Major A. H. C. Waters, V.C. (Vice-President, Birmingham Battalion, the Boys' Brigade)

(Picture on page 473.)

A feature programme comprising sections of three items, each in its own way being considered ' famous ' I. POPULAR ITEMS
NEAR the end of Act II of Faust a band of gay students, girls and musicians comes on, and dancing begins to the measure of a song :—
Light as air at early morning
Our feet they'll fly over the ground To the music's merry sound.
For the flute and gayer viol Are today in cheerful trial,
How to make the dance go round. CORA ASTLE (Pianoforte) Rondo Capriecioso Mendelssohn II. IRISH SONGS
MOZART was one of the rare people who, when they have to work at lightning speed, can produce first-class results. He wrote the whole of the Opera The Marriage of Figaro in six weeks, and only finished the Overture a day or so before the work was produced, a hundred-and-forty-one years ago.
He probably felt that an elaborate Overture was not suitable to so light and sparkling a comedy, so he omitted the usual ' development ' of the chief tunes, and made just a short, spirited piece. It is not actually connected with the Opera ; that is, its themes are not taken from leading Airs in the work.