Society's Fourth
Subscription Concert
Relayed from
The Ulster Hall
HAROLD WILLIAMS (baritone)
EMIL TELMANYI (violin)
THE BELFAST PHILHARMONIC '
CHORUS and ORCHESTRA
Conductor,
E. GODFREY BROWN
The Mastersingers Overture is made up entirely of material subsequently used in the opera, and the chief themes are easily distinguishable. It opens with the bold melody associated with the Mastersingers themselves, followed by music in march rhythm which is intended to portray the Guild of Mastersingers. Presently is heard the theme later associated with Walther and ' Eva, and here the melody of the Prize Song is announced for the first time. After that comes the theme of the Apprentices, and the Overture concludes with a superb and exhilarating passage in which three of the themes already heard are combined with great contrapuntal ingenuity.
There are not many violin concertos that, apart from purely violinistic considerations, deserve to be called ' great ' music-perhaps barely a dozen. Among these Mendelssohn's Concerto in E minor takes a very high place, for in addition to the beautiful and effective solo writing, the orchestral texture, light and graceful though it is, is intended to be symphonic in importance rather than a mere accompaniment to a brilliant violin solo. Each of the three movements is simple in design and lyrical in appeal.