DORIS VANE (Soprano) ; HENRY WENDON
(Tenor); STUART ROBERTSON (Bass); W.H. Squire (Violoncello)
THE WIRELESS SINGERS
THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA, conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON
THE British National Opera Company has made The Perfect Fool familiar throughout the country during the last few years.
These dances come at the beginning of the Opera. It is night. A wizard is performing his magic rites. He calls upon the Spirits to aid him.
After an Introduction, we have the Dance of the Spirits of Earth, upon whom the wizard calls to bring him a cup for working magic. This dance is built on a constantly and regularly moving bass.
There is, in the second part of the dance, a change of rhythm to seven-time.
The next dance is that of the Spirits of Water, whom the magician commands to fill his magic cup with sweetest essence of love, distilled from aether.'
Then he calls upon the Spirits of Fire to dwell within the cup, ' burning, blasting, scorching.'
THOMAS AUGUSTINE ARNE (1710-1778) was a maker of good tunes, as Where the bee sucks, and Rule, Britannia ! bear witness to this day. (It was of the latter tune that Wagner once said : 'The first eight notes contain the whole character of the British people.') But for the priceless gift of melody, Arne could not have ranked with the musicians of history, and even with it, he does not stand among the first of them; but ingenuity and assiduity carried him far. He attempted works on a large scale - Masques, Operas and Oratorios. His Opera, Artaxerxes, brought out in 1762, is a landmark, for it was the first English work to have sung recitative throughout, instead of spoken dialogue. Another of his novelties was the employing women to sing in Oratorio. Up to his day, boy sopranos and men altos had sung the upper parts.
At a time when Handel was the most powerful influence in this country, Arne did well to gain so largo a place in public esteem. He was a personal friend of Handel, who was twenty-five years his senior.
This Motet was a funeral piece written by Arne whilst he was organist at the Sardinia Embassy Chapel. It consists of several movements : (1) Five part chorus, Libera me, Domine, de morte œsterna ; (2) Bass Solo, Tremens foetus sum ego ; (3) Chorus, Quando ceeli movendi sunt ; (4) Tenor Solo, Dies ilia, dies irœ ; (5) Chorus, Dies magma ; (6) Soprano Solo, Requiem œternam ; (7) Chorus, Requiescat in pace.