Directed by Philip Martell from the Commodore Theatre,
Hammersmith
.-Frank Titterton (tenor): When other lips (Balfe). Zanita. Shelmerdene (Lozanne)
Eva Turner (soprano): Because.
Sometimes in my Dreams (d'Hardelot)
Webster Booth (tenor): Romance.
Serenata (Feher). Vienna, City of my Dreams (Sieczynski)
Leader, Philip Whiteway
Conductor, E. Godfrey Brown
James Johnston (tenor)
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni was first performed at Prague on October 29, 1787. The overture, a fine and dramatic piece of music, sums up the atmosphere of the whole opera. The opening sombre andante is based on the music that accompanies the apparition of ' The Stone Guest', while the succeeding allegro depicts Don Giovanni 's love of enjoyment.
The Bartered Bride was the second of Smetana's operas. He wrote six others later, but none of them has won anything like the success of this one. But The Bartered Bride sets a very high standard. It is one of the most delicious comic operas ever written, full not only of lovely sparkling melody but of dramatic life and colour. Not the least delightful feature is its tang of Czech nationalism. There is hardly a page of the whole score that is not unmistakably Czech in flavour. The ' polka ' is, of course, a dance of Czech origin-not Viennese, as people often imagine ; legend says that it was invented by a Czech servant-girl, or evolved by her from some folk-dance, about a hundred years ago. In Smetana's time, therefore, the dance was still comparatively modern. (The Bartered Bride was produced in 1866.) The other two dances are equally characteristic and colourful—the 'furiant ' being as lively as its name implies.
Tina Bonifacio (harp)
Harry Dyson (flute)
Gethyn Wykeham-George
(violoncello)
(From Northern Ireland)
Leader, Harold F. Petts
Conductor, Ernest W. Goss
Frances Morris (soprano) from the Pavilion, Torquay
Liszt tells us that the idea for a symphonic poem on the subject of Orpheus came to him while preparing Gluck's opera for production. He ' recalled that Etruscan vase in the Louvre which represents the poet-musician crowned with the mystic kingly, wreath ; draped in a star-studded mantle, his slender fingers are plucking the lyre strings, while his lips are liberating godly words and song.... The beasts of the forests stand enchanted, the coarse noise of man is silenced, the birds are quiet, and the melodious coursing of the brook is hushed. Everything gives way to awe before the sound of Orpheus's lyre, and to man is revealed the harmony of the universe
FRANCES MORRIS A sweet July......Dunhill
If ever I marry at all .....Dunhill
ORCHESTRA
Ballet Suite, Ballerina. ..Arthur Wood
1 Theatre Lights. 2 Flowers from a Forgotten Lover. 3 Curtain Up
Night Scene (Suite de ballet)...Holst
(Strings only-Solo violin,
HAROLD F. PETTS )
FRANCES MORRIS
Stars Montague Phillips The Bargain Sale......Somervell
ORCHESTRA
Selection, Balalaika
Posford and Grun
