MARY HAMLIN (soprano)
THE WESTERN
STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Leader, FRANK THOMAS
ORCHESTRA
Overture, Rosamunde
A romantic drama of the name of Rosamund, Princess of Cyprus, which got into the hands of Schubert in 1823; at a time when he was fascinated by the idea of writing for the theatre, was at least the cause of his composing the lovely Rosamunde incidental music. The drama itself has disappeared, but the summary of the plot exists, and shows the play to have been the silliest and the most tedious imaginable. The author of it, Madam von Chezy, also wrote the libretto of Weber's unlucky opera Euryanthe, and achieved the distinction of proving very nearly the worst librettist in history.
The play was produced at the Theater-an-der-Wien, and the music at least was a very great success. It consisted of an Overture and ten other numbers, and the whole was composed in five days. After the performances the music was put away in a cupboard and remained there for over forty years, until it was rediscovered by Sir George Grove and Sir Arthur Sullivan on a visit to Vienna. The Overture played tonight is the only part of the music not actually written for the play. It was composed originally for another melodrama, almost equally bad, called The Magic Harp, and was revived for this occasion.
MARY HAMLIN
The Heart of Spring The Call
Song of the Night
ORCHESTRA
Two Entr'actes (Rosamunde) Marche Militaire
MARY HAMLIN
Bliss
The Brook's Lullaby Hark, hark, the lark