(From Birmingham)
LOZELLS PICTURE HOUSE ORCHESTRA
Conducted by E. A. PARSONS (Soloist, ALBERT BASTICK> )
ON its first production, Bizet's opera, The Pearl
Fishers, had no success. That was in 1863, in Paris, and not until 1886 was it revived. Then it did win something of the success it deserves ; in London in the following year, under the name Leila, it was also popular. Two years later it was again given in London, in Italian.
Its music is melodious and pleasing, with many of the fine qualities which have made Carmen so universally popular. Had the opera been founded on a better story, it might have been, a real rival to Carmen in popularity. The tale however, is not one which can bo followed as it unfolds itself on the stage; it depends on a whole set of involved circumstances which the audience must know apart from the action which takes place on the stage. In a word, it is dramatically impossible, so that the fine music of which it is full would be almost lost to the world were it not for selections and fantasies for concert performance. Its music has attracted such great artists as Caruso and Tetrazzini, who delighted in its opportunities for fine singing.