SOME time during the first half of last century a Miss Ross, of County Deny,
Ireland, heard and noted a very beautiful folk-tune. It had no name, and is presumed to bo very old. But everyone in the British Isles is now familiar with the Londonderry Air,' or the ' Irish Tune from County Dcrry,' which ,in both emotion and build is surely one of the finest folk-tunes any country can show.
VLADIMIR REBIKOV (1866―1920), a dramati.
' cally-ininded Russian, made some notable, if not very far-reaching experiments in harmony, and wrote several interesting works in which he endeavoured to combine miming with music and scenic effects. The piece of his that we are to hear comes from a set of such pieces entitled Dreams, five Melomimiques.' Ho describes melomining as ' a scenic art in which mimicry and instrumental music mingle in one indivisible whole. It differs from the ballet because the dance plays no part in it, and from pantomime pure and simple because in that music plays a part at least equal to that of mimicry. The region of mimicry begins where the word ceases and feeling reigns alone.'
In this piece demons sit, silent and motionless, watching admiringly the dancing of Satan's daughter. It is written oh the notes of the ' whole tone' scale—D Flat, E Flat, F. G, A, B.