Cantata composed by Arthur Sullivan based on an 1851 poem of the same name by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The Golden Legend
Sydney
:
ABC Radio
,
1934
19571116
1934
single work
radio play
'Sullivan’s masterly setting of Longfellow’s “Golden Legend’’ is an established favorite with all music-lovers, and in its original cantata form has delighted discriminating audiences throughout the world. The dramatised radio version to be presented from 2FC on Saturday, May 12, retains and enhances the beauty of the original, but has the added appeal of appropriate dramatic dialogue, in which the basic legend is portrayed with simple and artistic clarity. The story of Elsie, the peasant girl, who was willing to sacrifice her life in order that her Prince might live, is one which never fails to stir the hearts of listeners, and Sullivan’s music interprets the spirit of “The Golden Legend” in a manner which will come as a revelation to those who have not heard it before. “The Golden Legend” opens in medieval Strasbourg, where, in the Cathedral Towers Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness, hurls his storm fiends at the massive Gothic spires in a frustrated attempt to bring them to the earth. Then we learn of the fate which hovers over Prince Henry. In majestic harmonies and massed choruses, the story moves through scene after scene of musical beauty. Both soli and choruses show Sullivan at his best, a fact which assures listeners of a musical feast.'
Source: [Radio guide], Wireless Weekly, 11 May 1934, p.46.
