Doris VANE (Soprano)
JOHN THORNE (Baritone)
THE WIRELESS MILITARY BAND
Conducted by B. WALTON O'DONNELL pHERUBINO, the page in the household of the Count and Countess, cannot make up his mind, poor lad, whether he is more in love with his mistress or with the maid Susanna. He finds it impossible to speak to either of them without blushing and sighing. He has un. guardedly confessed to Susanna that he has written, poetry in honour of his lady, and the two chaff him mercilessly. The Countess commands him to sing his ballad, while Susanna accompanies him on the guitar. That is the air which is to be sung now, one of the most wholly delightful of all Mozart's seductive melodies. The gist of the poem is a request to be told what nature of thing love is, so that the singer may know whether that really is the malady from which he suffers.
IT has always been a temptation to composers to make new settings for traditional folk songs. It is a risky adventure; even when a folk song is not of itself a really good tune, it very often has so firm a hold on the popular affections that it is not easy to displace it. Indeed, sad to relate, it is often the worst tunes which are the best loved. Here are two examples by present-day composers, of old songs furnished with new music, and listeners must decide for themselves whether or not they think the modem tunes such as to oust the older ones from the positions they have held so long.