a;muslcalv.v.»orld, that 'for .
ever rings Willi, ihp '.clamor-' of, his com-'
poser contemporaries, > _Thiit, lio'doubti 'i3
largely, because , Boughton onco wrote The
Immortal Hour, and. by reason ' thereof .
retains. ;in the. minds of iinaiiy, an- affcc-;
lionate interest, -which includes the hopo';
that lie will sooner, or. later create an-,
other such charming - fantasy. ..' Critical "
comment, '011 his .'newly-produced /opera-
For Ever , Young, produced at-Bath .thisi
week, allows us, however, no chance of
believing ' that lie has done it yet, - 'for-:
the libretto of the- new . work,; written by '
himself, is spoken of as ail 'symbolism'
and no plot, and to be so mistily. Celtic,
as .to -bo .understood oniy with. difficulty/-
while the niuslp, except at/such moments;
when .the composer has been' ; served by
his old instinct .for melodlousdrcaming, .
is too often., undistinguished. Y Wilh' a
cimllfir thomn' In .Viln' mlnrf fn flmh nf
The Immortal Hour; therefore, Boughton -
appears to have failed to achieve a simi
lar success. ' , . /. ;;
Three Choirs Festival; . . _-
This fixture had - its ups : and' downs;
As is usual at one of those .time-honored.'
—some would say ; time-worn — "institu-. .
tions, an . English festival; new .composi
tions were heard, but it cannot be . said ,
that they revealed much beyond the, fact1
that their composers! skilled craftsman
ship, was' unaccompanied by the real stuff :
and substance of- inspired music: tho:
attendance of the public became -unsatis
factory before the end,' ana' there was '
complaint of tho calibre of several of the/
performances.- ;Qn tho. other hand,' tlie'
Elgar works - given; on', an occasion jyiwb '
that great man . was. prominently in .mind, ;
lifted this three choirs festival to levels
riot often reached by it. ,
New York Opera. , -. '
The Metropolitan Opera House - will -
open its doors In December undor tho '
new management of Edward ' Johnson,
the Canadian operatic tenor, of -former
years, and now the successor of tlie far-'
famed Gatti-Casazza hi tlje Metropolt-
tan s direction. And it .will do so- under
the new financial regime which hopes to
rid the New York season of its former
anxieties in that regard. There is to be
no stinting of talent, - at any rate, for
the sixty-two principal singers so . fur
engaged comprise such famous names us
those of. Rcthbcrg, Lchmami, Ponsellc,
Flags tad, Lucrczla Bori, Kapcll, Branzcll.
Mclchior, Mnrtluelll, Crooks. Schorr,
Pinza, Habich and Tibboll. The reper
toire will include, besides tho usual Wag
ner, Verdi, Puccini and Rossini works,
Don Giovanni, Boris Godounov, Lakme,
Pellcas and Mellsande, nnd l'Afrlcalnc.
Rosa Ponselle will sing Carmen for -the
first time in her career, and an Ameri-
can opera oy Vittorla Giannlnl, : brother
of Drusllla Giannlnl, the well-known
soprano, will be produced.
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