HILDA BLAKE (Soprano)
GLYN EASTMAN (Baritone)
THE WIRELESS MILITARY BAND
Conducted by B. WALTON O'DONNELL ,
WE are inclined to think of Wagner as having been the first to compose operas so long that they begin in the afternoon and finish at midnight. His predecessor, Meyerbeer, however, left at least one opera—L'Africaine—which would take about six hours to perform.
The story of it is in many ways a parallel to
Verdi's Aida, with a fair captive who is a queen in her own country ; and the odd thing is that she is an Indian queen, although the title of the opera calls her an African maid. Hence the appropriateness of the March from the opera, known as the Indian March.