From Birmingham
The Birmingham Military Band
Conducted by W. A. Clarke
The Prophet was that John of Leyden, journeyman tailor, innkeeper, and religious zealot, who with the Anabaptists made a great commotion in Europe in the early part of the sixteenth century. Meyerbeer wrote some tuneful and dramatic music for the Opera dealing with those doings, but the only part of it we still hear at all frequently is the Coronation March, which accompanies the crowning of John in Munster Cathedral.
When in 1809 it was decided to perform Goethe's Egmont in Vienna, Beethoven was commissioned to write for it the introductory and incidental music, which finely matches the dramatic story of the hero of the Netherlands, who fought against the Spanish oppression. The Overture is full of the pride and heroism of Egmont.
Wagner's early Opera,- Lohengrin, and his last great work, Parsifal, are both founded on legends of the Grail, the sacred relic of the Holy Eucharist.
Lohengrin is a Knight of the Grail who comes to the help of an earthly kingdom, and, more particularly, of a royal maiden. Wagner regarded this legend as symbolical of universal spiritual truths.
We are to hear the Prelude to Act III of the Opera, giving the atmosphere of festivity and thanksgiving which follows the marriage of Lohengrin with the heroine, Elsa.
