Relayed from the Queen's Hall, London
Sir HENRY J. WOOD and his SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Mme. TATIANA MAKUSHINA (Soprano)
HERBERT HEYNER (Baritone)
THE Prelude sets the mental scene for the monologue of the philosopher-cobbler Sachs, who at the opening of the Act is found reading and meditating, in the glow of the midsummer morning sun. upon the life and the strife of men, the love of Walter for Eva, his own hopes and his glad resignation of them for the furtherance of others' happiness.
THIS Overture was written in Paris in 1840 (when Wagner was twenty-seven), in the midst of opposition and failure, and was rewritten in 1853. The Composer said in a letter to Liszt that the title of this Overture should be Faust in Solitude. It was originally intended as the first Movement of a Faust Symphony.'
The subject is, of course, Goethe's story of Faust, who is tempted to sell his soul for renewed youth.
There is a rather gloomy Introduction, and then the Overture proper opens, the First Violins giving out the First Main Tune. After a time the Flute gives out the Second Main Tune, which the composer said represented the lines from Goethe's Faust which begin, ' A sweet uncomprehended yearning drives forth my feet from woods and meadows free.’ Out of these two Tunes the Overture grows. The peace of its close may, perhaps, represent Faust's final redemption. Note, in this connection, the similarity of this idea to that underlying The Flying Dutchman.
Prelude (' Tristan and Isolde ') .......... Wagner
THE origins of the tale of Tristan and Isolde (Iseult) are lost in antiquity. Apparently it is an old Celtic romance. It was on the thirteenth-century version that Wagner based his great love-drama, a work which, in its kind, has never been surpassed.
The wonderful Prelude epitomizes the transcendent, passionate love of Tristan and Isolde.
HERBERT HEYNER , with Orchestra
Amfortas's Prayer (‘ Parsifal ’)........... Wagner
ORCHESTRA
Siegfried Idyll ....................... Wagner
THE Idyll was one of the happiest combined Christmas and birthday presents ever conceived.
In 1869 was born Wagner's son, Siegfried (named after the composer's great symbolical hero, who appears in the Ring music-dramas).
Shortly after, Siegfried's mother had a birthday (it happened to be Christmas Day). Wagner wrote this piece for her, rehearsed it in secret, and on the birthday morning conducted it, sitting on the stairs.
It is woven of many tunes from the Ring music, mostly connected with Siegfried. Only one of the tunes used in the Idyll does not occur in the music dramas, and that is an old German Cradle Song.
TATIANA MAKUSHINA, with Orchestra
Closing Scene (' The Dusk of the Gods ') Wagner
RUIN has fallen. Siegfried is dead. So is his rival, Gunther. Brunnhilde, daughter of the gods, stands in the centre of the stage absorbed in the contemplation of the body of Siegfried. She orders that mighty logs be piled upon the Rhine's banks, and that her horse be brought—Grane, the Valkyrie steed upon which she has been wont to carry to Valhalla the bodies of heroes killed in battle.
The pyre is raised; women decorate it with coverings and flowers. Brunnhilde declaims Siegfried's virtues, and deplores his spurning of her, into which he had been betrayed by the guile of his enemies. She sings of the eternal purpose she sees beneath these dark events. She draws from Siegfried's finger the Ring, made from the Rhine Gold, which has brought upon them all the curse. She puts it upon her own finger, and turns to the pyre upon which Siegfried's body now lies. She takes a torch from one of the men-at-arms and casts it upon the pile, which flares up. Then she mounts her steed and leaps into the flames.
The flames burst forth, the onlookers shrink back in terror. All is destroyed. The Rhine overflows. The Rhine-maidens appear in the wave. They regain the Ring. The Rhine sinks back into its bed. In the glowing sky is seen Valhalla, the abode of the gods-also in flames. The gods themselves perish, and the curtain falls.
ORCHESTRA
Venusberg Music (' Tannhauser ') Wagner

ORCHESTRA Prelude to Act III (' The Mastersingers - Wagner
A Faust Overture - Wagner