JAN VAN DER GUCHT (Tenor)
THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Section E)
(Led by MARIE WILSON )
Conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
MASSENET is better known in this country by Orchestral suites and the bullets and other excerpts from his operas than by the operas themselves. ,Yet Massenet was essentially a composer of opera, and if we British have never taken very kindly to his stage works-with the exception of the very charming Manon -it may be that we have not the same conception of opera as have the French, who clearly distinguish—as we do not-between Grand Opera and Opéra-Comique. But to his straightforward ballet music, or the music of a music-play, as this is, we have always offered a welcome, while his Alsatian and Neapolitan Suites are as popular here as anything of their kind.