(From Birmingham)
MARJORIE EDWARDS (Songs at the Piano)
SEYMOUR DOSSOR (Tenor)
THE BIRMINGHAM STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Conducted by FRANK CANTELL.
THERE are some, especially among the younger generation of musicians, who dismiss most of Saint-Saens' music with the epithet ' scholarly,' as though that necessarily meant dull and uninspired. It is quite easy to find in many parts of his work convincing answers to any such reproach, and this melodious and sparkling ballet music is as stout a witness as any for his right to a place among the composers of really fresh and vivid music.
Success as a composer for the stage did not come to him by any means easily. His first opera, The Yellow Princess, commended itself so little to the Paris public of his day that later works were definitely refused by the authorities there. Even the favourite, Sam-son and Delilah, which has since won itself so sure a place in the whole world's affections, had to be given first at Weimar through the kindly offices of Liszt. But from about 1865, his thirtieth year, he went on from success to success and soon won himself as sure a position on the stage as he had already earned both as a solo pianist and as composer of concert music.
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR'S enthusiasm for the story of Hiawatha is probably the best-known thing about him. He composed, as listeners know, settings for solo voices, choir, and orchestra, of three different parts of Longfellow's poem. This Suite, although inspired by the same subject, is not music taken from these choral works. It was originally devised as a separate ballet, and dates from the year 1912. The five numbers in the Suite are called, respectively :—
1. The Wooing.
2. The Marriage Feast. 3. (a) A Bird Scene.
(b) Conjuror's Dance.
4. The Departure. 5. The Re-union.