Leader, Paul Beard
Conducted by Clarence Raybould
Andre Messager was born in 1853, studied at the Ecole Niedermayer in Paris, and later became the pupil of Saint-Saens. He began writing opéra-comique and then came to England and wrote a number of light operas that were extremely successful.
The suite is from the ballet The Two Pigeons, which is a ballet in six movements. The first is a march, energetic and with a hint of Hungarian rhythm ; the second is the dance of the two pigeons, dignified and capricious by turns ; the third is a theme with three variations. The fourth is a sort of interlude, sprightly and full of interest; the fifth a Hungarian dance, and the last is in a very quick march rhythm.