B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Section E)
Conducted by VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON

The Devil figures more than once in the names of Schubert's orchestral pieces; in tho play with vocal numbers for which this is the Overture, his Satanic Majesty was one who had to pump up water. The play has long ago disappeared completely from any stage, and even Schubert's Overture is only rarely heard. There is a short introduction with a very simple theme, and then the first violins begin a hurrying figure over a rhythmic bass, from which the first section is evolved. Both the running figure and the bass have prominent parts throughout. The next melody is an easy-going one played first by clarinet, and answered by flute; it, too, is easily recognized as characteristic of Schubert. But the overture is so short and straightforward, unchanged in meter and in speed throughout, as to be very well able to speak for itself and to need no knowledge of the forgotten play for its enjoyment.

Science has already been well represented in the triennial National Lectures by Sir Arthur Eddington, Sir J.J. Thomson, Sir Walter Morley Fletcher, and Sir William Bragg. Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, who gives the tenth National Lecture tonight, is a worthy successor to this eminent quartet. He possesses that unusual combination of qualities, great scientific genius, and a rare capacity for teaching. As well as being a pioneer in a very recent and difficult branch of science-he is the first Cambridge professor of biochemistry-he is one of the most popular dogs in the Cavendish Laboratory, where he devotes much of his valuable time to his research students. It was his pioneer work which called general attention to the importance of certain ' unknown quantities' in many natural foods which had until then eluded scientific analysis. Sir Frederick Hopkins' famous experiments of a quarter of a century ago showed that on a chemically pure or synthetic diet, however closely it resembled a natural diet, rats could not support life: but that, if a little milk was added, they thrived. The only plausible conclusion was that the milk contained some substance necessary to life, which could not be constructed chemically. It is this and similar substances which, under the name of vitamins, have revolutionized ideas about food. Listeners should not miss this opportunity of hearing an authoritative account of a little-known subject from its leading expert.
The third National Lecture of the year is to be given on Friday, March 18, by Professor George S. Gordon, LL.D., President of Magdalen College, Oxford. His subject will be, 'The Art and Ethics of Modern Biography.'

Boccherini, in his own day in the very front rank of violoncello players, was also a composer of immense industry. It used to be said of him that he was a fountain of which it was only necessary to turn on the tap to produce a stream of music.
He left no fewer than 467 instrumental works, including twenty symphonies, all of them marked by simple, natural melodiousness, and by a dignified and courtly style. He and Haydn had great mutual regard, and their music has a good deal in common.
The Symphony in C is in the usual four movements. The first begins with two little introductory phrases, and then we hear the first main tune, a bustling, merry figure. The second tune, making its appearance very soon, is of dainty and lighthearted character.
The slow movement, called Andante amoroso, is very short...' It also has two tunes, flutes and strings beginning the first, and the violins introducing the second.
The Minuet and Trio, vigorous and delicate by turns, are on a rather more elaborate scale than in most of these old symphonies, but the last movement, hurrying along at great speed, is so short as to be over almost before one has realized that it is beginning.