Led by Ernest Element
Conducted by Leslie Heward
' Les Eolides '
Cesar Franck's symphonic poem ' Les Eolides' was composed in 1876. The music is based on some lines by Leconte de Lisle, of which the following is a free translation :
' 0 breezes drifting in the skies, sweet breath of lovely spring, who with playful kisses caress the hill* and plains ; 0 virgin daughters of Aeolus, lovers of peace, nature wakens at your songs.'
' The Triumph of Neptune'
Lord Berners's ballet The Triumph of Neptune is founded on a scenario by Sacheverell Sitwell , and is described by the composer as an English pantomime in ten tableaux.
The first scene is London Bridge, where a crowd is watching a magic telescope through which it is possible to see fairyland. Two travellers, a sailor and a journalist, decide to make a voyage of discovery, and the rest of the ballet is concerned with their adventures. Finally the sailor becomes embittered with human treacheries and decides to spend the the rest of his life in fairyland. The story ends with the sailor marrying the daughter of Neptune and being acclaimed Prince of the Fairies.