THE COMMODORE GRAND ORCHESTRA
Directed by JOSEPH MUSCANT
From THE COMMODORE THEATRE,
HAMMERSMITH
OLIVE GILBERT (Contralto)
At THE ORGANof THE REGAL, MARBLE ARCH
Mr. A. P. L. GORDON
This listing contains language that some may find offensive.
WEATHER FORECAST, SECOND GENERAL NEWS
BULLETIN
Conductor, B. WALTON O'DONNELL
SINCLAIR LOGAN (Baritone)
GIUSTINO, a humble peasant at the beginning of the opera, climbs rapidly to renown as a popular 'hero. Ho does yeoman service in. his Emperor's behalf, turns out at last to be the brother of Vitaliano, the tyrant of Asia Minor, and marries the Emperor's sister, Leocasta. The story is packed as full ofadventure as the greediest schoolboy could demand. The operawas one of Handel's despairing efforts to ward off defeat in the black years of 1736 and 1737 when the King had turned his back on him and forbidden him the Court. Written in three weeks, it was put on in February, 1737, in the hope of redeeming the failure of Arminio the month before, but it, too, played to empty houses from the first night. None of its numbers has survived, though there is much fine music among them, except the overture ; composed originally only for strings and oboes, it is a good example of the form he liked best-a slow introduction, then a bustling, good-humoured fugal section, and, after a few bars of transition, a brisk piece in dance-like measure.
IN Gounod's Philewcn and Baucis the ancient
Olympic deities are treated with somewhat scant respect, and the author of the libretto shows us them as subject to the usual mortal weaknesses and failings. Jupiter has brought Vulcan with him to earth, and the Armourer has left his underground forges most unwillingly. Ever since he made himself a laughing-stock by his unlucky wooing of Venus, he has been shy of facing the other gods, or even mortals, feeling that they must all know of the goddess' scornful treatment of him. In this song he gives vont to his annoyance at having to visit the upper world, and tells how much happier he is in the dark caverns of his underground forge.
In Gounod's orchestra] accompaniment, the ringing of a hammer on an anvil is rhythmically heard almost throughout the song, and sometimes an actual anvil and hammer are specially added for the purpose to the usual orchestra.
AMBROSE and his ORCHESTRA, from THE
MAY FAIR HOTEL
