Leader, ALFRED BARKER
Conducted by CRAWFORD McNAIR
Smetana was an intensely national composer, and Prague was his centre. In that city he produced eight operas, written on Czech subjects and based upon Czech music. Of these, The Bartered Bride is the most famous ; it is, in fact, one of the world's finest comic operas. It was written nearly eighty years ago, and though for all that time it had been extremety popular in mid-Europe, only in recent years has the opera been performed in England with any degree of success. This overture was known to English audiences for many years before any other part of the opera was heard. The rhythmic rush of the string passages with which the overture opens is one of the most irresistibly sparkling passages in aU music, and the whole overture is the gayest thing imaginable
Massenet's opera on the great Spanish hero Le Cid naturally embodies a good deal of Spanish verve and rhythm in its music, and in the ballet, especially, the composer is entirely successful in the fresh and melodious way in which he gives us something of the Spanish atmosphere.