by AMY SAMUEL (soprano)
Amy Samuel was one of the first Scottish artists to appear before a microphone. That was in the days before the existence of the B.B.C., when the artist held the microphone in her hand and held it away or near, according to the effect she desired to make. These were also the days when an artist was told after each item whether she had sung well or not.
* In a boat which floats idly down the Nile by starlight, two lovers dream of the mystery of the Sphinx, looking down on them from afar. It is the maid who sings, her golden locks unbound and spread over her lover's knee ; she is aware of a subtle harmony from the desert which falls lovingly upon him and her. t Wagner wrote very few songs; here are two of the five which he composed for voice and orchestra. ' Traume' is a study for the love song from Tristan and holda, and by those who know Tristan it will be instantly recognised.
‡ This is Katherine's aria from the opera version of Shakespeare's play which Goetz so successfully set to music. Katherine has come to the point where she can fight no more and must surrender.