Leader, Alfred Barker
Conductor, T. H. Morrison
Overture, Academic Festival Brahms
Brahms in 1880 was made Director of Philosophy at the University of Breslau. It was necessary that he should submit a thesis in the form of a composition. As Sir Henry Hadow has said: A ceremonial of so solemn and academic a character, naturally demanded an unusual display of' learning. Symphonies were too trivial, oratorios were too slight, even an eight-part a cappella chorus in octuple counterpoint was hardly adequate to the dignity of the occasion. Something must be done to mark the doctorate with all the awe and reverence due to the Philosophic Chair. So Brahms selected
- a handful of the more convivial student-songs and worked. them into a concert overture which remains one of the most amusing pieces of pure comedy in the whole range of music'
The songs Brahms used in this overture are three known as ' The Father of his Country ', the ' Fresh-man's Song', and ' Gaudeamus igitur '.
Mozart's Symphony in E flat is scored for an orchestra consisting of strings, one flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, and timpani. Although composed about three years before his tragic death and at a time when poverty and ill-health were doing their best to crush his spirit, there is no reflection in the E flat Symphony of his mental tribulation. The music is as happy and gay as anything could be, and if it reflected anything at all, it was the youthful and optimistic side of the composer's nature.

A Mother in a family of four, living on £170 a year explains how much more she would like to make her satisfied with life. This, the third of the series, is taken from Lincolnshire