From Birmingham
THE BIRMINGHAM STUDIO AUGMENTED ORCHESTRA, conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
KINGSLEY LARK (Baritone)
ORCHESTRA
Overture to ' The Cid '
KINGSLEY LARK and Orchestra
Salome, Salome'H dias')
Passing Vision j from 'Herodias )
9.20 ORCHESTRA
Pastoral from 'Esclarmonde '
Clair de Lune (Moonlight) from ' Werther ' KINGSLEY LARK and Orchestra
Voila donc la terrible cite (Behold the terrible city), from ' Thais '
JULES MASSENET was one of those fortunate people who find their life-work quickly, and are able to apply their gifts to the very best advantage. His early successes at the I'aris Conservatoire were repeated as soon as ho began to write Operas.
The Operas from which extracts are now given were produced in this order:-
Herodias, a version of the story of Herod and Salome, 1881. Passing Vision is Herod's song about the maiden whose image haunts him, and for whom he would give his soul.
The Cid ( a work based on the adventures of that eleventh-century Spanish hero), 1885.
Esclarnwmde (an Opera, with gorgeous scenery, about the wonder-working daughter of the Emperor of Byzantium and her love for Count Roland de Blois), 1889.
Werther, 'founded on Goethe's The Sorrows of Werther, 1892.
Thais (whom the monk Athanael converted) 1894. In this air Athanael, in Act I, reviles Alexandria, in which city Thais is the reigning courtesan.
Finck's 'Massenet and his Operas' (Lane) may be consulted by those who wish to know more about the composer's works.