the music

Before Late Romantic orchestral trends of length and scope separated the trajectory of lighter orchestral works from the Western Classical canon, classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Joseph Haydn won as much fame for writing lighter pieces such as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik as for their symphonies and operas. Later examples of early European light music include the operettas of composers such as Franz von Suppé or Sir Arthur Sullivan; the Continental salon and parlour music genres; and the waltzes and marches of Johann Strauss II and his family. The Straussian waltz became a common light music composition (note for example Charles Ancliffe's "Nights of Gladness" or Felix Godin's "Valse Septembre"). These influenced the foundation of a "lighter" tradition of classical music in the 19th and early 20th centuries...from the likes of Binge and Coates to Farnon.

Charles Rudolf Friml (December 7, 1879 – November 12, 1972)

Charles Rudolf Friml was a Czech-born composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer. His best-known works are Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King, each of which enjoyed success on Broadway and in London and were adapted for film. His first post in New York was as a repetiteur at the Metropolitan Opera. He had made his American piano debut at Carnegie Hall in 1904, and premiered his Piano Concerto in B major in 1906 with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Walter Damrosch. WIKIPEDIA


 VIDEO: Alan Jones - Jeanette MacDonald - Donkey Serenade - Firefly Video... This picture version was the public's very first hearing - and also seeing - of this splendid, world-famous song, published in 1936. Sung by Alan Jones in the movie 'Firefly'. The actual melody was taken from a classical piece by composer Rudolf Friml.