A New Year in the Phantom Concert Hall!

It's the first weekend of the new year! We've all survived our various holiday plans (more or less) and reflected on how things change as we get older...it could never come fast enough when we were kids, but comes too quickly when we're adults.

Nevertheless, we're now facing both the promise of a new year, and the dread of getting back to our normal lives and work schedules. But, for tonight, we're going to enjoy a new year's concert by the local orchestra...and here's one piece, the "Lola Montes Polka"!



This piece is by Australian composer Albert Denning, and sadly I can't find much about him; he appears to be known solely for this work. Reportedly it was inspired by an alleged incident when Madame Lola Montes was touring Australia and got a bad review from a paper in Ballarat; the story goes that she attacked the editor with a whip. However, Denning's polka was published in 1855, and Mme. Montes didn't appear in Ballarat until 1856.

Still, it's a pleasant work, one of those delightful light classics that get overlooked. Let's sit back and enjoy the show, shall we?