A comic opera in one act by Louis Gallet
English version by Geoffrey Dunn
Music by Saint-Saens
BBC Midland Chorus
(female voices)
BBC Midland Orchestra
(Leader, James Hutcheon)
conducted by Leo Wurmser
Produced by Geoffrey Dunn
The action takes place in a studio in the house of Lena's parents in Holland.
(first broadcast in this country)
Another performance: Monday at 9.0
It was with The Yellow Princess that Saint-Saens, in his thirty-eighth year, made his debut as an operatic composer. It was performed at the Opera Comique, Paris, on June 12, 1872, some three weeks after Bizet's opera Djamileh. Neither piece was successful, the latter running for eleven nights, the former for only five; in each case the composers were blamed for harmonic audacity - a charge which today seems hard to understand. The story of "The Yellow Princess" reflects the then prevailing European craze for things Japanese. It concerns a young Dutch scientist who becomes infatuated with a Japanese statuette and who, under the influence of a drug, imagines himself transported to Japan. He awakes from his narcotic dreams to find by his side his cousin, who loves him.
(Julian Budden)

A new play for radio by Padraic Fallon
Produced by Martyn C. Webster
Other parts played by members of the BBC Drama Repertory Company and by members of the cast
Irish folk tunes played by Hugh Bean (violin)

Szymon Goldberg (violin) Adela Kotowska (piano)

Second of two talks by Simon Biesheuvel Ph.D , .
Director of the South African National Institute for Personnel Research
Dr. Biesheuvel considers the scientific evidence for the belief that there are no intellectual differences between ethnic groups. He examines in particular the research which he and other psychologists have conducted on African intelligence and aptitudes.

The Francis Chagrin Ensemble
Director, Francis Chagrin

Talk by Raymond Greene
Kenneth Mason 's history of Himalayan exploration and mountaineering Abode of Snow is reviewed by Raymond Greene , who was a member of the 1933 Everest Expedition and Vice-President of the Alpine Club in 1948 and 1949.