Capt. H.A. Gilbert

3.40 Orchestra
Rossini had wonderful success with his Operas, but after the production of William Tell in 1859, he composed no Opera and only one important work of any kind, his Stabat Mater.
For nearly forty years he lived as a retired gentleman, occupying himself in social diversions. In all this time he wrote only some light pieces, mostly for Piano, and it was largely out of these that Respighi, an Italian Composer of to-day (born 1879) made the music for the toyshop Ballet known as La Boutique Fantasque. The Ballet Music is that danced by the various dolls in the shop, who come to life and take a hand in the love-romance of two of their number. In this Selection the items are a Cossack dance, a Nocturne, a Polish Mazurka, an Italian Tarantella, a slow Waltz, a Can-can, and a concluding Galop.