From Birmingham
THE Birmingham
MILITARY BAND
Conducted by W. A. CLARKE

' How we found the Goblet,' by MARGARET DANGERFIELD. Songs by HAROLD CASEY (Baritone). NORRIS STANLEY (Violin)

Personally conducted by JACK PAYNE
BETTY FIELDS (Comedienne)
NANNY RANDALL (Songs with Ukelele)

Relayed from the Queen's Hall
Sir HENRY WOOD
And his SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MAY HUXLEY (Soprano) JOHN TURNER (Tenor)
KATHARINE GOODSON (Pianoforte)
WAGNER regarded the legend of Lohengrin. the Knight of the Holy Grail, who comes to champion the wrongfully -accused maiden, Elsa, as symbolical of universal spiritual truths.
The Prelude to Act III of the Opera gives the atmosphere of festivity and thanksgiving which follows the marriage of Lohengrin with Elsa.
POOR Tchaikovsky had a crushing disappointment over tliis work. He wrote it especially for Nicholas Rubinstein (brother of the more famous
Anton Rubinstein , and also a very great player). Then, on Christmas Eve, 1874, he played it to the great man, who was very bitter about it, pronouncing it ' worthless' and 'absolutely unplayable.'
Tchaikovsky removed from the score his dedication to Rubinstein, who afterwards repented, and played the Concerto in public ; and Tchaikovsky repented and re-wrote it very considerably. So all ended well.
There are three Movements. The First, which is vigorous, has as its opening Tune (after the Introduction) one that the composer heard sung by blind beggars at a fair.
The Second Movement is short and graceful, and contains a tune taken from a gay little French song.
The Last Movement is made out of three chief tunes, all suggesting Russian dances.
THE Symphony, which appeared in 1922, and is dedicated to John Ireland, is scored for a large orchestra, including four Flutes, three Clarinets, and Bass Clarinet, and the Heekelphone (a baritone oboe), and Sarrusophone (a deep bass instrument played with a double reed).
Throughout the work there is a feeling of conflict, or of impressions that follow upon battle. The first Movement is marked ' Fairly quick ; fierce.' Here is a spirit sinister, tense and menacing. The second is a solemn lament, with also its dramatic moments. The last Movement is quick and bold, and dignified at the start (when we hear a version of the first theme of the Symphony), with a bizarre effect later, when a syncopated tune is stung out on Violas, Cor Anglais, and Trumpet, and a gorgeous climax of triumph at the end.

(Continued) This popular piece is a musician's interpretation of one view of life - Lamartine's, in the poem in which he asks 'What is life but a series of preludes to the song that death begins?'
There is the Prelude of Love, and the tempests that break in upon its joy. There is another Prelude in which the unhappy lover seeks balm in quiet retirement from the world; but when the trumpet peals he rushes to the fight, finding his real strength in battle.
These ideas give Liszt scope for picturesque, vivid music, in the Symphonic Poem we are to hear.