The Mandolin is often used in Spanish music. In particular, the onstage mandolin band (known as the Rondalla) often plays a part in the orchestral texture of zarzuela. Rondallas also included lutes, vihuelas and the like, depending on what was available. The inimitable rondalla sound is as potent a seasoning to the Spanish opera repertoire as the 'banda' to the Italian, and a far more subtle one at that! Anybody fond of the mandolin sound should check out Act 1 of Vives's masterpiece "Dona Francisquita" (seen at Washington Opera last year) for a classic use of rondalla. There is an unusual and lovely in-pit use of the mandolin band in the heroine's Act 2 romanza from Sorozabal's "Katiuska", where the instruments imitate Balalaikas to evoke the warm Ukrainian spring night. Turina's famous "La oracion del torero" started life as a work for rondalla, and though it is more often heard in its later orchestral guise the original has a haunting beauty all its own. Christopher Webber, Blackheath, London, UK. http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm "ZARZUELA!"