Il Guarany Overture - Antonio Carlos Gomes / arr. Herbert L. Clarke

The opera II Guarany was produced with great success at La Scala in Milan on March 17, 1870. Giuseppe Verdi wrote that the opera was the work of a "truly musical genius." Although the style and libretto are Italian, the plot is from a novel by Jos de Alencar depicting a love affair between an Amazon Indian chief and one of the despised Portuguese colonists. Gomez utilizes several of the tribal melodies in the opera. The arrangement by Herbert L. Clarke was presumably completed in time for a recording made by members of the Sousa Band, conducted by Arthur Pryor, on August 21, 1903. The themes of the overture are largely drawn from the opera itself, and each has its place in the action.