The Leighton Lucas Orchestra
(Leader, Ronald Good. )
Conductor, Leighton Lucas
Hugo Wolf's popular Italian Serenade, his only well-known instrumental work, exists in two versions, one for string quartet and one for small orchestra. For a long time there was some difference of opinion as to which was the earlier, but Frank Walker (whose biography of Wolf was published last year) has established beyond doubt that it was first conceived as a string quartet, in May 1887. Thus it was composed about ten months before Wolf was visited by the phenomenal burst of inspiration which produced, in three years, 189 of his 240 songs.
The orchestral version of the work was begun in 1892, and probably completed that year. There is a widespread belief that Max Reger was to some extent responsible for the arrangement, but the manuscript shows it to be almost entirely the work of the composer; Reger merely saw it through the Press, making a few minor modifications. Wolf originally gave the main theme (heard after a few bars introduction) to the cor anglais, but later added a note on the score: ' Viola to play instead of cor anglais throughout.' Reger's modifications will be omitted in tonight's performance, and we shall hear the orchestral version exactly as Wolf set it down.
Deryck Cooke