THE LONDON STRING PLAYERS
ROY HENDERSON (Baritone)
VIVALDI'S fame rested, in his day (the early eighteenth century), chiefly on his virtuosity. Besides being a notable performer on the Violin, he conducted an Orchestra of girls at a foundling hospital in his native Venice, and also held office as a Priest of St. Mark's—' The Red Priest,' he was nicknamed, because of the colour of his hair.
Later generations esteemed
Vivaldi more as a composer who developed the Concerto form. He wrote about eighty Concertos in all of which the Violin plays a leading part.
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS ' fond' ness for the countryside and its songs is well known. Besides collecting many folk tunes, he has written some of his own, some in the folk-idiom and the others, like the Songs of Travel, expressing in his own personal style his love of the open road. He has set R. L. Stevenson 's robust verses with fine understanding and sympathy, and has given us something typically English in its healthy virility and underlying delicacy.
A SGER HAMERIK, a long-lived Danish com. poser(1843-1923), was a pianoforte pupil of von Biilow, who found him more apt for composition. He had previously studied under his countryman Gade, and later worked for a good many years with Berlioz. He spent over twenty-five years as head of an American Conservatoire of Music, and then retired to his native country, and was knighted by the King of Denmark.
He wrote half a dozen Symphonies, to each of which he gave a descriptive title—' Poetique,' ' Lyrique,' ' Majesteuse,' ' Serieuse,' and ' Spirituelle,' which we may take to mean ' witty' or ' ingenious,' rather than ' spiritual in the English sense. This last is for Strings only. He composed also several Operas, two Choral Trilogues, a Requiem, and five ' Northern Suites' for Orchestra, besides chamber music and smaller pieces.