Leader, PHILIP WHITEWAY
Conductor, E. GODFREY BROWN
Most countries have their own legends of the Accursed Huntsman who is condemned to ride for ever through the night as a punishment for some awful misdeed on earth. The original Wild Huntsman was Orion, but we meet him everywhere-in the North of Scotland, in Yorkshire, and in many parts of Europe. In Germany the legend is mixed up with the tale of Venus in her retreat, which Wagner uses in his opera Tannhauser. The goddess, so they tell you, is now a hideous old woman, driving for ever in a coach and pair among the rabble which follows in the Wild Huntsman's train. Children are told that if they are wicked, they will go to her when they die, and fly shrieking through the night behind her. César Franck's music is based on the German legend * of the story.
There are four scenes : the peace of Sunday morning with its joyful chants and bells pealing; the Hunt ; the Count deserted by his followers, and the dreadful voice which condemns him for his sacrilege ; and last, the terrible hunting which has no end.
The rich variety of rhythm and colour and the emotional virility of Spanish folk-music have strongly appealed to Russian and French composers. Glinka, Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Moszkowski, Lalo, Bizet, Chabrier, Debussy, and Ravel have all written one or more works either based on Spanish tunes or frankly setting out to secure the ' atmosphere ' of Spain. One of the most brilliant and attractive of these v. orks is Chabrier's rhapsody, Espana, which has done more to make his name known outside France than any of his other works. It is interesting to note that Waldteufel wrote a set of waltzes upon the principal themes.