Music of Smetana

Synopsis
First performance of Smetana’s opera fragment Viola, which is based on Twelfth Night.The music, performed by the BBC Theatre Chorus and Orchestra, includes the overture of the opera as well as other musical excerpts from Smetana’s compositions. The narration accompanying the programme was written by Bedrich Belohlavek and spoken by Leo Glenn. Stanford Robinson conducts. With Victoria Sladen (soprano), Henry Wendon (tenor), Arthur Sandford (piano).
Series
Sunday Rhapsody
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Radio
Transmission details
26 Apr 1946 at 21:30 (Channel: BBC Home Service)
Duration
60 mins
Availability
No archive copy known (1/2008).

Credits

Producer
Harold Neden; Stanford Robinson
Writer
Bedrich Belohlavek
Music
Bedrich Smetana
Contributor
Leo Genn

Additional Details

Production type
Operas and Musicals
Plays
Twelfth Night
Subjects
Drama; Music
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

General
In 1883-1884 Smetana worked on his last and unfinished opera Viola, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which had occupied him for many years. He managed to write 363 bars before he was taken to the Prague Institute for the Mentally Ill where he died shortly after on 12 May,1884.

Production Company

Name

BBC

Notes
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Music of Smetana". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av37935 (Accessed 22 Dec 2024)