Good Friday
Special Readings and Prayers
Hymns, A. and M., 315, Once, only once, and once for all. A. and M.,
332, There is a green hill far away

or ' St George 's Annual Play
As performed until recent years on Good Friday at Midgley, near Halifax, and revived in 1932 as a direct result of a studio broadcast in Leeds
Characters :
Performed and relayed from the main street of the village of Midgley, where the village folk are assembled for the festivities
(North Regional Programme)
CUT OF THE SACRIFICE and ritual of primitive times evolved mock sacrifice, born of the. instinct of play in the human race. At hohday time folk festivals were performed, and in medieval days the sword dance sprang up all over Britain. The dancers were young men who often blacked their faces, and invariably ' killed each other a ' doctor' coming along and bringing the ' dead ' to life.
From the sword dance evolved the Mummers' play, in which mock sacrifice again was the principal motif.
The hero was generally St. George, or Sir George, or Prince George, and his opponents were various. Sometimes the devil had to be slain and he was little Devil Doubt, Little Jack , or (as in this play) Old Tosspot , with his rag dolls.
The great point of interest is that these Mummers' plays have survived —the text and the characters vary with the district. The dragon hard y ever appears, but St. George usually refers to his exploit.
The ' Pace-eggers ' or ' Pasque-eggers ' nlav as its name suggests, is appropriate to Easter. The villagers, moving from place to place, perform and collect the offerings; the players being known as mummers, or guisers, owing to their disguise, and in Cornwall, geese-dancers. The Pace Egg has been performed at Midgley, Yorkshire, for over a hundred years.

Leader, Frank Thomas
(West Regional Programme)

The Halte Orchestra, conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty : Trumpet Voluntary (Purcell)
Paul Robeson (bass) : Steal away
(arr. L. Brown ) ; Pilgrim's Song; Roll the Chariot along ; Were you there ? ; Weeping Mary ; I want to be ready (arr. Burleigh)
The Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conductor, Leopold Stokowksi : I call upon Thee, Jesus ; Prelude in E flat minor (Bach)
Association des Concerts Poulet
Orchestra : The Redemption (Morceau Symphonique) (Cesar Franck )

THE AUGMENTED NORTHERN
STUDIO ORCHESTRA
(Leader, JOHN BRIDGE)
Conducted by T. H. MORRISON
Good Friday Music (Parsifal) Forest Murmurs (Siegfried) Siegfried Idyll
Siegfried's Journey to the Rhine (The
Dusk of the Gods)
Funeral March (The Dusk of the Gods)
(North Regional Programme)

Directed by JOSEPH MUSCANT

(Leader, ALFRED CAVE)
Conducted by LESLIE HEWARD
VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON
(pianoforte)
ORCHESTRA
Antiche Danze ed Arie (Old Italian
Dances and Airs)..... arr.
Respighi I. Balletto , II Conte Orlando (Ballet Count Orlando); 2. Gagliarda (Galliard); 3. Villanella (Villanelle); 4. Passo mezzo i mascherada (Masquerade)
THE MOVEMENTS of this Suite are arrangements for a modern orchestra of old Italian dances and dance-tunes. Respighi has proved himself a crafts-man of great skill and fine taste in producing acceptable suites of this nature. Listeners will recall another series of antique dances, taken from the older lute composers. and arranged for a modern string orchestra, which was introduced into a recent programme ; if many listeners did not hear that suite they must certainly have heard the famous arrangement of Rossini's music which forms ' La Boutique Fantasque '. This music was originally put together to form one of the most successful of the Ballet Russe productions under Diaghileff; it has survived the stage and will delight listeners many years to come. VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON
AND ORCHESTRA
OF SCHUMANN'S works in the larger forms, far the finest are those produced from 1841 to 1845. Towards the end of 1840, he and Clara Wieck were happily married, after long suspense and many difficulties, in the course of which Schumann had actually to go to law with his prospective bride's father. His warm-hearted admiration for his wife's gifts as a pianist, her devotion to the works which he wrote for her to play, acted and reacted on each other with the happiest results for the whole world of music.
The first movement of this Concerto, composed in 1841, was intended at first to stand alone as a Fantasy. Four years later the other two movements were added to complete the Concerto as we know it now.
THE ITALIAN SERENADE is, with the exception of a very early quartet for strings, the only chamber music work written by Hugo Wolf , who was pre-eminently a song-writer. The Serenade exists for small orchestra. It was first performed as a quartet in Vienna in 1904, the year following Wolf's death, and quickly became popular with chamber music players.
THE VARIATION form has always been a popular one with composers, and some of the finest compositions of the great masters have been constructed from a theme and attendant variations. The form was a favourite as far back as Tudor times and several examples have come down to us from Byrd and others. But it is upon a few outstanding modern examples that our interest centres today, and it is only necessary to mention Elgar's ' Enigma ' Variations, Dvorak's ' Symphonic Variations ' , the last movement of Tchaikovsky's 3rd Suite, and this superb work of Brahms, to realise that the form is still as vigorously 'and beautifully alive as it has ever been. This magnificent set of Variations was, with the exception of two early Serenades, the first one that Brahms wrote for orchestra. He took the theme from a Divertimento in B flat by Haydn, who called it Choral St. Antonii, a melody which may have been of folk-song origin. The work consists of the theme, eight Variations, and a lengthy, imposing Finale.
(From Birmingham)

Relayed from St. Sepulchre's, Holborn
Order of Service:
Hymn, There is a green hill far away (A. and M., 332, E.H., 106)
An Exhortation
A Litany, Music from Variae Preces (Solesmnes) (Translation by C. S. Phillips) (by permission of the Proprietors of A Plainsong Hymn Book)
Refrain, Hearken, O Lord, Have mercy upon us, for we have sinned against Thee
Scripture Reading: The Two Trials, St. Matthew xxvii, vv. 11-31
Anthem (Music by King John of Portugal) (Circa 1560)
'Faithful Cross ! above all other,
One and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be.
Sweetest weight is hung on thee!'
Venantius Fortunatus, 600
Scripture Reading: The Crucifixion,
St. Matthew xxvii, vv. 32-44
Hymn, O Sacred Head surrounded (A and M., 111)
Scripture Reading: The Death, St. Matthew xxvii, vv. 45-56
Tenor Solo, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow (Handel's Messiah)
Scripture Reading: The Burial, St. Matthew xxvii, vv. 57-66 ,
Anthem, O Lamb of God (Music by Stanford);
A few moments' silence
Anthem (Music by J. Goss), O Saviour of the world, Who by Thy Cross and precious Blood hast redeemed us, Save us, and help us, we humbly beseech Thee, O Lord. Amen. (From the Book of Common Prayer)
Address by The Very Rev. The Dean of Winchester
Hymn, When I survey the wondrous Cross (A. and M., 108, E.H., 107)
Blessing

(According to St. John)
BACH
Relayed from The Queen's Hall, London (Sole Lessees, Messrs. Cliappell and Co., Ltd.)
ELSIE SUDDABY (solo soprano) ASTRA DESMOND (solo contralto)
ERIC GREENE (Evangelist and solo tenor)
ARTHUR CRANMER (solo bass) STUART ROBERTSON (Jesus)
ROY HENDERSON (Peter and Pilate)
MARGARET GODLEY (maid)
JAMES TOPPING (officer and servant)
THE PHILHARMONIC CHOIR
THE B.B.C. SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
(Leader, ARTHUR CATTERALL)
Conducted by Sir HENRY WOOD
PART I
(An article on the music is on page 885, and the English text on pages 948 and 949)

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by Felix Aylmer
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