THE ALFRED BARKER STRING QUARTET :
ALFRED BARKER (1st Violin), LEON OGDEN (2nd Violin), RUSSELL BROWN (Viola), CARL FUCHS ('Cello)

This is one of the first Quartets Beethoven wrote (not actually the first; though called 'No. 1,' it is really his second).
These early Quartets (written when he was about thirty) are mostly happy and clear, and easy to follow. They remind us pretty frequently of Mozart, whom Beethoven almost idolized, but he never merely copied his great forerunner's style. There is always, even in his first pieces, a powerful, original individuality at work, moulding the old forms of music afresh, or filling them with new ideas and unexpected treatments.
The Quartet we are to hear is in four Movements.
The First is crisp and gay. Of the Second, Beethoven once remarked that it was inspired by the sad ending of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
The Third Movement is a brilliant interlude containing some charming bits of repartee for the four performers, and the Finale is a sportive Rondo, giving us a vivid impression of the composer's ardour and vital freshness of fancy.

From the Studio
Bethlehem and After
The CHOIR of ST. SEBASTIAN'S PRIORY, PENDLE-
TON. Choirmaster, W. J. WOOD
Hymn, ' Adesto Fideles '
Lesson : Isaiah, chapter vii, verses 10-15
Hymn, Arigels we have heard oh high ' (Westminster Hymnal, No. 7)
; Reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter i, versos 26-45
Address by the Rev. T. LEO PARKER
Hymn, ' Jesu, the very thought of Thee ' (Westminster Hymnal, No. 9)
Anthem, ' 0 Sacrum Convivium '
Sacred Music by the STATION QUARTET

THE AUGMENTED STATION ORCHESTRA, conducted by T. H. MORRISON
' rpHE Governor of Boston has fallen in love with the wife of his friend and secretary,
Renato, who swears to be revenged.
In this air he expresses, first, his anger, and then his grief, as ho thinks of the happiness that his false friend has destroyed.
THE weird legend of tho first Saint-Saens piece is familiar to most listeners. The version used is that of a poem by Henri Cazalis. The composer gives us a vivid representation of Death fiddling for the midnight capers of skeletons. Their bones knock together, as the Xylophone tells us. The dance goes on until cock-crow disperses tho ghostly crew.
THE other piece follows the story of the dashing youth Pbacton, who, having been permitted by his father, the Sun, to drive the fiery chariot, loses control of the horses. The car of flame is approaching the earth, and must set it on fire if nothing can intervene. At' the last instant Jupiter hurls a thunderbolt, saving the universe, but destroying the rash youth.