Dennis Noble (Baritone)
Joseph Slater (Flute)
The Wireless Orchestra
Conducted by John Ansell
Lassen occupied a much more important place in the music of his own day than would now be guessed from the small share which his music has in programmes. Although a Dane by birth, he is claimed as belonging to Belgian music; he spent a great part of his life in Brussels, entering its Conservatoire when he was only twelve, and winning the first prize for pianoforte at the age of fourteen. He won a fine reputation as a composer, and after Liszt had brought out one of his operas at Weimar with outstanding success, he remained there, and succeeded Liszt as conductor of the Opera in 1861. He brought out Wagner's Tristan there in 1874, at a time when it required some courage to do that; he was only the second Opera director who had given it. He composed not only operas, but symphonic music, and in Germany they still give his incidental music to Goethe's Faust at most full dress performances of the play. But, apart from that, he is now remembered almost solely by some of his songs, best of all by 'All Souls Day.'
Dennis Noble with Orchestra
Songs
Despite the press of many duties and immense hard work, Saint-Saens found time to travel often, and took a keen delight in seeing and hearing what he could in other lands. A good deal of his bright and picturesque music was inspired by visits to other countries and ho was often happily successful, as in this recollection of Lisbon, in seizing hold of just such characteristics as can set before us something of the scenes he was recalling.
Wormser, although known to us in this country almost solely by his light-hearted music for the pantomine The Prodigal Son, was an industrious composer who won many successes in his own day, chiefly with music for the stage. One of the distinguished people who won the biggest prize of the French world of music, the Prix de Rome of the Paris Conservatoire, he spent most of his life in his native city of Paris dying there in 1926 at the age of seventy-five.
