Alice Moxon (Soprano); W. H. Squire
(Violoncello)
THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA
Conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON
THE scent of cigarette smoke in his wife's boudoir aroused the jealousy of Susanna's husband, until Susanna confessed that the smoker was none other than herself. Such is the plot of the one-act Opera to which Wolf-Ferrari attached this wholly appropriate, gay-spirited Overture.
IN Charpentier's Opera Julien, a Parisian artist, falls in love with Louise, a working girl. Her parents will not let her marry a man of so happy-go-lucky a profession, as they think it, so the lovers run away together to Montmartre. There, in their charming little garden overlooking Paris, Louise sings her song, telling Julien how much happier she is with him than toiling in the dull workshop she used to know.
TN the First Act of Pagliacci Nedda , the wife of the travelling show-man Canio, left alone, thinks of her girlhood and wistfully meditates on the freedom of the birds around her. mCHAIKOVSKY tells in one of JL his letters how, one day when he was trying to ' lay the foundation for a new Symphony,' he found the germ, not of a Symphony, but of a future Suite. A few days later he had one of his frequent fits of depression, and was asking himself, ' Am I played out?' Soon his mood changed, and thereafter the work went well.
When he came to London in 1888 to conduct a Philharmonic Concert, he chose these Variations as one of the Movements to represent his music.
There are twelve delightful Variations on the Air, the last, a brilliant Polonaise, being the longest and most developed.
FROM Grieg's incidental music to Bjornson's drama, Sigurd Jorsalfar (Sigurd the Crusader), three pieces have been taken to form a Suite.
I. Introduction. We are in the Court of King
Sigurd and King Eystein, sons of Harald, both of whom reigned in Norway at the same time, and were rivals. Here we have the atmosphere of royal pomp and festivity.
II. Intermezzo, Borghild's Dream. Borghild and Eystein were lovers. In order to show that she is innocent of a wicked accusation, she has been compelled to undergo the ordeal by fire-to walk over red-hot iron. She does so without taking any hurt. Later, she fears her lover is not true to her, and upon Sigurd's pleading, marries him, so ruining both her happiness and that of Eystein, who had remained faithful. In this scene she sleeps uneasily, and is tortured by doubt. Awaking, she cries, ' Still I am walking over red-hot iron,' and the music depicts her agitation.
III. Triumphal March. Sigurd, repentant, dedicates himself to the welfare of Norway. In. this scone the two kings are approaching, hand in hand, the place of law-giving, amid the loyal shouts of their people.