Albert Ketèlby - Dance Of The Merry Mascots

Albert Ketèlby - (1875 - 1959) was an English composer, pianist and conductor. He attended the Trinity College Of Music in London and his early piano sonata was praised by Edward Elgar. He had a knack for being able to play all the instruments of the orchestra,  practical knowledge he used when he composed for orchestra.

He was musical director of London's Vaudeville Theater and wrote many vocal and instrumental pieces while there. He was also music editor to some publishing houses and was Musical director for the Columbia Gramophone company and conducted on more than 600 recordings issued by the company.

He is most well known for his light popular music that was used at dances and sometimes for silent movies. Some of his most well-known compositions are In A Persian Market, In A Monastery Garden,  and Dance Of The Merry Mascots. Many of these pieces had a short program attached to them. The program for Dance Of The Merry Mascots is as follows:

"The Mascots go to a Fancy-dress Ball dressed as Pierrots, Pierrettes, Japanese and Spanish dancers.  They start with a Waltz for the Pierrots and Pierrettes, (during which Weber's "Invitation to the dance" is played as a counter-melody), then follow two movements for the Japanese and Spanish dancers; the Waltz is now resumed, and towards the end some of the Mascots who have got a little bit too "merry", find it rather difficult to keep in time, but they manage to finish all together!  The chimes now indicate that it is near midnight and the Mascots are heard taking their departure."   

Dance Of The Merry Mascots by Ketèlby: