Relayed from the National Museum of Wales

The Yellow Princess, a one-act fantasy in which a Dutch scientist dreams that he visits Japan, was the first stage piece that Saint-Saens wrote. He was thirty-seven when it was produced. His collaboration with Louis Collet (who wrote the story, in verse) was not a public success, only five performances being given. The Overture shows how charmingly the composer could suggest an atmosphere of romance and piquant strangeness.

Schubert lived six years after writing the first two Movements and sketching part of the Third, but he apparently never felt inclined to finish the work.
No one would wish anything added to the two lovely Movements, the First with its blend of tender optimism and wistfulness, and the Second outpouring its serene and comforting music so beneficently.