From Birmingham
THE BIRMINGHAM STUDIO ORCHESTRA
Conducted by JOSEPH LEWIS '
THE music of Cimarosa (1759-1801), one of the most famous of Italian operatic composers, was very well known abroad in his day, though he is little more than a name to us now. In 1787 he was appointed Chamber Composer to the Empress of Russia, and later became Court Musician to Leopold III of Austria. The Secret Marriage is his best-remembered composition.
THE story by Victor Hugo on which the play Le Roi s'amuse is founded is most familiar to us in the Operatic form of Verdi's Rigoletto, composed thirty years before Delibes' incidental music to the play. Though the story is one of passion and crime, the Suite wo are to hear has the grace and elegance we associate with the composer. In the complete Suite there are seven pieces, entitled (1) Gaillarde, (2) Pavane, (3) Scene de Boquct, (4) Lesguercarde, (5) Madrigal, (6) Passepied, and (7) Finale.
HERBERT DE LEON (Baritone)