HEDDLE NASH (Tenor)
THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA
(Leader, S. KNEALE KELLEY ) Conducted by JOHN ANSELL
QTRADELLA was that seventeenth-century composer about whom there grew up a story (which may or may not be true) to the effect that he eloped with a lady and was followed by assassins, who were so moved by hearing some of his music that they repented of their evil intention, and spared his life. Stradella, however, was murdered later, so the tale goes.
On this exciting story Flotow wrote an Opera when-he was twenty-five (in 1837). It was first brought out as a lyric drama, and then adapted as a Grand Opera, and as such, produced at Hamburg and Drury Lane.
The Overture shows Flotow's best quality— the capacity to write flowing melody. There is a gently moving Introduction, and then the main body of the Overture begins with a declamatory phrase, going on to a jovial, dancing theme. From this material the Overture is brightly built up, and a sonorous Coda brings it to a conclusion.