GERTRUDE JOHNSON
(Soprano)
THE B.B.C. LIGHT
ORCHESTRA
(Section E)
(Led by F. WEIST HILL)
Conducted by VICTOR HELY -
HUTCHINSON
WEBER composed the Aufforderung zum Tanze for pianoforte solo in 1819, and, calling it a Rondo brillant, intended it for a virtuoso concert piece. It is that, of course, but it is also as fine an example of the true Viennese waltz as has ever been written and, reckoning only those that have come down to us, practically the earliest. Moreover, it has other qualities, and Berlioz who had a great admiration for Weber's music, was quick to realize them. It is, in its way, a tone poem, and lends itself to interpretation in a story. Consequently, Berlioz, who liked music to tell a story, scored it for orchestra almost as an act of homage and ensured for it a perpet ual youth. Later, Weingartner, also a master of orchestration, scored it again and doubled its popularity ; while in recent times the Russian Ballet have fitted to it an entrancing little terpsichorean romance, such as might have been in Weber's mind when he wrote the music, calling it The Spectre of the Rose.