FERNANDO AUTORI (Bass)
THE WIRELESS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(Leader, S. KNEALE KELLEY )
Conducted by JOHN BARBIROLLI
ROSINA, the charming little heroine of The
Barber of Seville, has a grim old guardian, Bartolo, who would fain marry her himself. But he knows there is a young and handsome suitor in the offing, and takes counsel with his old friend Basilio. It is he who advises him to spread a rumour that the young admirer, Count Almaviva, is a worthless fellow, and in this delightfully comic aria, explains how calumny begins like a gentle zephyr and grows in strength to become a very tempest. The music fits the text in the most mirth-compelling way.
THIS music was first presented in a very now and striking way. The performers were shut off from the audience by a curtain which represented an enormous mask, with open mouth ; it was the large end of a megaphone, through the other end of which an unseen reciter spoke Edith Sitwell 's poems. The first, speaker was the poet herself. The speaking was accompanied by Walton's music for a small team, which was also out of sight behind the curtain, and the effect was a very striking one. That was in 1923, the same year in which Walton had the distinction of having a string quartet chosen for performance at the International Festival at Salzburg; he was then only twenty-one. Since its first performance, the music of Facade has been considerably revised, and recently an orchestral Suite has been made of it which is of quite sufficient interest to stand on its own feet without the poems. In this form it is often played as an Interlude by the Diaghileff Ballet.