Old French songs, and airs by Monteverdi, Gabrieli, and Handel sung by Jo Vincent (soprano) accompanied by the London Harpsichord Ensemble: John Francis (flute). George Roth (cello), Millicent Silver (harpsichord)
by Henrik Ibsen
Adapted and produced by Howard Rose from the translation by William Archer
('The Seraglio') by Mozart
Libretto after C.F. Bretzner
Full performance in German recorded in Hamburg by the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
N.W.D.R. Symphony Orchestra
Conductor, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
7.55-8.40 Act 1
A terrace in front of the palace, overlooking the sea
9.10-10.5 Act 2
The garden of the palace
10.25-11.0 Act 3
Scene 1: An open space before the palace. On one side is the main building and on the other Osmin's quarters. Midnight.
Scene 2: A hall in the palace early the same morning
The action takes place in Turkey in the Palace of the Pasha Selim
In 1779 Mozart set to music a German play by Andreas Schachtner called The Seraglio. He left the opera unfinished, and three years later composed Die Entfuehrung to a text by one, Bretzner, who publicly expressed his indignation at such misuse of his play. The plot is far from complicated. Constanze and her maid Blonde have been captured with the hero's servant Pedrillo and sold to the Pasha Selim, who, with improbable forbearance, allows Constanze to reject all his advances. Belmonte, the tenor-hero, gains access to the Seraglio and an escape is planned. Osmin, the chief guardian of the palace, discovers the plot, and the prisoners, expecting death, are pardoned and released by the unfailingly magnanimous Pasha.
Mozart's as yet unclouded enjoyment of his own limitless invention finds full scope in this work; sometimes, as in Constanze's vocal concerto, 'Martern aller Arten,' to the detriment of the action. The work is the first of his truly original operas, and begins the series that includes the three Italian masterpieces and ends with the Zauberflote of his last year. (Basil Lam)
A selective survey in six parts, by W. L. Hanchant , of the poetry of the U.S.A. from its beginnings to the present day
5—'The Western Spirit'
Readers, Guy Kingsley-Poynter and Ellinore Stuart
Produced by Patric Dickinson
Bertrand Russell reviews ' The Comforts of Unreason ' by Rupert Crawshay-Williams , and discusses the problem of language in relation to clear thinking
('The Seraglio') by Mozart
Libretto after C.F. Bretzner
Full performance in German recorded in Hamburg by the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
Cast in order of singing: [see below]
N.W.D.R. Symphony Orchestra
Conductor, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
7.55-8.40 Act 1 A terrace in front of the palace, overlooking the sea
9.10-10.5 Act 2 The garden of the palace
10.25-11.0 Act 3
Scene 1: An open space before the palace. On one side is the main building and on the other Osmin's quarters. Midnight.
Scene 2: A hall in the palace early the same morning
The action takes place in Turkey in the Palace of the Pasha Selim
In 1779 Mozart set to music a German play by Andreas Schachtner called The Seraglio. He left the opera unfinished, and three years later composed Die Entfuehrung to a text by one, Bretzner, who publicly expressed his indignation at such misuse of his play. The plot is far from complicated. Constanze and her maid Blonde have been captured with the hero's servant Pedrillo and sold to the Pasha Selim, who, with improbable forbearance, allows Constanze to reject all his advances. Belmonte, the tenor-hero, gains access to the Seraglio and an escape is planned. Osmin, the chief guardian of the palace, discovers the plot, and the prisoners, expecting death, are pardoned and released by the unfailingly magnanimous Pasha.
Mozart's as yet unclouded enjoyment of his own limitless invention finds full scope in this work; sometimes, as in Constanze's vocal concerto, 'Martern aller Arten,' to the detriment of the action. The work is the first of his truly original operas, and begins the series that includes the three Italian masterpieces and ends with the Zauberflote of his last year. (Basil Lam)
