Directed by JOSEPH MUSCANT
From THE COMMODORE THEATRE, HAMMER-
SMITH
A LTHOUGH the United States claimed him as a citizen, Victor Herbert was an Irishman by descent, a grandson of the Irish author and composer, Samuel Lover. Herbert spent most of his life in New York and was principal violoncellist in more than one of the great American orchestras: His first compositions were for his own instrument, and many of these are still counted as welcome additions to the 'cellist's rather scanty repertoire. For some years he was a Military Bandmaster, and then went to Pittsburg to conduct the Symphony Orchestra there; but in 1904, in his forty-fifth year, he resigned his post to give himself up to composition, mainly of light operas and operettas. He produced in all no fewer than thirty-five of these, as well as grand operas and important cantatas. His music is all melodious and graceful, with no suggestion that he ever had to strive for. effects or to search for ideas. Mainly of the light and immediately pleasing order-what the Germans would call ' music of entertainment '-Herbert's is still rightly esteemed by all whose task it is to compile popular and melodious programmes.

TREVOR WATKINS (Tenor)

At THE ORGAN of THE REGAL, MARBLE ARCH

Col. F. R. DURHAM, C.B.E., M.C.
(Arranged after consultation with the Royal Horticultural Society)

Mr. H.S. Ede
Most of us laugh at the Victorians for their musty, overcrowded rooms, cluttered up with plush and knickknacks. Are our rooms nowadays much better? asks Mr. Ede. Certainly, whoever finds his rooms dreary or oppressive has probably never considered the question of space. There are few rooms that would not be improved if their owners cleared them and looked at them as empty spaces, then refurnished them only with the absolute essentials. Mr. Ede describes this process, and gives advice on such things as decoration and window-curtains, which have a marked effect on brightness and cheerfulness. This talk is not out of place in the 'Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise' series, for the beauty and pleasantness of one's surroundings have a considerable effect on one's state of health. Mr. Ede, who is Curator of the Tate Gallery, is well known for his recent book, 'Savage Messiah,' a fascinating biography of the strange sculptor, Henri Gaudier, founded on his letters to Sophy Breszka.

WEATHER FORECAST, SECOND GENERAL
NEWS BULLETIN

THE B.B.C. LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Conducted by VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON -
THE hero of this symphonic poem, by Glazounov, who gives the piece its name, was a fierce marauder. Ho was a terror, with his cruel horde, over a wide area of the Volga, where his own 3hip sailed in more than regalsplendour.
The sails were silk, the oars of gold, and in a pavilion on the deck there rested, surrounded by every mark of .opulence, the Princess Persane, Stenka's captive and mistress. One day she told his comrades of a dream, in which Stenka had been shot, and all his band put to death, while she herself perished in the waves of the Volga. Her dream came true. Stenka was surrounded by the soldiers of the Czar, and death or surrender were the only alternatives. Calling his men round him; he said to them: ' Never, through all the thirty years of my career, have I offered a gift to the Volga. Today I give it what is for me the most precious of all the treasures of the earth ' ; and with these words he hurled the princess into the stream. His warriors raised a song in his glory and then all flung themselves upon the ring of bayonets. With that description in mind, the music unfolds with vivid picturesqueness. It is a subject such as Glazounov can illustrate admirably, with his command of picturesque orchestral colouring.

AMBROSE and his ORCHESTRA, from THE
MAY FAIR HOTEL