From Birmingham
THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM POLICE BAND
Conducted by Richard WASSELL
SCHUBERT, who wrote such lovely songs and such glowing orchestral music, was generally a failure when he tried to write for the stage. It is safe to say that nobody listening tonight has ever heard one of the dozen operas he composed.
And so, months of Schubert's all too short life go for nothing—or almost nothing, we may say, for a few isolated pieces from the large collection of his theatre music are to be occasionally heard at orchestral concerts.
Amongst that which happily has survived is the Overture known by the name of the play Rosamunde. As a matter of fact it was not written for Rosamunde at all, but for a ' melodrama ' called The Magic Harp.