Chapter VI: The Modern Cantata

Wagner: ‘The Love Feast of the Apostles’; Liszt: ‘The Bells
of Strassburg,’ ‘Prometheus’--Brahms: ‘Song of Triumph,’
‘Song of Destiny’--Max Bruch; ‘Frithjof,’ ‘Fair Ellen,’ ‘The
Cross of Fire,’ ‘The Lay of the Bell,’ etc.--Rheinberger;
Dvořák; Hofmann; Goetz--Grieg; Gounod; Sullivan: ‘The Golden
Legend’; Barnby; Gaul; Stainer; Cowen--Parry; Mackenzie;
Stanford--Elgar: ‘King Olaf’; ‘Caractacus’; ‘The Black
Knight’--Coleridge-Taylor: ‘Hiawatha’ cycle--Dudley Buck:
‘The Golden Legend’; ‘The Light of Asia’; Horatio Parker and
other cantata writers in the United States.

Teutonic genius was supreme in the field of cantata-writing until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when there appeared numerous and worthy rivals. While the Germans have consistently retained their love for this form and have maintained a numerical lead in actual production, England, France, Scandinavia, and America have produced choral works that challenge comparison with the best German standards, and in some instances have struck out original lines of development that mark points of notable departure from the older models. The period covered by this chapter includes the works produced in the last quarter, or at most the last third, of the nineteenth century, with some flexibility at either boundary.

I

The most notable exception to the above chronological grouping is Richard Wagner (1813-1883), who belongs to the preceding chapter as far as dates are concerned. But so many of the prominent composers here considered were so strongly influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by the Bayreuth master’s art-methods and followed them in such a direct line of succession, that this seems the more fitting place to mention his brief connection with this field of musical literature.

‘The Love Feast of the Apostles’ (_Das Liebesmahl der Apostel_) was Wagner’s one and only cantata. It was written in 1843, the same year as Schumann’s ‘Paradise and Peri’ and three years before Berlioz completed his ‘Damnation of Faust.’ Wagner had already written ‘The Flying Dutchman’ and ‘Rienzi’ had been performed in Dresden the summer preceding the composition of this cantata. The thirty-year-old composer put into this work much of the dramatic power already hinted at in ‘The Flying Dutchman’ and displayed with such overwhelming power in his later works. It was written for a great _Männersängerfest_ held in Dresden in July, 1843, and was first performed under his own direction on the 6th of the month in the _Frauenkirche_, the orchestra and chorus numbering one thousand performers. The subject of this Scriptural Scene was suggested by the fourth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and Wagner wrote his own words, as he did in all of his dramatic works.

The opening chorus represents the disciples, drawn together by persecution, offering consolation to one another. After a few quiet measures of greeting the voices divide into three choruses, when the movement accelerates and leads to a powerful climax, ending pianissimo. The apostles (twelve bass voices) then enter with a hearty greeting, while the disciples sing softly _Wir sind versammelt im Namen Jesu Christi_ (‘We are assembled in the name of Jesus Christ’), after which the united chorus swells forth in a majestic passage, invoking the blessing of the Holy Spirit, beginning with the words _Allmächt’ger Vater, der du hast gemacht Himmel und Erd’ und Alles was darin_ (‘Almighty Father, Thou that did’st create Heaven and the Earth and all that in them is’). Voices from above (as in the last act of ‘Parsifal’) are then heard singing _Seid getrost, ich bin euch nah_ (‘Peace be yours, I am at hand’). To this the disciples respond with renewed vigor, while the apostles counsel unswerving consecration to God. The work closes with a mighty chorale, _Denn ihm ist alle Herrlichkeit von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit_ (‘To Him all praise and glory be forever and forever’), its dramatic effect being greatly heightened by the rich orchestral accompaniment. The orchestra has remained silent until the final number.

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was an artist of amazing versatility and tremendous creative energy. Greatest as a virtuoso and a composer of instrumental music of striking originality and picturesque romanticism, he yet wrote liberally in various choral forms. In addition to notable church works, large and small, and three oratorios, Liszt wrote several cantatas and shorter choral works--‘The Bells of Strassburg,’ ‘St. Cecilia’ (for mezzo-soprano, chorus, and orchestra), _An die Künstler_ (for solos, male chorus, and orchestra), _Zur Säcular-Feier Beethoven’s_ (for solos, chorus, and orchestra), _Festalbum_ for Goethe’s centenary (1849), ‘Prometheus,’ Psalm 13 (for tenor solo, chorus, and orchestra), Psalm 18 (for male chorus, orchestra, and organ), Psalm 23 (for tenor or soprano solo with harp and organ), Psalm 137 (for solo and female chorus with violin, harp, piano, and organ), and a large number of male choruses.

‘The Bells of Strassburg.’--Liszt composed this work (_Die Glocken des Strassburger Münsters_) in 1874 and dedicated it to Longfellow. The text is a mere fragment from this poet’s ‘Christus’--the prologue to ‘The Golden Legend’--and deals with the futile effort of the prince of darkness and his legions, during a furious night tern nest, to cast down the cross surmounting the cathedral tower. The work is written for baritone solo (Lucifer), mixed chorus, and orchestra. It opens with a short prelude entitled ‘Excelsior,’ consisting of this word sung several times by the chorus with ever-increasing power, ending fortissimo. The main movement, called ‘The Bells,’ begins with a ponderous introduction by the bells, trumpets, and horns, after which Lucifer hurls forth his first command, exhorting his band of spirits to tear down the cross. The chorus of spirits (sopranos, altos, and tenors) replies to this (‘Oh, we cannot, for around it’) and then the tenors and basses, representing the bells, sing a Latin chant. These voices continue in the same order, Lucifer’s exhortation and the cry of helplessness from the evil spirits becoming more and more vehement as the chant of the bells ever replies in tones of calm trust in the protecting power. Lucifer’s fourth and last appeal is given with the full strength of voice and orchestra. In the reply of the chorus the female voices unite, producing a fine effect with the first and second tenors. At length Satan, defeated, gives the order to retreat, and the work closes with the Gregorian chant,

_Nocte surgentes
Vigilemus omnes!
Laudemus Deum verum_,

given by the combined chorus, organ, and orchestra.

_Prometheus._--This cantata, founded on Herder’s poem of the same name, was composed by Liszt in 1850. He utilizes several of Herder’s prologues, which describe the situations in words and serve to introduce the various choral numbers. The first prologue depicts Prometheus, the Titan, bound to a stake and about to suffer torture for having stolen fire from heaven. This leads to a chorus of sea-nymphs (female voices), expressing sorrow and fear. The second prologue describes the anger of Oceanus at the children of earth for disturbing his waters and gives Prometheus’ reply. This is followed by a spirited mixed chorus of Tritons and a lovely melodious chorus of Oceanides for female voices, closing with a full double chorus, ‘Holy and grand and free is the gift of Heaven.’ The third prologue introduces the goddess Gæa with her train of wood-nymphs, loudly weeping. The chorus of Dryads follows, in the midst of which occurs a very dramatic alto solo, ‘Deserted stand the Gods’ sacred altars in the old forest.’ In the dialogue following Gæa upbraids Prometheus, who stoutly defends himself. The number closes with a mixed chorus of gleaners, which is full of graceful melody. In the next prologue Bacchus builds an arbor to soften the Titan’s suffering and a male chorus of vine-dressers follows. At length an _Allegro moderato_ for orchestra introduces Hercules, who with an arrow kills the vulture which is about to devour Prometheus and frees him, bidding him ‘Go hence unto thy mother’s throne.’ This leads to a stately male chorus, ‘All human foresight wanders in deepest night.’ The last prologue pictures the pardon of Prometheus at the throne of Themis, and the work closes with a chorus of the Muses.

II

The genius of Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) touched many fields and he was great in every field that he entered--orchestral, pianoforte, chamber, song and choral. Several of his choral works, notably the _Deutsches Requiem_, the _Schicksalslied_ and the _Triumphlied_, are among the great things of choral literature and enjoy undisputed popularity. Even those that are modest in dimensions are equally serious with the larger ones in conception and in treatment and spring from the deep places of the composer’s soul. In all of them, as in his symphonies, he reached a point of sublimity that had seldom been touched, if at all, since Beethoven. All of his published compositions between his opus 40 and opus 60, with two exceptions, were vocal works, songs or choral. The ‘Requiem’ was opus 45 and his period of greatest activity as a writer of choral works followed soon after. Of these only ‘Rinaldo,’ the first one written after the ‘Requiem,’ can really be called a cantata; the others partake more of the character of the ode or the choral ballad. They are _Rhapsodie_, founded on fragments from Goethe’s _Harzreise_ for alto solo, male chorus and orchestra; _Schicksalslied_ (‘Song of Destiny’) for chorus and orchestra; _Triumphlied_ (‘Song of Triumph’) for eight-part chorus and orchestra; _Naenie_ for chorus and orchestra and _Gesang der Parzen_ (‘Song of the Fates’) for six-part chorus and orchestra, the last two of which were later compositions in the form of short choral ballads like the _Schicksalslied_. He wrote liberally in forms approximating the part-song. In many of the early _Marienlieder_, male choruses and mixed choruses, he adopts the form of the simple harmonized melody, while in others, as the two motets, opus 29, he is the direct descendant of Bach, the contrapuntist. In some of his little known _a cappella_ choruses, as the lovely _Vineta_ from his opus 42 and two from his opus 104, he produces strange and wonderful effects through a masterly handling of harmonic changes and melodic interweavings.

‘Song of Triumph.’--Brahms wrote his _Triumphlied_ in 1871 to commemorate the German victories and the consequent establishment of the German empire, and he dedicated it to Wilhelm I. Its first performance was at Vienna in 1872; a repetition occurred at Cologne in 1873 at the fifty-first Festival of the Lower Rhine. The text was adapted by the composer from the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. The work, consisting of three movements, was written for double chorus, orchestra and organ, together with two short baritone solos. A lively yet solemn prelude introduces the first number, at the close of which both choirs enter with the words ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!’ The principal theme of this movement is founded on an old German song, _Heil dir im Siegerkranz_. This part closes with a tremendous contrapuntal climax of Handelian proportions. The second part, like the first, has its prelude, followed by a short fugue, after which a new melody is introduced and sung antiphonally by the two choirs. The strongest climax occurs in the third movement. After a brief orchestral introduction a baritone solo is heard, ‘And behold then the heavens opened wide,’ to which the choruses reply, ‘And yonder a snow-white horse.’ Then the baritone sings, ‘And lo! a great name hath He written,’ following which the choruses utter the stately phrase, ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords,’ sung antiphonally with ever-increasing fervor and ending with the full power of voices, organ and orchestra, the stately effect of which is beyond description.

The _Schicksalslied_ (‘Song of Destiny’) for chorus and orchestra, with text by Hölderlin, is a noble and expressive work, which received its first performance Oct. 18, 1871, at a concert given by the Carlsruhe Philharmonic Society, the composer conducting. The two ideas of death and eternal life are placed in juxtaposition and although these dominant ideas are dramatically balanced against each other, the close dispels the clouds and lets in a flood of light. Indeed the composer seems to open heaven itself to his hearers and to usher them in. While the poet morbidly depicts the existence of immortals on the one hand and suffering humanity on the other, Brahms, by introducing an orchestral prelude of great beauty, injects a new idea, namely, that there is hope for man and that he is not to be ruthlessly chained to uncertainty or lured by the Unknown. After dramatically setting forth the two conflicting ideas, in the development of which Brahms closely follows the poet in the music, he returns once more to the beautiful music of the introduction, which brings the hearers safely back again into an atmosphere of peace and hope and solace. It is a striking example of the power of instrumental music to change the effect produced by the poetic text.

_Rinaldo._--This cantata is written for tenor solo and male chorus to a text by Goethe and its value lies in the beauty of the choruses and in the intimate solos, expressive of the love which has filled the heart of the hero Rinaldo for the enchantress Armida. The poetic text, however, is rather vague and leaves too much to the imagination of the hearer. Armida, the heroine, does not appear at all nor does the ‘diamond shield,’ to which is assigned such an important function in rousing the enamored Rinaldo from his shame, and the music is not sufficiently definite to supply the hearer with the missing links. Especially effective is the closing chorus, which depicts Rinaldo, freed from the wiles of the enchantress and safe with the crusaders on their homeward journey.

III

The mastery of Max Bruch (b. 1838) over concert choral forms has won him a foremost place among German choral writers of the nineteenth century and his works are known and valued wherever choral music is cultivated. He combines fluent, pleasing melody with rare skill in handling and grouping his orchestral and vocal forces. His choral writing is always broad, dignified, impressive and vocally grateful. The list of his choral works is quite imposing. His larger works comprise the two oratorios _Moses_, opus 67, and _Gustav Adolf_, opus 73, both late compositions, and three epic cantatas, a form to which he gave especial attention. These three, which are frequently classed as secular oratorios, are _Odysseus_, opus 41, _Arminius_, opus 43, and _Achilleus_, opus 50. In addition he has produced a number of shorter compositions in cantata and choral ballad form. They are, in the order of their composition, ‘Frithjof Scenes’ for solos, male chorus and orchestra; ‘Fair Ellen’ for solos, chorus and orchestra; ‘Salamis, a Triumph-song of the Greeks,’ poem by H. Lingg, for solos, male chorus and orchestra; ‘Frithjof at His Father’s Grave’ for baritone solo, female chorus and orchestra; _Normannenzug_ for baritone, male chorus and orchestra; _Römische Leichenfeier_, text by Lingg, for chorus and orchestra; ‘The Lay of the Bell’ (_Das Lied der Glocke_) for solos, chorus and orchestra; ‘The Cross of Fire’ (_Das Feuerkreuz_) for solos, chorus and orchestra; and ‘Leonidas’ for male chorus and orchestra. He has also written several very attractive short sacred choruses, among them the _Jubilate, Amen_, opus 3, for soprano, chorus and orchestra, and ‘The Flight of the Holy Family’ for chorus and orchestra.

_Frithjof_, for baritone and mezzo-soprano solo voices, male chorus and orchestra, is one of his finest productions and was his first work to achieve a signal success. It was written at Mannheim in 1863, when he was only twenty-five years old, and the extraordinary favor with which it was received caused this masterwork of the youthful composer to become the prototype of a numerous group of dramatic cantatas for male voices that followed in its wake. The text comprises six scenes taken from Bishop Tegner’s far-famed _Frithjofsaga_.

A lively orchestral introduction, entitled ‘Frithjof’s Return,’ leads to a beautiful baritone aria, ‘How bravely o’er the floods so bright,’ accompanied by an attractive chorus, ‘O ‘tis delight when the land afar appeareth.’ The second scene depicts Princess Ingeborg, whom Frithjof has come home to wed, being led to the altar by King Ring, the result of a plot by Ingeborg’s brothers against Frithjof. A brief wedding march is followed by the bridal chorus, ‘Sadly the skald walks before the train,’ and Ingeborg’s lament, ‘My heart with sorrow overflowing.’ The next scene, ‘Frithjof’s Revenge,’ intensely dramatic both in the vocal score and the rich instrumentation, opens with a chorus of priests, ‘Midnight sun on the mountain burns,’ in the midst of which is heard Frithjof’s cry, ‘Go to Hela’s dark abode,’ and after it his rugged aria, ‘Where my father rests.’ As he sings this, he fires the temple and flees to his ship, amid the dramatic and descriptive cries of the people and Frithjof’s followers, and the curses of the priests. This chorus is a work of great tonal beauty, portraying vividly the dramatic action of the text. The fourth number, entitled ‘Frithjof’s Departure from the Northland,’ opens with a male quartet of exceptional charm, followed by Frithjof’s powerful solo, ‘World’s grandest region, thou mighty North!’ In the fifth scene occurs ‘Ingeborg’s Lament,’ a sorrowful and pathetic heart-cry to her lost lover, ‘Storms wildly roar,’ after which comes the finale, a spirited chorus sung by Frithjof and his men as they sail away in the good ship ‘Ellida’ in quest of further adventures.

The story of Bruch’s ‘Fair Ellen’ is laid at Lucknow, British India, and the story is founded on an incident said to have occurred during the famous siege of this city in 1857, when a Scotch girl, fair Ellen, heard, above the din of battle, the shrill bagpipes of the Macgregors in the far distance, as the relief party approached, playing ‘The Campbells are Coming.’ Her inspired words of hope and encouragement stirred the despairing defenders to renewed resistance, beating off the besiegers until rescue was at hand. The cantata, the text of which is Emanuel Geibel’s ballad of the same name, was written in 1869. It is of modest dimensions, embracing solos for soprano and baritone, and five chorus numbers. The music, following Bruch’s style, is rich in instrumentation, while the choruses are full of fine melody. The Scotch tune, ‘The Campbells are Coming,’ is introduced many times in the orchestral score, and at the close the composer makes a fine climax by broadening out the joyous march-melody into a devout hymn of thanksgiving.

‘The Cross of Fire,’ a dramatic cantata founded on incidents in Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Lady of the Lake,’ was composed in 1888 and is one of the finest of Bruch’s later choral works. It was an ancient custom in the Highlands of Scotland, when one clan declared war on another, to call the clansmen to arms by means of a ‘cross of fire.’ After solemn consecration at the altar, this war-signal was carried with all possible speed from post to post by noble messengers and in its wake the men-at-arms assembled. Bruch’s librettist, Heinrich Bulthaupt, opens the cantata at the point in Scott’s familiar poem where Norman, a noble Highlander, is proudly leading his bride Mary, a noble maiden, to a near-by mountain chapel to celebrate the wedding ceremony. The wedding train approaches the church to the festal sounds of organ and a wedding anthem. As the ceremony is about to begin, Angus, a messenger, rushes in with the cross of fire and hurriedly hands it to Norman with the chieftain’s command to bear it to the nearest post. Norman bids a heart-broken farewell to his bride and hurries off followed by his warriors. Poet and composer now describe the feelings of Norman on his rapid journey, battling between duty and love. The rising of the clan in response to the war-signal is given vivid portrayal. Then follows the best-known number of the cantata, the beautiful _Ave Maria_, in which the despairing Mary expresses her emotions at being left alone. The stirring war-song, ‘Clan Alpin! Clan Alpin!’ in which Norman rouses his warriors to a high pitch of bravery, is an impressive number, and Bruch with fine effect uses an old Scotch battle-song. The final number is a masterly concerted piece. Mary and her maidens anxiously watch the ebb and flow of battle from a neighboring hill-top. The cry goes up that Norman has fallen, but shouts of victory are soon heard, the valiant Norman appears and rapturously throws himself in Mary’s arms, and joy and happiness reign. This number is massive, full of life, vigor, and effective contrast, and furnishes a brilliant climax to the whole work.

Schiller’s ‘Lay of the Bell’ has furnished inspiration to numerous composers. Romberg’s cantata has already been described and this called forth several rivals. Bruch’s is the most pretentious of them and approaches closely to the oratorio form. The poem loses in musical setting through its over-abundance of rapidly-passing scenes--there are twenty-seven numbers grouped into two parts--but the music abounds in moments of great beauty, especially in such choral numbers as the final one in the first part, ‘One blest assurance yet is granted,’ the funeral chorus in the second part (‘From the steeple, sad and slow’), the chorus, ‘Hallowed Order, child of Heaven,’ which is one of the most elaborate of the work, and the finale with preceding bass solo, ‘Heave it, brothers, heave it high!’ Near the close a charming trio for soprano, alto and tenor voices appears (‘Peace benignant, gentle Concord’) into the accompaniment of which Bruch has skilfully and effectively interwoven the melody of the familiar Christmas song, ‘Silent night, hallowed night!’

For each of his great epic cantatas Bruch chose a warrior hero--Frithjof the Viking, Arminius the German liberator, Odysseus and Achilles, the Greek chieftains. _Odysseus_ was first performed in Bremen in 1873. It was written to the poem of Wilhelm Paul Graff, which, like the ‘Frithjof,’ consists of a series of scenes or episodes. These are grouped into two parts, the first containing four scenes and the second six, drawn from the adventurous and picturesque life of the King of Ithaca. Arminius, equally epic in feeling and treatment, was written in 1875 to a poem by F. Cueppers. The scene is laid in Germany, the time being from 9 to 13 A. D. when Arminius (Latin for Hermann) laid the foundations of the political league of the Germanic tribes by uniting them for the time being against the common Roman foe and throwing off the Roman yoke. The work is in four parts--‘Introduction,’ ‘In the Sacred Forest,’ ‘The Insurrection,’ and ‘The Battle’--and closes with an inspiring patriotic hymn of stately proportions, ‘Germany’s sons shall be renowned.’ The part of Arminius (baritone) is particularly fine throughout. Both of these cantatas are equally popular and they were followed in 1885 by another on the same general lines, _Achilleus_, to the poem by H. Bulthaupt, the motives of which are drawn from Homer’s _Iliad_. This is in many respects a greater work than its predecessors; it is laid out on broader lines, the orchestral part seeks greater recognition and the composer frequently and with tremendous effect employs the double chorus in building up massive polyphonic climaxes.

IV

Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901) is a prolific composer who has contributed most liberally to choral literature. In this field and that of organ he is at his best. _Christophorus_, sometimes called an oratorio, was written in 1880 and is based on the mediæval legend of the giant who, notwithstanding his mighty strength, sought a master to serve who was most powerful on earth and who knew no fear. But he found that the mightiest earthly monarch feared Satan and that Satan shrank in terror before the Cross, so he gladly became the servant of the Lord of the Cross. The composer mingles sacred and secular elements in a masterly manner; portions of the work, particularly the closing numbers of the first part, belong to the richest and most beautiful choral writing of the last half of the nineteenth century. ‘The Star of Bethlehem,’ a Christmas cantata, possesses sustained beauty and is conceived in a lofty vein. _Das Thal des Espingo_, a choral ballad for male voices and orchestra (poem by Paul Heyse), is one of the finest examples of its kind. ‘Clarice of Eberstein,’ ‘Toggenburg,’ ‘Montfort,’ _Die Rosen von Hildesheim_ for male chorus and wind instruments, and _Wittekind_ are among the finest of his secular compositions.

Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) is the one representative Bohemian composer who has given serious attention to the larger choral forms. His greatest compositions in this field, however, were written, not for performance in his native land, but for the great English festivals--the _Stabat Mater_, composed in 1876 and performed March 10th, 1883, by the London Musical Society, the ‘Spectre’s Bride,’ written for the Birmingham Festival of 1885, ‘St. Ludmila’ (oratorio) for the Leeds Festival of 1886, and the Requiem Mass for the Birmingham Festival of 1891. England did valiant service in calling the world’s attention to Dvořák’s unique genius.

‘The Spectre’s Bride.’--This well-known cantata is founded upon an old legend, current among all Slavic nations, about a maiden, who, deserted by her lover and awaiting his return, was enticed away at midnight by a spectre, only to be led over hill and dale, amid grewsome horrors, to the graveyard. There she took refuge in a tiny house where she was beset by spectres, and the moonlight revealed, lying on a plank, a revivified corpse, which rose up and glared at her. Her fervent prayers to the Virgin finally ended the hideous spell. A cock crew, dawn came, and the girl wended her way home in the peaceful morning. When the work was performed at Birmingham it was received with great enthusiasm and, despite its horrible story, it is a masterpiece of dramatic narrative and descriptive realism.

The cantata consists of eighteen numbers. Eleven of these are allotted to the narrator (baritone), who, with the choral responses and supported by vividly descriptive instrumentation, gives a realistic portrayal of the frightful scenes. The weirdness of the music increases in intensity up to the entrance of the maiden in the house of the dead. In the seven remaining numbers other solo voices are heard. The lament of the maiden (soprano) for her lost lover and, at the close, her fervent appeal to the Virgin are fascinating in their beauty. There are also four duets sung by the bride and the spectre (tenor), together with one in which the chorus participates. As Hadow says in his ‘Studies in Modern Music’ (Vol. II, p. 206): ‘There is too much monotony of suffering; there is too much gloom and terror and pain; a tragedy so unrelieved comes near to overstraining the sympathy of the spectator.’ Yet the musical appeal, through the composer’s inexhaustible resources of rhythmic, harmonic and melodic effects, garbed in gorgeous orchestral colors, softens the horrors and lightens the prevailing darkness of the poem.

Heinrich Karl Johann Hofmann (1842-1902) had the good fortune to win public recognition in different fields in rapid succession. In three successive years his ‘Hungarian Suite’ for orchestra (1873), his ‘Frithjof’ symphony (1874), and his cantata ‘Melusina’ (1875) achieved such instant favor that he soon became one of the best-known of the contemporary German composers. While these successes were somewhat ephemeral and while he manifested a tendency to sacrifice individuality of expression to sensuous charm and formal beauty, the ‘Melusina’ deserves long life. He followed the lead of Schumann in choosing legends and fairy tales as subjects for his most successful cantatas. These are, in addition to the one just mentioned, _Aschenbrödel_ (‘Cinderella’), _Nornengesang_ (‘Song of the Norns’) for female chorus, and _Waldfräulein_.

The ‘Legend of the Fair Melusina’ was composed in 1875. Melusina, a fountain nymph, becomes betrothed to Count Raymond and marries him under the agreement that she may go her own way one day in every seven, without question or hindrance on his part. In these intervals she again becomes a mermaid and bathes with her nymphs in her native fountain. Later, urged by his mother Clotilda and his uncle Sintram, who are consumed with jealousy and curiosity, Raymond invades her privacy. Doomed by this violation of his compact to eternal separation, he embraces Melusina for the last time and dies in her arms. The weeping nymph returns to her former element. The music is not difficult and is replete with melody of captivating charm. The melodious prologue, the rollicking hunting song, the rapturous love-duet, the chorus of nymphs at the fountain with Melusina, the dramatic choral accusation of the people against Melusina, the final duet with choral accompaniment leading to the tragic dénouement--all these have contributed to make this one of the most musically effective of the more unpretentious cantatas.

Hermann Goetz (1840-1876) was cut off too early in his career to have given full expression to his undeniably great talent, yet he has left at least one choral work that demonstrated love for, and ability in, this form. In his setting of Schiller’s _Nänia_ (_Auch das Schöne muss sterben_) for chorus and orchestra, as well as the 137th Psalm (‘By the Waters of Babylon’) for soprano, chorus and orchestra, he reveals a close kinship to both Schumann and Brahms in his effective handling of voices and instruments.

V

Edvard Hagerup Grieg (1843-1907), the greatest of the Scandinavian composers, chose musical forms of modest mold and outline--such as his altogether charming songs and piano pieces--for many of his most fragrant and characteristic thoughts. He wrote only three choral pieces--all in the smaller forms, but all individual, brilliant and full of his peculiarly charming idiom. They are _Vor der Klosterpforte_ (‘At the Convent Door’) for solo, female voices and orchestra, the well-known and vigorous _Landerkennung_ (‘Land Discovery’) for male chorus and orchestra and the Scenes from Björnson’s unfinished drama, _Olaf Trygvasson_, for solos, chorus and orchestra. The last is the largest and most elaborate of the three and has for its subject-matter the efforts of Olaf, a descendant of Harold Haarfagar (the first king of Norway) but brought up in banishment, to conquer Norway and convert its people from Paganism to Christianity.

For fully thirty years after the middle of the nineteenth century had been passed, French composers were still too firmly wedded to the operatic stage to give more than fleeting attention to choral forms of the cantata type, and few French names of this period, therefore, will find place here.

Charles Gounod (1818-1893), who turned his thoughts almost exclusively to religious music in the later years of his life, wrote several oratorios which will be mentioned in detail in Chapter VIII. His smaller works--the 137th Psalm (‘By Babylon’s Wave’), the 129th Psalm (‘Out of Darkness’), and especially the motet, ‘Gallia,’ with soprano solo--evidence a fund of pleasing melody that, while not ecclesiastical in feeling, lies close enough to the apprehension of the average listener to make his music deeply prized by lovers of sweet melody. The ‘Gallia’ (to words from the Lamentations of Jeremiah) is a lamentation over the disaster that befell his country in the war of 1870; it was written for soprano, chorus and orchestra and was first produced at the Albert Hall, London, May 1, 1871, at the opening of the International Exhibition. Théodore Dubois (born 1837), who was one of the many winners of the coveted _Prix de Rome_, on his return from Italy produced an important choral work, ‘The Seven Last Words of Christ’ (_Les sept Paroles du Christ_), on Good Friday, 1867, at St. Clotilde’s, of which he was then choir-master. The writer of melodious opera-music, Jules Massenet (1842-1912), has written one charming cantata, _Narcisse_ (‘Narcissus’), for chorus and orchestra, that was produced in 1877. After 1880, however, choral works in the smaller forms became more numerous in France.

At the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century elements of distinctive individuality began to creep into English cantata-music and assert themselves more and more. Out of the mass of cantatas that came into being to feed the choral appetites of the vast number of English singing societies and festivals, works of impressive beauty and fine workmanship appeared that would reflect credit on the choral literature of any nation. English composers have seized upon the ballad, the legend and the fairy-tale, upon scenes from secular and sacred history, and have exercised especial industry in using them as material for choral works. Their number is so great that but a few can be named.

Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900) is best known in the field of cantata by the ‘Golden Legend,’ though it was preceded by two others, ‘Kenilworth,’ written in 1864 for the Birmingham Festival, and ‘The Martyr of Antioch,’ in 1875, for the Leeds Festival.

‘The Golden Legend’ received its first presentation at the Leeds Musical Festival in 1886. The text consists of those portions of Longfellow’s poem which concern Elsie and Prince Henry. Joseph Bennett, who acted as librettist, has arranged these into six scenes with a prologue and epilogue. The prologue describes the attempts of Lucifer and his spirits to tear down the cross from the spire of Strassburg Cathedral, Lucifer being a baritone, his spirits sopranos and altos, and the bells tenors and basses. In the opening scene of the legend Prince Henry in his chamber sings ‘I cannot sleep.’ This is followed by the temptation duet with Lucifer, which ends with an angels’ chorus. In Scene II Ursula, Elsie’s mother, sits before her cottage and sings an evening song and the villagers are heard in a beautiful choral hymn, ‘O gladsome light.’ In the following dialogue Elsie discloses her decision to offer her life for the prince and then sings the beautiful prayer, ‘My Redeemer and my Lord.’

Scene III is on the road to Salerno; Henry and Elsie sing a graceful duet, ‘Sweet is the air with budding haws’; pilgrims pass, intoning a Latin hymn, and Lucifer, among them, utters his mocking lines, ‘Here am I, too, in the pious band’; the prince’s song of greeting to the sea is heard, and also a sweet song by Elsie, ‘The night is calm and cloudless,’ effectively repeated with full chorus. Scene IV is at the Medical School at Salerno. Lucifer, disguised as Friar Angelo, leads Elsie away to her sacrifice, but she is rescued by the repentant prince. The music to this dramatic scene is most stirring. In Scene V, before Ursula’s cottage, a messenger recites the prince’s miraculous cure and Elsie’s safety; after which Ursula’s prayer of thanksgiving is heard, ‘Virgin, who lovest the poor and lowly.’ The last scene is at the Castle of Vautsberg on the Rhine, on the evening of the wedding day. After a joyous duet by Prince Henry and his bride (now the Lady Alicia), there follows a choral epilogue, rising at the end to a great fugal climax.

Joseph Barnby’s (1838-1896) part-songs and church-music and his long experience as conductor of important choral societies gave him a large influence with an important section of English lovers of choral music. His choral pieces include the melodious psalm, ‘The Lord is King,’ written for the Leeds Festival of 1883, and the cantata ‘Rebekah,’ which he characterizes as a ‘sacred idyll.’

‘Rebekah’ was written in 1870 and is undoubtedly his finest work. It deals with the wooing of Rebekah by Isaac as related in the Scriptures and done into verse by Arthur Matthison. The first and last choruses disclose some effective modern fugue-writing that is melodious and expressive as well as contrapuntally interesting. The last chorus, especially, builds up to a massive and vocally brilliant climax. Probably the best-known number is Isaac’s solo, the favorite tenor aria, ‘The soft southern breeze plays around me.’

Alfred Robert Gaul (1837-1913) is the composer of many pleasing and popular cantatas, mostly on sacred subjects, the most widely known of which are ‘The Holy City,’ ‘Ruth,’ ‘The Ten Virgins’ and ‘Joan of Arc.’

Sir John Stainer (1840-1901) writes in a more serious style, but yet more suited to church choirs than to large choral bodies. ‘The Daughter of Jairus,’ ‘The Crucifixion’ (A Meditation for Passion Week), and ‘St. Mary Magdalen’ are his more familiar cantatas.

Frederic Hymen Cowen (born 1852) has been a prolific writer of cantatas, no fewer than seven having come from his pen. They are ‘The Rose Maiden’ (1870), ‘The Corsair’ (1876), ‘St. Ursula’ (1881), ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ (1885), ‘St. John’s Eve’ (1889), ‘The Water Lily’ (1893), and ‘The Transfiguration’ (1895). Some of these, particularly ‘The Rose Maiden,’ have attained wide popularity because of their easy, fluent melody and pleasing part-writing.

VI

It remained for three Englishmen, all born within five years of each other--Mackenzie (1847), Parry (1848) and Stanford (1852)--to break away from the traditions of English choral music and to venture to say their musical thoughts in their own way. The point of departure from the old to the new paths bases itself squarely on the work of this trio. Cowen and Cordor (both born in 1852) added nothing of importance to the musical means of expression employed by this trio, but Elgar (born in 1857) has carried forward English choral music to heights never before attained. The decade between 1847 and 1857, therefore, is memorable in English musical history in having witnessed the birth of the men who are most responsible for the remarkable revolution in the character of English choral music witnessed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It is a curious coincidence that the ode, a form cultivated with such industrious zeal by early English composers, should have appealed with great force to all of the trio mentioned above, as a musical form worthy of revival. No less than fourteen odes came from their pens.

When the first important choral work of Charles Hubert H. Parry (b. 1848), scenes from Shelley’s ‘Prometheus Unbound,’ was produced at the Gloucester Festival of 1880, its new tone of confident assertion was recognized as the beginning of a new era in English music, though its success with the public was very small. Works of impressive significance followed in quick succession and he became a figure of dominant importance in English musical life. In addition to three oratorios and several works combining symphonic and choral forms, he has written an imposing list of shorter choral works. The ordinary form of the cantata has little appeal for him, and none of his choral works is so named. ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin,’ however, is really a cantata in feeling, even though it requires very slight solo work. He reaches superb heights of sustained expression in some of his odes--he wrote ten in all--that stamp his choral writing with qualities of superlative excellence, among which are perfect accentuation, mastery of expressive counterpoint and remarkable handling of large tonal masses so as to produce the greatest effects of sonority and breadth. These qualities appear with conspicuous force in his famous ‘Blest Pair of Sirens,’ an ode by John Milton, set for eight-part chorus and orchestra, and first sung in 1887 by the Bach Choir. Other choral works before 1900 that added greatly to his reputation are ‘The Glories of Our Blood and State,’ a funeral ode by James Shirley, produced at the Gloucester Festival of 1883, ‘Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day’ (poem by Pope) at Leeds, 1889, _L’Allegro ed il Penseroso_ (poem by Milton) at Norwich, 1890, ‘Invocation to Music’ (ode in memory of Purcell by Robert Bridges) at Leeds, 1895, and ‘The Lotus-Eaters,’ a choral song, 1892.

With the exception of ‘The Witch’s Daughter,’ performed at the Leeds Festival of 1904, all of the cantatas and shorter choral works of Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (born 1847) fall within the period covered by the present chapter. Attention was first attracted to his fine command of choral technique by ‘The Bride,’ a cantata founded on a poem by the German poet, Hamerling, and performed at the Gloucester Festival of 1881. Possibly his highest point of artistic effectiveness is reached in his fine _Veni, Creator Spiritus_, set to Dryden’s paraphrase and produced at the Birmingham Festival, 1891. Burns’ ‘The Cotter’s Saturday Night’ furnished inspiration for one of his most characteristic works (for chorus only) and naturally appealed strongly to his national feeling and idiom. His other cantatas include ‘Jason’ (Bristol Festival, 1882), ‘The Story of Sayid’ (Leeds, 1886), founded on Edwin Arnold’s ‘Pearls of the Faith,’ and the ‘Dream of Jubal’ (Liverpool Philharmonic, 1889). In the last-named cantata he employs a reciter in addition to soloists and chorus.

The cumulative effect of the artistic activity of the notable trio named above may find partial explanation in the fact that together they represent the three dominant national branches of the United Kingdom--Parry the Englishman, Mackenzie the Scotchman and Stanford the Irishman. The works of these three brilliant exponents of British music reveal many idioms traceable to their respective racial characteristics. In the two choral ballads of Charles Villiers Stanford (born 1852)--‘The Voyage of Maeldune’ (Leeds Festival, 1889), poem by Tennyson, and ‘Phaudrig Crohoore’ (Norwich Festival, 1896), poem by J. S. Le Fanu--traits of Irish folk-song appear on many a page and lend to the music individuality and a fragrant beauty. Indeed, he has achieved some of his greatest successes in his choral ballads. His splendid setting of Tennyson’s ‘The Revenge’ (Leeds Festival, 1896), with its snappy, breezy and, withal, brilliant style, tempted him to set another nautical ballad, Campbell’s ‘The Battle of the Baltic,’ which, however, is hardly as effective. His style is more eclectic than that of his two great contemporaries, combining some of the best German and English qualities with his own individual mode of utterance. His oratorios will be mentioned in another place. He has made very notable contributions to sacred and church music, especially liturgical music.

VII

Sir Edward Elgar’s[71] position as not only the leader among English composers of the present, but as one of the greatest of contemporary creative musicians, is amply buttressed by a series of works in orchestral and choral fields, which, though not conspicuous by its length, is remarkable for the strength and originality of their musical ideas, the vigor of treatment and the supreme command which the composer displays over the technical means of expression. Most of his greatest works are discussed in other sections of this series, yet it was in the field of cantata that his name first rose to prominence and the English festivals furnished the occasion, as in the case of so many other English composers. ‘The Black Knight’ had found a respectful hearing at the Worcester Festival of 1893 and the ‘Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands’ at the same Festival in 1896, but the production of the ‘Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf’ at the North Staffordshire Festival at Hanley in 1896 created a profound impression and its remarkable success raised his name at once to a place among the great ones of music. ‘The Banner of St. George’ followed in 1897 and ‘Caractacus,’ the finest of his cantatas, in 1898.

‘The Black Knight,’ for chorus and orchestra, is a setting of Longfellow’s translation of Uhland’s poem, _Der schwarze Ritter_, and the music with virile urgency sets forth the dramatic incidents of this ballad of the mysterious ‘sable knight,’ whose visit at the court festivities of an ancient king caused the sudden death of the king’s two children. Elgar’s maturer style is clearly foreshadowed in this early work.

‘The Banner of St. George,’ a ballad for chorus and orchestra, with text by Shapcott Wensley, was inspired by the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and was performed the same year. The poem is divided into two scenes, dealing with the deliverance of a princess from the dragon by the valiant Saint George of Sabra, and an epilogue in which Elgar makes characteristic use of a stirring ‘marching’ melody, to words of patriotic sentiment, in building up a rousing choral climax.

‘Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf’ is a setting of Longfellow’s words with additions and connecting passages by H. A. Acworth. The vigorous and individual style of the preceding works here finds full fruition and Elgar stands forth as a matured creator, full armed and conscious of his strength. The poetical selections are grouped into eight scenes with introduction and epilogue. These include the remarkably strong and dramatic ‘Challenge of Thor,’ as the Norse god hurls defiance at the Christian religion; King Olaf’s return to Norway and his acceptance of the challenge; the breaking of the image of Thor and the conversion of Olaf’s subjects; ‘The Wraith of Odin,’ a stirring choral ballad relating the mysterious visit of the spirit of Odin to the banquet hall; the wooing of Sigrid, queen of Svithiod, by King Olaf, which is preceded by a charming chorus of the minstrel maids of the queen; the choral ballad of Thyri, sister of Svend, the Danish king, who flees from her betrothed to King Olaf’s court for protection--one of the finest parts of the cantata--followed by the lovely duet of Thyri and Olaf; and the death of Olaf in the fierce sea-battle with the Danes, thrillingly related by the chorus. In the epilogue the efficacy of Christian love in converting the world is contrasted with that of the sword and gives occasion to Elgar for constructing a choral climax, beginning _a cappella_ with the words, ‘As torrents in summer, half dried in their channels,’ that for simple beauty and sustained power of expression has few equals in choral literature. Three solo voices are added to the choral forces at the end.

‘Caractacus,’ written to the poem by H. A. Acworth for the Leeds Musical Festival of 1898, stands in the natural progressive order of his secular cantatas as the strongest of the series and, in many respects, the most remarkable of its class in any country or period. Elgar, in this and later choral works, appears in the double rôle of symphonist and choral writer, for the orchestra frequently rises into momentary preëminence and overshadows the choral machinery as a medium of expression. ‘Caractacus’ must be thought of in its orchestral coloring in order to grasp its full strength and beauty, for Elgar is a master of all modern orchestral resources.

This cantata was written at the composer’s home at Malvern in the immediate environment of the stirring scenes related in its score and enacted in ancient times by the heroic defenders of British freedom, for it was at Malvern Hills on the Welsh frontier that Caractacus made his final stand against the legions of Rome. The work is in six scenes, the first depicting Caractacus and his warriors in his British camp at Malvern Hills at night. It opens after a short orchestral introduction with the stirring chorus, ‘Watchmen, alert!’ The king’s daughter Eigen and her betrothed Orbin break in upon the sad reveries of the disheartened monarch and their recital of the warning of the Druid maiden ushers in the beautiful trio sung by Eigen, Orbin and Caractacus, ‘At eve to the greenwood we wandered away.’ As they depart, the Spirits of the Hills sing a calm benediction, ‘Rest, weary monarch,’ one of the loveliest choral portions of the work, scored with consummate skill for both chorus and orchestra. The second scene shifts the action to the sacred oak grove and deals with the rites of the Druids as they cast the omens. There is a mystic dance of the Druid-maidens, ‘Tread the measure left and right,’ which is an inspiration of enthralling beauty and rhythmic grace but which never loses a certain solemn dignity. As the dance ceases, there follows the impassioned invocation to Taranis. The king enters, the Arch-Druid deceives him as to the omens, Orbin protests, but is cursed and driven forth by the Druids. The close of the scene is built up around the vigorous soldiers’ chorus, ‘Leap to the light, my brand of fight,’ and the contrasting chorus of Druids as they call down curses on Orbin. The third scene pictures the parting of the lovers as Orbin joins the force of Caractacus. It opens with a graceful rustic chorus of youths and maidens who are with Eigen, twining wreaths of flowers, ‘Come beneath our woodland bow’rs.’ The scene closes with the beautiful duet of the parting lovers. The fourth scene is again on Malvern Hills and Eigen and her maidens anxiously discuss the rumors of distant battle. The return of Caractacus and the remnants of his defeated army brings this part to a close with the impressive lament of Caractacus (in 7-pulse measure) accompanied by the chorus of warriors. Soon afterwards Caractacus and his family are betrayed to the enemy and scene five, which is short, relates the embarking of the British captives in Roman galleys. The final scene is the triumphal procession in Rome, beginning with a pompous orchestral march followed by full chorus and dramatic solos by the captives--Caractacus, Eigen and Orbin. Their bold independence and intrepid defense before the tribunal of the emperor, Claudius, win pardon and an honored home in Rome. The subject is one that might well appeal to a British composer, and Elgar, with magnificent effect, seizes the opportunity to add a stirring epilogue--‘The clang of arms is over’--which unfolds, as it develops, some pages of patriotic sentiment (‘Britons, alert!’) that are thrilling in their majestic power.

VIII

Musical history has often been called upon to record the fact that a gifted composer’s firstling has been his best. In the case of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) his creative imagination never again reached such fine heights of inspired effort as those attained in its first flight. His greatest work is undoubtedly the cantata, ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’--the first of the ‘Hiawatha’ trilogy--performed November 11, 1898, at the Royal College of Music, London, while the composer was still a student at this institution. The second part of the trilogy, ‘The Death of Minnehaha,’ was brought out in 1899 at the North Staffordshire Festival, and the third, ‘Hiawatha’s Departure,’ made its first public appearance at a concert of the Royal Choral Society, at Albert Hall, March 22, 1900. Two months later the overture to the entire work received its initial performance. The text for the whole trilogy is selected from Longfellow’s familiar ‘The Song of Hiawatha.’ This poem, which handles with childlike simplicity and directness the emotions and experiences of a primitive race, seems to have struck deep into the soul of this Anglo-African composer and he has imbued the score, especially of the first part, with an atmosphere of individuality possessed by none of its successors. He touched a new vein here which he was not able to inject with equal success into his other works. The score abounds in concise, characteristic and striking themes, many of which are treated in the manner of ‘leading-motives.’

‘Scenes from the Song of Hiawatha.’--The first part of the trilogy is ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding-Feast,’ for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra. ‘Sumptuous was the feast Nakomis made at Hiawatha’s wedding’ and the detailed description includes not only the banquet itself but the entertainment which followed, how Pau-Puk-Keewis danced,

‘How the gentle Chibiabos,
He the sweetest of musicians,
Sang his songs of love and longing;
How Iagoo, the great boaster,
Told his tales of strange adventure.’

Chibiabos’ song, the beautiful tenor solo, ‘Onaway, awake, beloved!’ is one of the gems of the whole trilogy.

The second part--‘The Death of Minnehaha,’ for soprano and baritone solos, chorus and orchestra--begins with the description of the ‘long and dreary winter! the cold and cruel winter!’ and continues with the pathetic story of the wasting famine and the fever, how Minnehaha shuddered at the words of the two uninvited guests, ‘lay down on her bed in silence,’ how Hiawatha plunged into the forest in search of food only to return ‘empty-handed, heavy-hearted.’ Then follows the death and burial of Minnehaha and the lament of Hiawatha. The pathos of the words is given striking setting in the music, particularly in the opening chorus, ‘O the long and dreary winter!’ and in Hiawatha’s noble lament, ‘Farewell, O Minnehaha!’ which the chorus gently echoes after him. The chief share of the work is allotted to the chorus.

The third part--‘Hiawatha’s Departure,’ for soprano, tenor and baritone solos, chorus and orchestra--is the longest of the three and has more opportunity for varied effects. Reminiscences of themes from the preceding parts give pleasing thematic unity to the whole work. It begins with the return of spring and with it Iagoo, the great traveller, ‘full of new and strange adventures.’ He relates to an incredulous audience how he saw a water ‘bigger than the Big-Sea-Water’ and on it a tall canoe with great wings, ‘bigger than a grove of pine-trees,’ in which were warriors ‘painted white.’ Hiawatha, of all the listeners, laughed not, for he had seen the same things in a vision. He tells them of the coming of the white men and prophesies their achievements and the downfall of the Indian race. Then follows, in simple narrative, Hiawatha’s welcome to the white men and the missionary priest who came with them to tell the message of the Saviour; Hiawatha’s touching farewell to Nakomis and his people (‘I am going, O my people, on a long and distant journey. To the portals of the Sunset, to the regions of the home-wind’); and his departure in the birch canoe as he ‘sailed into the fiery sunset, To the Islands of the Blessed, to the land of the Hereafter!’ Musically the third part is unequal to the others in the strength of its appeal, yet at the close, Hiawatha’s tender words of parting and the answering farewell of the people are written in the virile and characteristic mood of the first part. The solo voices assume a larger share of work than in the other parts.

Coleridge-Taylor’s other choral works were of course in demand after the success of his first one, but, though received with favor, they do not measure up to the first, nor did they make the deep impression of the ‘Hiawatha’ music.

IX

The United States did not enter the list of cantata and oratorio producing nations until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Before that time W. B. Bradbury, J. A. Butterfield, A. Hamerik, George F. Root and others had prepared the way for their successors by choral works of a simple, popular character suited to the musical conditions of their time. On account of the number, musical quality, size and extensive influence of his choral works, Dudley Buck may justly be accorded the honor of being the first important choral writer in America.

The influence of Dudley Buck (1839-1909) in the field of church-music was probably stronger and more fundamental and lasting than in that of concert choral music, for the needs of American church-music could not be met, as could those of choral societies, by mere importation of foreign-made music. Yet his concert choral works are quite numerous. They include the 46th Psalm, written for the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, 1872; ‘Don Munio,’ a dramatic cantata written in 1874, whose story is taken from Washington Irving’s Spanish papers and deals with the wars and loves of the Moorish period; four cantatas for male voices--‘King Olaf’s Christmas,’ ‘The Nun of Nidaros’ (1878), ‘The Voyage of Columbus’ (1885) and ‘Paul Revere’s Ride’; ‘The Centennial Meditation of Columbia,’ written for the Centennial Exposition and performed at Philadelphia, May 10, 1876; ‘The Golden Legend,’ to which was awarded the prize offered by the Cincinnati May Festival Association for the best work by an American and which received its initial performance at the Festival in 1880; and his largest and most pretentious choral work, ‘The Light of Asia.’

‘The Golden Legend’ is, like Sullivan’s cantata of the same name, a setting of a portion of Longfellow’s ‘Christus.’ The text is divided into a prologue, twelve scenes and an epilogue. The story is identical with that of Sullivan’s cantata already mentioned and the music on the whole rises to a higher plane of excellence. Especially effective and deservedly well-known is Elsie’s prayer in the fifth scene (‘My Redeemer and my Lord’), an aria breathing a deep religious feeling and filled with calm beauty. Buck is at his best in such numbers as the simple hymn for unaccompanied quartet (‘O gladsome light of the Father’), Elsie’s charming aria in the ninth scene (‘The night is calm and cloudless’ with a choral refrain of _Kyrie eleison_), and the love-duet between Elsie and Prince Henry in the twelfth scene.

‘The Light of Asia’ was written in 1886, published in London and performed there for the first time in St. James’s Hall, March 19, 1889. The well-known poem by Sir Edwin Arnold naturally lends itself to elaborate treatment and the composer has done it full justice, constructing on its strong lines a work that approaches the dimensions and character of an oratorio. The initial fugal chorus (‘Below the highest sphere four regents sit’), foretelling the birth of the child Buddha who ‘shall deliver men from ignorance,’ establishes at once the broad massive outlines of the work. After the King has conferred with his ministers as to a remedy for the seriousness of Prince Siddârtha and, on their advice, has summoned a court of pleasure at which the most beautiful maidens are to teach him love, there follows a lovely duet describing the meeting and recognition of the Prince and the fair Yasôdhara, and the part closes with a jubilant wedding chorus, ‘Enter, thrice happy!’ The second part--‘The Renunciation’--describes the sensuous life of the Orient, the awakening of Siddârtha from this life of love and joy to his mission, his six long years of wandering, his victorious struggles with the varied temptations of ‘the fiends who war with Wisdom and the Light.’ The third part--‘The Return’--relates the sorrows of the lonely Yasôdhara and the return of the wandering Siddârtha as a Buddha, dressed in the yellow garb of a hermit, begging alms, yet greeted by his people with glad acclaim. The epilogue and final chorus (‘Before beginning and without an end’) is the choral climax of the whole work, constructed with fine musicianship and majestic in its effect. Important solo duties are assigned to the Prince, his wife Yasôdhara and his father, the King.

Dr. Leopold Damrosch (1832-1885), who occupied a position of great influence in the musical life of New York City, wrote two important choral works that were published in this country--‘Ruth and Naomi’ (1870), a Scriptural idyl, and ‘Sulamith’ (The Song of Songs), which was performed for the first time by the Oratorio Society, New York, in April, 1882. Other short choral works written by Americans in the period now under consideration were ‘Prayer and Praise,’ the Forty-sixth Psalm (Cincinnati Festival prize, 1882), and ‘The Rose,’ by William Wallace Gilchrist (born 1846); ‘The Culprit Fay’ (1879) and ‘Praise of Harmony’ (1886) by Frederick Grant Gleason (1848-1903); ‘Phœbus Arise’ (1882), ‘The Nativity’ (1883) and ‘The Realm of Fancy’ (1884) by John Knowles Paine (1839-1906); ‘The Tale of the Viking’ (1879) and ‘Henry of Navarre’ (1885) by George Elbridge Whiting (born 1842).

The choral works from the pen of Arthur Foote (b. 1853) are not numerous, but they are fine in musical quality and workmanship. There are only three of them and all are settings of poems by Longfellow--‘The Farewell of Hiawatha’ (1879), a ballad for baritone solo, male chorus and orchestra, ‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’ for mixed voices and ‘The Skeleton in Armor.’

George Whitfield Chadwick (b. 1854) has written more voluminously in the smaller choral forms, all of his writing being distinguished by a keen feeling for vocal values and a rich harmonic sense. His chief works in cantata form are ‘The Viking’s Last Voyage’ for baritone solo, male chorus and orchestra, 1880 (Boston Apollo Club, 1881); ‘Lovely Rosabelle’ for solos, mixed chorus and orchestra, 1889 (Boston Orchestral Club, 1890); _Phœnix Expirans_, 1891 (Springfield Festival, 1892); ‘Columbian Ode,’ 1892, written for the dedication of the buildings of the World’s Fair, Chicago, May, 1893; ‘The Lily Nymph,’ 1895 (Springfield Festival, 1896); and _Ecce jam noctis_, 1897, written for the commencement exercises of Yale University, 1897, on the occasion of his receiving from Yale the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

Horatio William Parker (b. 1863) has been a prolific writer of choral works, both before 1900 and since that date, and, through his skilful handling of vocal masses and a superb contrapuntal technique, has won for himself a foremost place among living masters of choral writing. While a student under Rheinberger at Munich, two of his choral works, ‘The Ballad of a Knight and his Daughter’ (1884) and ‘King Trojan’ (1885), were given public performance there and were later published. ‘The Ballad of the Normans’ (_Normannenzug_) for male chorus and orchestra appeared in 1889; ‘The Kobolds’ (poem by Arlo Bates) for chorus and orchestra was performed at the Springfield (Mass.) Festival in May, 1891; ‘Harold Harfagar’ for chorus and orchestra was performed in 1891 in New York; ‘The Dream-King and his Love’ (poem by Geibel) for tenor solo, chorus and orchestra won a prize in 1893 offered by the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, of which Dvořák was then director and in which the composer was a teacher; ‘The Holy Child,’ a Christmas cantata, was published in 1893; and ‘A Wanderer’s Psalm’ was written for and performed at the Hereford Festival, England, in 1900. A composition which finely illustrates his great ability in handling problems of vocal counterpoint is his motet for double chorus _a cappella_, _Adstant angelorum chori_ (poem by Thomas à Kempis), which won the prize given by the Musical Art Society of New York City in 1898.

Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (b. 1867) has written several small choral works that have found well-merited favor, among them ‘The Minstrel and the King’ for tenor and baritone solos, male chorus and orchestra, ‘The Rose of Avontown,’ a ballad for soprano solo and female chorus, ‘The Chambered Nautilus’ for female chorus, and ‘Sylvania’ for mixed chorus.

Among other small choral works of serious content and fine workmanship belonging to this period must be mentioned a fine motet by Arthur Whiting (b. 1861) for double chorus _a cappella_, ‘O God, my heart is ready’ (words selected from the Psalms).

FOOTNOTES:

[71] Born 1857.