; THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA
(Leader, S. KNEALE KELLEY ) Conducted by JOHN ANSELL
(Conducted by CONSTANT LAMBERT )
MASSENET (1842-1912) was a brilliant pupil of the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Rome Prize when he was twenty-one, and (after a period during which his music did not make great headway), beginning to win success when he was about thirty. From that time he had continual prosperity. He received the decoration of the Legion of Honour at thirty-four, and two years later he became a member of the Academy of Fine Arts-the youngest member ever elected.
Though he wrote some orchestral works, these are scarcely remembered save as the means by which he became known in the world of French Opera. His songs have kept in favour. Of the twenty-one Operas, not many have survived in England, but Manon was long popular at Covent Garden.
We are to hear the prelude from his music for Racine's tragedy of Phedra. which was produced in 1900. RECENTLY, there was a' concert of Strauss Waltzes at the Royal Albert Hall and London's mellower citizens came in great numbers to nod their grey-wreathed heads or matronly bonnets to the tunes that swayed the world in their youth. In those days Strauss was a magic name, whether it were that of the Johann who saw Queen Victoria come to the throne or his more famous son Johann (1825-1899). who wrote The Beautiful Blue Danube and about 500 other Waltzes.
Nowadays, Waltzes are out of fashion as a form of popular dance music. But considering what the modern fashion is and what many people think of it, to be out of fashion for twenty-five minutes may be looked upon as a restful and pleasant experience.
This Waltz, by Johann the younger, ' The Waltz King,' is his Op. 388. and is based on themes from one of his operettas.