A Request Programme
Owen Bryngwyn(Baritone)
The Wireless Military Band
Conducted by B. Walton O'Donnell

Overture, 'William Tell' ...... Rossini

Rossini, happily remembered as the most modest and good-humoured musician who ever lived, holds his place on the operatic stage of today solely by "The Barber of Seville" - in spite of its age, one of the best Comic Operas which the world possesses. His serious work, "William Tell", is no less worthy of affectionate regard, but except for the Overture, it has apparently disappeared from the present-day theatre. The Overture, is, however, ever green, and bids fair to remain so. In its original orchestral form, it begins, as listeners will remember, with a fine tuneful section for the violoncellos in four parts, popular with the violoncello players and listeners alike. The section which follows describes a great storm among the hills; calm succeeds and fine tuneful section for the 'cellos in four parts, popular with 'cello players and with listeners alike. The section which follows describes a great storm among the hills; calm succeeds and a quiet pastoral scene, and there is a stirring march, these combining to make the Overture picturesque and graphic in a way that the Overtures for the older Italian operas did not by any means always achieve. The characteristic tone of the violoncellos, at the beginning, cannot quite be reproduced by a military band, but the universal popularity of the Overture in the latter form makes it clear that the average listener is no pedant in the matter of characteristic tone. The tunes matter to him more than the voices or instruments which present them.