Relayed from The National Museum of Wales
National Orchestra of Wales
(Cerddorfa Genedlaethol Cymru)
Almost all the smaller orchestral pieces of Mozart's, called by many various names, are what the Germans know as 'Unterhaltungsmusik'-'Entertainment Music.' Many of them were intended for performance in the open air, which no doubt accounts for the prominent parts given to the winds. Sometimes, depending on the players who were available, a little miniature concerto would make its appearance between the more usual movements, to give the performer in question a specially good innings of his own. But, as a rule, the Divertimento consists of six movements of which a Minuet and Trio is almost invariably one.
Sinigaglia, although he is already past his sixtieth year, is holding his own in contemporary Italian music alongside of a young and very enthusiastic school of moderns and even ultra-moderns. A pupil of Dvorak's, he no doubt acquired from the Bohemian master something of his enthusiasm for folk-music, and has long been active in the collection and use of the folk-tunes of his native Piedmont. His Piedmontese dances appear frequently in concert programmes all over the world.
The name of this piece means 'the squabbles,' or even 'the shindy' at Chioggia; it is merrily descriptive of boisterous country scenes.
(to 14.00)
