Sorcerer's Apprentice And Other Orchestral Favourites

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The Sorcerer'sApprentice and Other Orchestral FavouritesCarl Maria von Weber,the honorific 'von' acquired in doubtful circumstances by his unreliablefather, was a cousin of Constanze Weber, the girl Mozart married in a match ofwhich his father greatly disapproved. It had seemed that Weber himself might bea second Mozart, showing obvious musical abilities as a child, when hetravelled with his father's theatrical company, and embarking on an ambitiouscareer as a conductor, when he was appointed Kapellmeister at Breslau at theage of eighteen. After various vicissitudes, he was able to establish himselfas a virtuoso pianist, an innovative conductor and a composer of stature,before his early death in London in 1826. The rondo-brillant known inEnglish as Invitation to the Dance was written for the piano in 1819 anddedicated to his wife Caroline. The work is a miniature drama in which agentleman approaches a lady, asking for her hand in the next dance, a requestthat she eventually grants. They talk together, both with increasing warmth,and then dance, exchanging conversation as they move forward together. Theydance. He thanks her, and they part. Invitation to the Dance wasorchestrated by Hector Berlioz for performance in Paris when Weber's opera DerFreisch??tz (The Marksman) was staged there.George Enescu shares adouble distinction, as a leading violinist in his generation and as the mostoutstanding of Romanian composers. He was born in 1881 at Liveni, in Moldavia,the son of an estate-manager, and had his first violin lessons at the age offour from a gypsy fiddler, playing by ear, before his obvious talentnecessitated professional advice and attention, leading to his admission to theVienna Conservatory in1888, at the age of eight. His later career brought himan international reputation as one of the greatest violinists of his time andas a remarkable teacher. Based in Paris, he nevertheless continued hisconnection with his own country, where his musical influence remainedconsiderable. As a composer Enescu has too often been cast as a nationalist,using folk material. This is, in general, an unsatisfactory summary of his veryvaried work. Nevertheless his popular reputation abroad, to his regret, hasdepended largely on his Romanian Rhapsodies. In the first ofthese he makes use of a series of folk-melodies, the first of which he may wellhave learned from his gypsy teacher. Written in 1901, the two Rhapsodies weavetogether with skill the original material and won immediate popularity.The Flight of theBumble-Bee has providedvirtuoso material for instrument after instrument, from the violin to the tubaand double bass. The bee in question appears in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera TheTale of Tsar Saltan, of his famous son and mighty hero Prince GuidonSaltanovich and of the beautiful Swan Princess, where its flight serves asan entr'acte. In Pushkin's verse-tale it is Prince Guidon who takes the form ofa bee, observes the happenings at his father's palace, from which he a