Conductor.
E. GODFREY BROWN
ROSEMARY DINSMORE
(mezzo-soprano)
EDA KERSEY
(violin)
The violin concerto of Dvorak is yet another instance of the almost universal fact that the great musicians of the century each wrote only one work in that form ; Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky sharing with Dvorak this striking peculiarity. One feels that the repertory has been robbed of much that it might otherwise have expected. The number of violin concertos of actual worth are so few that the many distinguished soloists who have graced the concert platform in the last fifty years have been of necessity compelled to compete against one another in readings of the indisputable but rather over-done half-dozen masterpieces.
Berlioz's first idea was to make a symphony of Damnation of Faust, then a ballet, and later a series of episodes. He composed ' Eight Scenes from Faust' and subsequently a complete work which he called The Damnation of Faust. This work has alwavs been considered to lack dramatic continuity, and to be difficult to put upon the stage. It is performed usually as a concert work, though in parts in Italy, where Berlioz's music is highly esteemed, it has long been in the operatic repertory.