Some Descriptive Notes

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 29, 1 February 1929, Page 15

Some Descriptive Notes

A PATHETIC story underlies the Irish song "She is Far from the Land," which is to be sung at 2YA on Monday evening by Mr. S. BH. Rodger. This song is founded on fact. The heroine of the ballad was in love with the great Irish patriot, Robert Emmett, and she never recovered from the shock of his untimely end. She married an officer of the British Army, and although he was very much in love with her and treated her with the utmost consideration and kindness she gradually pined away. Her husband, thinking that a trip abroad might prove beneficial, took her to Italy with him, but it was of no ayail, for she died a year or two later "far from the land" she loved so wellIreland. OTICING on the programme that the "Blue Danube" waltz is to be played next week at 1YA reminds us that in the days of our parents’ youth Strauss had a magic name, whether it were that of the Johann who saw Queen Victoria come to the throne or his more famous son Johann (1825-1899), who composed "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" and over four hundred other dances. Johann the younger eclipsed his father and became the most popular musician in Vienna in the middle of last century.