Leader, Alfred Barker
Conducted by CRAWFORD McNAIR When Weber was scarcely more than a boy he was given the post of conductor of the Opera of Breslau. Within a year, at the age of eighteen, he had made his third attempt at opera, composing some numbers to a libretto called Rdbezahl, written by the manager of the theatre. Weber had the patience to set to music only three numbers of the opera, including an overture. He then forgot all about it for six years, but later, on holiday in Switzerland, he looked again at the MS. of the overture, found it good, retitled it ' The Ruler of Spirits ', and conducted it on his return to Vienna at a brilliantly successful concert on an easily-remembered date, November 11, 1811.