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An Operatic Programme

on National Programme Daventry

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Excerpts from
'THE BOHEMIAN GIRL'
(Balfe) (Baritone)(Soprano)(Soprano)(Tenor)(Tenor)(Bass)
THE WIRELESS CHORUS
THE B.B.C. LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS
MICHAEL WILLIAM BALFE was a man of many parts, violinist and singer as well as conductor and composer: he was Papageno, for instance, in the first English production of Mozart's Magic Flute, in 1838. Born in Dublin in 1808, he saw a good deal of the world and knew many of its interesting people : honours and rewards came to him in generous measure, and he spent the last eighteen years of his life as a country gentleman in Hertfordshire. He lived till 1882.
The Bohemian Girl, the greatest of his many operatic successes, was produced in London in 1843 : this performance is within four days of the anniversary-November 27. It was afterwards sung in mhny parts of Europe, in German, Italian, and French versions, and remains to this day as popular as ever. Balfe's gift of simple melody and a confident knowledge of vocal effect, gained in his own experience as a singer, make it a classic of its kind. The story, modelled on Cervantes' Preciosa, is briefly this. Thaddseus (tenor) is anexiled nobleman who throws in his lot with the gipsy band led by Devilshoof (bass). The gipsies carry off the child Arline (soprano), who grows up to become the Bohemian girl of the title. She and Thaddseus love one another, and despite the wiles of the gipsy Queen, who has also lost her heart to Thaddæus, are happily united at last. Arline's father, Count Amheim (baritone) gives his consent on learning that the bridegroom is also of noble rank.

Contributors

Conducted By:
Joseph Lewis
Conducted By:
Michael William Balfe
Count Arnheim:
Stanley Riley
Arline:
Lesley Dudley
Queen of the Gipsies:
Mary Hamlin
Thaddæus:
Herbert Thorpe
Florestein:
Edward Reach
Devilshoof:
Harry Brindle

National Programme Daventry

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National Programme is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 9th March 1930 and ended on the 9th September 1939. It was replaced by BBC Home Service.

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