THE NORTHERN WIRELESS ORCHESTRA
Conducted by T. H. MORRISON
The original name of the Opera which we usually call simply The Seraglio is The Abduction from the Seraglio. The story was adapted from a play of that day, modified by Mozart himself. It turns on the capture of a fair lady by a Turkish 'Bashaw' and her rescue by her faithful lover, a young Spanish gentleman. The whole story is treated in the most lighthearted spirit, and Mozart's gay and tuneful music suits it admirably. It is recorded that when the Opera was first performed, in the presence of the Emperor, he thought the scoring too full - it probably was considerably richer than any he was accustomed to - and that he said to Mozart: 'There are too many notes in the music.' If report be true, Mozart replied that there were just as many as there ought to be. The Opera has been heard in this country both under Sir Thomas Beecham's guidance, and afterwards from the B.N.O.C., and one or two of its separate numbers appear frequently in concert programmes, this air for bass more often than any other. It and its companion, the song 'Ah, my pretty brace of fellows,' were specially composed by Mozart for a famous bass of his day with an unusually deep voice, and have always been popular with basses whose lower notes are sufficiently full and resonant to do them justice.
ORCHESTRA
Second Symphony in D ..............
Haydn Adagio leading into allegro; Andante ; Menuetto (allegro) ; Allegro spiritoso
JOSEPH SUTCLIFFE
Now Phoebus sinketh in the west
Arne, arr. Moffatt Droop not, young lover ..............
Handel Don Juan 's Serenade ............ Tchaikovsky To Anthea Hatton
THIS has no connection with the Opera, nor with any of the best-known stories, of Don Juan, but is just such a serenade as he might well have sung in any of the various guises in which we know him. The original text was a poem by Tolstoy. Tchaikovsky has set it very simply, and each strain begins with a little prelude such as a serenader might play on his lute, a little running figure which leads very happily into the simple air given to the voice. The lady is called Niseta, and she is bidden, as ladies are in every serenade, to come forth to the lover who awaits her in the moonlit garden.
ORCHESTRA
Overture, ' The Magic Flute ' .......... Mozart