(Section E)
(Led by MANUS O'DONNELL )
Conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
A Concert of Light French Music
Overture, Le Roi l'a dit (The King hath said it) .....
Delibes La Cerrito }Symphonic Ballet)
Pantomime / Godard Berceuse \(Jocelyn Suite No. 2)
Scene du Bal) Godard Pieces Espagnoles a danser
Raoul Laparra i. Zambra; 2. Fandanguillo; 3. Agarena ; 4. Jota
Second Suite for Orchestra .. Guiraud i. Petite Marche; 2. Divertissement; 3. Reverie ; 4. Final
RAOUL LAPARRA is no stranger to the slightly older generation of British audiences, although very little of his music has been heard in this country. He was born in 1876 at Bordeaux, was awarded the Prix de Rome, and a few years later gained international recognition with the opera which came to be so intimately associated with his name almost to the exclusion of his other works ; this was La Habanera, produced first in Paris in 1908, and brought to Covent Garden two years later. At Covent Garden it was received with far more than the usual cordial reception given to those very few operas that please on the first hearing. It attracted principally by the piquant Spanish flavour of the greater part of the opera, for Laparra, although a Frenchman, had, like a great number of his contemporaries, the faculty of appearing to make Spanish music sound more Spanish than could the Spaniards themselves. Laparra has, however, made a very close study of Spanish and Basque folk music and folk lore, and much of his other music is based upon Spanish dance rhythms. In 1933 a Suite of his was heard at Queen's Hall, ' Un Dimanche basque ', for piano and orchestra. On this occasion the composer played the piano part.