Doris VANE (Soprano)
John THORNE (Baritone)
THE WIRELESS MILITARY BAND
Conducted by B. WALTON O'DONNELL
ROSSINI'S Othello came out in 1816, the same year as The Barber of Seville, when lie was twenty-four. It has not had a success like The Barber's; Rossini was not quite the man to partner Shakespeare, and of course, even this author's text was by no means regarded as sacred, in those days. Byron, when he heard the work, described the libretto as ridiculous.
At the start, the actor who played Othello
(Davide) helped to give the work a fine send-off, with his big bass voice of three octaves' compass. But note what ho did-we have this on the authority of a French critic, writing in 1823: instead of the composer's final duet, Davide substituted one from Armida, quite different in mood. ' As it was impossible to kill Desdemona to such a tune,' says this narrator, ' the Moor, after giving way to the most violent jealousy, sheathes his dagger, and begins in the most tender and graceful manner his duet with Desdemona, at the conclusion of which, he takes her politely by the hand, and retires amidst the applause and bravos of the audience.....'
THIS piece was composed for performance by the massed
Bands at Wembley on Empire Day a few years ago. It is built upon a number of somewhat unfamiliar tunes, the first of which, Tadg bui (Yellow Tim) was taken down by -the Composer from a. singer of folk-songs in County Cork. An Antrim tune, and snatches of The Green Ribbon, lead to the appearance, as a. Euphonium solo, of Along the Ocean shore. The Clarinets next start' a ' chorus Jig,' and a Pipers' Dance is heard a little later. Two more tunes arc used, and then the last section is made out of two
Reels.
THE MASTERSINGERS, Wagner's one
Comedy, is for many people the best work he ever wrote.
The Prelude to Act III belongs to the tenderer moods of the work. It introduces the scene in which the poet-philosopher-cobbler, Hans Sachs , sits at his window, reading and meditating in the glow of the sun of midsummer morning, upon the life and the strife of men.