Arranged and composed by Frederic Austin
Sylvia Nelis
Frederick Ranalow
The Wireless Chorus
Chorus-Master, Stanford Robinson
The Wireless Orchestra
(At the Harpsichord, Eleanor Wilkinson)
Conducted by Frederic Austin

This, one of the most popular stage pieces with music which the English theatre has ever known. is not an opera in the ordinary sense. The book was made by John Gay, and the music consisted of popular ballads of the time, some seventy of them, which were fitted to the text by Dr. Pepusch, a leading London musician of his day. The opera had a long and successful run when it first appeared, and has been so often revived since, that only short periods have elapsed when it was not or the stage somewhere.

Frederic Austin, who is responsible for the brilliantly successful arrangement of the opera known to the present generation, has had an unusually, varied career. Making his reputation first as a cultured baritone singer, he has been an organist, conductor, director of the British National Opera Company, as well as of other important musical undertakings.

His successes in all those directions have tended rather to overshadow his gifts as composer, but in that sphere too, he has done really distinguished work.