Relayed from the Queen's Hall, London
(Sole Lessees, Messrs. Chappell & Co., Ltd.)
35th Season
STILES-ALLEN (Soprano)
STUART ROBERTSON (Bass-Baritont)
ALFRED CAVE (Violin)
SIR HENRY WOOD and his SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(Leader, CHARLES WOODHOUSE)
A Beethoven Concert
Symphony, No. 1 in C
STILES-ALLEK
Aria, ' Abscheulicher ' (' Fidelio ')
IN Beethoven's only opera, Florestan, a Spanish nobleman, is unjustly imprisoned by his enemy, Pizarro, governor of a fortress, and is being slowly done to death. His faithful wife, Leonora, learning where he is, comes to the fortress, and, disguised as a youth under the name ' Fidelio,' becomes assistant to the gaoler, Rocco.
Pizarro, learning that the Minister is coming to inspect the prison, determines to make a speedy end of Florestan. Making sure that he will be warned by trumpet-call of the Minister's approach, he arranges with Rocco to have a grave dug in Florestan's dungeon, where all traces of his crime may be hidden from zealous eyes. Leonora ('Fidelio') overhears the plot, and in this splendidly dramatic aria, sings of her hatred of the murderer and of her hopes that Heaven will come to her aid, and restore her beloved husband to her.
Her dauntless facing of danger and difficulty wins its full reward, and at the end she herself is given the joyful task of unlocking the fetters which had bound her husband to his couch of stone ; just retribution falls on the wicked Pizarro, and the story ends as all good stories should, with a promise of lasting joy for the good and punishment for the evil.
ALFRED Cave and Orchestra
Romance in G Romance in F
STUART ROBERTSON , with Orchestra
Song, ' Busslied ' (A Song of Penitence)
ORCHESTRA
Symphony No. 8, in F