Archive | O

(b. Tralee, co. Kc.ry, Ireland, Mar. 15, 1834 ; d. Mar. 13, 1919). He received his early instruction in music at home. When between 7 and 8 years old, his pianoforte-playing attracted the attention of Wyndham Goold, through whose instrumentality he was sent to the Leipzig Conservatorium in Jan. 1847. At a dinner-party given in Goold's honour by Mendelssohn, the boy sat next the composer, who was in many ways most kind to him afterwards. At Leipzig he studied the piano with Moscheles and Plaidy, counterpoint with Hauptmann, and composition with Richter and Julius Rietz. At the house of Preusser he became acquainted with Robert and Clara Schumann, and many other musical celebrities. After a five years' stay at Leipzig, O'Leary returned to London and entered the R.A.M, studying under Cipriani Potter and Sterndale Bennett. In 1856 Lord Westmorland appointed him professor at the Academy, and on the opening of the National Training School for Music, he was appointed to that institution. He retired from the R.A.M. in 1903, but continued to teach privately. O'Leary's compositions include orchestral pieces, songs, dance-music, transcriptions and original pieces for the pianoforte, etc. His toccata in F was played at the Popular Concert of Dec. 14, 1885. He also edited Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Bennett's Pianoforte works, and masses by Hummel, Sechter and Schubert. His wife, R osetta (d. London, June 17, 1909), was the daughter of W. S. Vinning, of Newton Abbot, and was married to O'Leary in Nov. 1860. She was elected King's Scholar at the R.A.M. in 1851, and is known as the composer of several successful songs. w. b. s.

(Fr. orgue; Ital. organo; Ger. Orgel). A wind instrument, the basic principle of which is that its tones are produced by means of a number of pipes, each pipe producing only one note. The instrument is here discussed under three heads: 1, History; 2, Description of Mechanism ; 3, The Modern Organ. 1. H istory There can be little doubt that the principle of the three great classes of organ-pipe- Stopped, Open and Reed-was known at a very early period, as we shall have occasion to show. (See P i p e s , E v o lu tio n a nd D is t r ib u t io n of Mu s ica l .) Tho first idea of such an instrument was doubtless suggested to man by the passing breezes as they struck against the open ends of broken reeds. A few such reeds or tubes, of varied growths or diameters, and of graduated lengths, bound together in a row, with their open tops arranged in a horizontal line, would form an instrument possessing sufficient capacity for the performance of primitive melodies. The myth that Pan was the originator of the syrinx led to its being called ' Pan's-pipe.' under which name, or that of ' Mouth-organ,' it is known to the present day. (P a n d ea n P i p e .) The pipes of the syrinx being composed of reeds cut off just below the knot -which knot did not permit the wind to escape, but causod it to return to the same place where it entered, thus traversing the length of the tube twice-were in principle so m any examples of the first class of pipes mentioned above. They were practically ' Stopped pipes,' producing a sound nearly an octave lower than that of an open pipe of the same length.1 Tho mode of playing upon this earliest organ must have been t roublesome and tiring, as either the mouth had to be in constant motion to and fro over the tubes, or they had incessantly to bo shifted to the right or left under tho mouth. Some other method of directing wind into them must in course of time have been felt to be desirable ; and the idea would at length occur of conducting wind into the tube from below instead of above. This result-an enormous step forward-could be obtained by selecting a reed, as before, but with a short additional portion left below the knot to serve as a mouthpiece or wind-receiver (the modern ' foot ') ; by i An exa ct model of a Stopped Diapason p ipe of wood is presented by th e w ell-known ' pitch-pipe ' formerly in common use making a straight narrow slit through the knot, close to the front, to serve as a passage-way for the breath ; and by cutting a small horizontal opening immediately above that slit, with a sloping notch, bevelling upwards and outwards over that again. The breath blown in at the lower end, in passing through the slit would strike against the edge of the notch above, and there produce rapid flutterings, which would be communicated to the air in the tube, and would cause a sound to be emitted. In this manner a specimen of the second class of pipe mentioned above-that of the opon species -would be brought into existence. When the first ' squeaker * was made, such as country lads still delight to construct of osiers in spring-time, a primitive model of a pipe of the third kind mentioned above, a ' Reed-pipe,' was produced. I t consisted of a ' vibrator ' and a tube ; the former sounded by being agitated by compressed wind from an a ir-cavity -the breath from the human mouth. Reedpipes, although freely used as separate wind instruments in ancient times - the bagpipe among the number-were not introduced into organs until the 15th century, so far as can be ascertained, and need not therefore be further considered in this place. A series of pipes of the second class (receiving air from below) would be less conveniently under the immediate control of the mouth than their predecessors; hence a wooden box was devised (now the wind-chest), containing a row of holes along the top into which were placed the lower ends of the pipes ; and the wind was sometimes provided by two attendants, who blew with their mouths alternately into pliable tubes, the one while the other took breath. An antique organ supplied in this manner is sculptured under a monument in the Museum at Arles, bearing the date of x x .m.v i i i .1 The pipes are held in position by a crossband, just as were those of tho earlier syrinx. The carving represents tho back of the instrument, as is indicated not only by the ' blowers * 1 From Dom Bedew, L 'A r t du facleur d'orgues (Paris, 1766). b e in g there, b u t also by the order of the pipes, from large to small, appearing to run the wrong way, namely, from right to left instead of the reverse. The pipes of the early organs are said to have sounded at first all together, and those which were not required to be heard had to be silenced by means of the fingers or hands. An arrangement so defective would soon call for a remedy ; and the important addition was made of a slide, rule or tongue of wood, placed benoath the hole leading to each pipe, and so perforated as either to admit or exclude the wind as it was drawn in or out. Kircher 2 gives a drawing, here reproduced, to show this improvement. (He conceives i t to be the Mashokithra or Magraketha of the Chaldees.) j'I0 3 The wind was conveyed to the chest through the tube projecting from the right-hand side, either from the lips or from some kind of hand-bellows. In either case the stream would be only intermittent. Another drawing given by Kircher (said to be that of the Hebrew instrument called Magrephah) exhibits the important addition of two small bellows, which would afford a continuous wind-supply, the one furnishing wind while the other was replenishing. F io . 4. I t is very doubtful, however, whether this is an authentic representation. Although nothing very precise can be deduced from the ancient writers as to the time, place or manner in which some of the progressive steps in the invention of the organ already detailed were made, y e t it is certain that the germ of many of the most important parts of the instrument had been discovered before the Christian era.3 * Musurgia, Bk. ii. ch. iv. 6 3. p. 3. 3 A pape r by Miss Kathleen Schleainger, Researches into the Origin o f the Organs of the Ancient*, in the Sammelhande of th e In t . Mus. Gea. vol. ii. p. 167 ft., may be referred to. The Organ o f the Ancients from Eastern Sources (Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic), by Dr. Henry F an n e r (in the press, 1926), is looked forward to aa a s I au th o r ita tive tre a tm en t of th e subject. T h e Ch ris t ia n E ra to a .d . 1000.-During the first ten centuries but little appears to have been done to develop the organ in size, compass or mechanism ; in fact, no advances are known to have been made in the practice of music itself of a kind to call such improvements into existence. Yet a number of isolated records exist as to the materials used in the construction of the instrument; the great personages who exerted themselves about i t ; and its gradual introduction from Greece, where it is said to have taken its origin, into other countries, and into the church ; and these have only to be brought together and placed in something approaching to chronological order, with a few connecting words here and there, to form an interesting and continuous narrative. In the organ of Ctesibius, described by Hero,1 it appears that the lower extremity of each pipe was enclosed in a small shallow box, something like a domino box inverted, the sliding lid being downwards. Each lid had an orifice which, on the lid being pushed home, placed the hole in correspondence with the orifice of the pipe, and the pipe then sounded. When the sliding lid was drawn forward, it closed the orifice, and so silenced the pipe. With certain improvements as to detail, this action is in principle substantially the same as that shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and it continued in use up to the 11th century. But the most interesting part of this description is the reference to the existence of a simple kind of key-action which pushed in the lid on the key being pressed down, the lid being pulled back by a spring of elastic horn and a cord on the key being released. Claudian the poet, who flourished about a .d . 400, has in his poem De consulatu F. Manlii Theodori (316-19) left a passage describing an organist's performance upon an instrument of this kind, and also its effect, of which the following is a literal version: ' Let there be also one who by his light touch forcing out deep murmurs, and managing the unnumbered tongues of the field of brazen tubes, can with nimble finger cause a mighty sound ; an a can rouse to song the waters stirred to their depths by the massive lever.' (For a technical description of the instrument see H ydratjlus, also P L A T E X X X V 1.) A Greek 2 epigram, attributed to the Emperor Julian the Apostate (d . a .d . 363), conveys some particulars concerning another kind of 4th-century organ, of which the following is a literal translation : * I see a strange species (lit. " nature " ) of reeds : surely they have rather sprung up from a foreign (lit. another) brazen field (lit. furrow) : 'wild-nor are they swayed by our winds ; b u t a blast, rushing forth from a cavern of bull's hide, forces its way from beneath, under the root of the well-bored reeds. And a skilful man having nimble fingers stands feeling the yielding rods of pipes, and they, gently dancing, press out song.' This account describes a wind organ, and one which had no keyboard. Both accounts J See W. Chappell's account, History of Music, i. 343, etc. * Palatine Anthology, Bk. ix. No v o l . m particularise the material of which the pipes were made, and it is not improbable that pipes of metal were at that time a novelty. Theodoret (b. about 393, d. 457) also refers to musical organs as being furnished with pipes of copper or of bronze. On an obelisk at Constantinople, erected by Theodosius (d . 393), is a representation of an organ, which is here copied. The pipes are eight in number, and appear to be formed of large reeds or canes. They are not sufficiently varied in length to indicate the production of a proper musical scale, which is possibly an error of the sculptor. They are supported like those shown in Fig. 2. This example is very interesting as affording the earliest illustration known of a method of compressing the organ wind which some centuries afterwards became common-namely, by the weight of human beings. From the drawing it seems as if the two youths were standing on the same bellows, whereas they were more probably mounted on separate ones placed side by side. St. Jerome (d. 420) is said 3 to mention an organ at Jerusalem, with twelve brazen pipes, two elephants' skins and fifteen smiths' bellows, which could be heard at the Mount of Olives,- it is nearly a mile from the centre of the city to the top of the mount,-and therefore must have been an instrument of great power. Cassiodorus, who was consul of Rome under King Vitigas the Goth in 514, described the organ of his day as an instrument composed of divers pipes, formed into a kind of tower, which, by means of bellows, is made to produce a loud sou n d ; and in order to express agreeable melodies, it is constructed with certain tongues* of wood from the interior, which the finger of the master duly pressing or forcing back, elicits the most pleasing and brilliant tones. The exact period at which the organ was first used for religious purposes is not positively known ; but according to Julian us, a Spanish bishop who flourished a . d . 450, it was in common use in the churches of Spain at that time. One is mentioned as existing ' in the most ancient city of Grado,' in a church of the nuns before the year 580. I t is described as 3 Kitto , Cyc. Bib. Lit., 3rd ed., H. 2556. K itto 's reference (A I Dardanum), however, does n ot appe ar to be correct. 4 The term ' tongues ' (linguae) remained in use for the sliders up to th e time when th e slide-box was superseded by th e spring-boz about th e end of th e 11th century. 3 B being about two feet long, six inches broad, and furnished with fifteen playing-slides and thirty pipes, two pipos to each note. Hawkins1 has given a drawing of the slide-box of this organ, tho ' tongues ' of which are singularly ornate. The number of notes 011 the slide-box (fifteen in a length of two feet) would show that the pipes were of small diameter, and therefore that the notes were treble ones. The advantage of using tho organ in the services of the church was so obvious that it would soon be perceived ; and accordingly in the 7th century Pope Vitalian, at Rome (about the year 666), introduced it to improve the singing of the congregations. Subsequently, however, he abolished the singing of the congregations, and substituted in its place that of canonical singers. At the beginning of the 8th century the use of the organ was appreciated, and the art of making it was known in England. The native artificers had even introduced the custom of pipe docoration, for, according to Aldhelm (d. 709), tho Anglo-Saxons ornamented the front pipes of their organs with gilding. Organmaking was introduced into France about the middle of the same century. Pepin (714-68), the father of Charlemagne, perceived that an organ would be an important aid to devotion ; and as the instrument was a t that time unknown either in France or Germany, he applied (about the year 757) to the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Copronymus the Sixth, requesting him to send one to France. Constantine not only complied with this solicitation by presenting him with a large organ, but forwarded it by a special deputation, headed by the Roman bishop Stephanus. The organ was deposited in the church of St. Comeiius at Compiegne. I t was a wind organ, with pipes of le a d : and is said to have been made and played by an Italian priest, who had learnt the method of doing both at Constantinople. The first organ introduced into Germany was one which the Emperor Charles tho Great, in 811 or 812, caused to bo made at Aix-la- Chapelle after the model of that at Compiegne. The copy was successful, and several writers expressed themselves in terms of high praise at its powerful yet pleasing tone. Shortly after the year 800 an organ was sent to Charlemagne by the Caliph Haroun Alraschid, constructed by an Arabian maker of the name of Giafar, which was placed in a church at Aix-la-Chapelle. I t was a wind organ of extraordinarily soft tone. Venice was favourably known for its organmakers about this time ; a monk of that city, of the name of Georgius, a native of Benevento, having in the year 822 constructed an instrument for Louis le Debonnaire, which was an hydraulic organ, and was erected in the palace 1 E iftory of M utie, i. 401. of the king at Aix-la-Chapelle. Its pipes were of lead. The progress of Germany in making and using organs in the latter half of tho 9th century, particularly in East Franconia, was so great, that Pope John VIII. (880), in a letter to Anno, Bishop of Friesingen, requests that a good organ may be sent to him, and a. skilful player to instruct the Roman artists. By this time organ-building had apparently made its way into Bavaria ; and a large instrument, with boxwood pipos, is said to have been erected in the Cathedral of Munich at a very early date. In the 9th century organs had become common in this country, the English artificers furnishing them with pipes of copper, which were fixed in gilt frames. In the 10th century the English prelate St. Dunstan (925-88), famous for his skill in metal work, erected or fabricated an organ in Malmesbury Abbey, tho pipes of which wore of brass. Ho also gavo an organ to Abingdon Abbey, and is said to have furnished many other English churchos and convents with similar instruments. In this same century Count Elwin presented an organ to the convent a t Ramsey, on which he is said to havo expended the then largo sum of thirty pounds in copper pipes, which are described as omitting a sweet melody and a far-resounding peal. A curious representation of an organ of about this dato is g iv en 2 in a MS. Psalter of Edwin preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge.3 The pipes aro placed within a frame, apparently after the manner referred to above. Tho surface of the organ is represented as being perforated to receive a second set of pipes, though the draughtsman appears to have sketched one holo too many. The two organists, whose duties seem for tho moment to have been brought to an end by the inattention of the blowers, are intent on admonishing thoir assistants, who are striving to get up the wind-supply, which their neglect has apparently allowed to F ig. 6. r u n o u t . The fo u r bellows a ro Diown in a m a n n e r w h ic h we h e re m e e t w i th fo r th e f i r s t t im e-n am e ly , th ro u g h th e in te rv e n t io n of 2 I t is a bad copy of a p icture in th e Utre cht Psalter. 3 P a r t of the representation is here engraved from a photograph, by th e kind permission of th e authorities. handles instead of directly by the h an d s ; and as in so small an organ there could not have been room for four persons to compress the wind by standing upon the bellows, it is possible that they were loaded with weights in the manner that has generally been supposed not to have been introduced until some centuries later. At the end of the 10th century several organs existed in Germany (St. Paul's, Er fu rt ; St. James's, Magdeburg ; and Ha(berstadt Cathedral), which, although small and unpretending instruments, were objects of much astonishment and attraction at the time. In the 11th century we find a treatiso1 on the construction of organs, included in a larger work on Divers Arts, by a monk and priest of the name of Theophilus, which is of considerable interest as showing the exact state of the art of organ-making at that period. I t is too long to quote in extenso, and is also rather obscure in parts ; but the following particulars may be gathered from i t : that the slide-box was made two and a half feet in length, and rather more than one foot in breadth; that the pipes were placed upon its surface ; that the compass consisted of seven or eight notes ; that the length of the slide-box was moasured out equally for the different notes or slides, and not on a gradually decreasing scale as the pipes became smaller, since the playing-slides would not in that case have been of one width or at one distance a p a r t ; that the organ was played by these movable s lid e s ; that each slide worked in little side-slits, like the lid of a box of dominoes ; that there were two or perhaps even more pipes to each note ; that the projecting ' tongue ' of each slide was markod with a letter to indicate to which note it belongod-a custom that continued in use for centurios afterwards (as, for instance, in the Ha(berstadt organ finished in 1301 ; and in the old organ in the church of St. /Egidius, in Brunswick, built in the latter part of the loth century, and illustrated on p. 744); that a hole was cut through the slide under each pipe about an inch and a half across, for the passage of tho wind ; that all the pipes of a note sounded together ; that a note was sounded by the slide being pushed in, and silenced by its being drawn forward ; and that in tho front of each slide, immediately behind the handle or tongue, a narrow hole about two inches long was cut, in which was fixed a copper-headed nail, which regulated the motion of the slide and prevented its being drawn out too far. The following illustration, deduced from Theophilus's description, shows the slide, and three passages for wind to as many pipes above. The slide intercepts the wind, but will allow it > Thecphili, qui et Rugmi?, Presbyteri et Monachi lihti I I I . , de divert* art"bus. O p e r a e t s t u d i o R o b e r t i T I e n d r ie . L o n d i n i , Jo h a n n e s H u r r a y , n r . c c c x i . v n . 8 v o . to pass on being moved so that its openings, shown by the unshaded parts, correspond with those below and above. Gori's Thesaurus diptychorum, 1759, vol. ii., contains a most interesting engraving, copied from an ancient MS., said to be as old as the time of Charlemagne, which shows a person playing upon an instrument of the Theophilus type. (See Fig. 8.) But of all tho information given by Theophilus, the most important, because previously unknown and unsuspected, is that which relates to the finishing of the pipes so as to produce different qualities of tone. They were made of tho finest copper ; and the formation of a pipe being completed, Theophilus thus proceeds : ' He (the maker) oan bring It (the pipe) to his mouth and blow a t first slightly, then more, and then strongly : and, according to what he discerns by hearing, he can arrange the sound, so th a t if lie wish it strong the opening is made wider ; but if slighter, it is made narrower. In this order all the pipes are made.' Hore wo see that the means for producing a fuller tone by a wide or high mouth, and a more delicate sound by a narrower or lower one, were well known in the 11th century ; and that the manner of testing the ' speech ' by blowing the pipe with the mouth in various ways is precisely that often employed by the ' voicer ' of the present day when ' regulating ' or ' finishing ' a stop. I t is worthy of observation that although Theophilus incidentally recognises an addition to the number of pipes to a note as one means of increasing the utility of tho organ, he as distinctly indicates its range or compass as simply seven or eight notes. We have intentionally introduced the account of Theophilus somewhat before its due chronological place, as it materially assists in F ig. 7. elucidating the description of the remarkable organ erected in Winchester Cathedral in the 10th century by order of Bishop Elphege (d. 951), and described in a poem by a monk of the name of Wulstan, who died in 963. It is of further use in this place, since Wulstan's description had formerly been a great puzzle to writers on the history of the organ. The following is a translation of the portion of the Latin poem with which we are concerned, as given in Wackerbarth's Music and the Anglo- Saxons, pp. 12-15: ' Such organs as you have built are seen nowhere, fabricated on a double ground. Twice six bellows above are ranged in a row, and fourteen lie below. These, by alternate blasts, supply an immense quantity of wind, and are worked by seventy strong men, labouring with their arms, covered with perspiration, each inciting his companions to drive the wind up with all his strength, th a t the full-bosomed box may speak with its four hundred pipes which the hand of the organist governs. Some when closed he opens, others when open he closes, as the individual nature of the varied sound requires. Two brethren (religious) of concordant spirit sit a t the instrument, and each manages his own alphabet. There are, moreover, hidden holes in the forty tongues, and each has ten (pipes) in their due order. Some are conducted hither, others thither, each preserving the proper point (or situation) for its own note. They strike the seven differences of joyous sounds, adding the music of the lyric semitone. Like thunder the iron tones ba tte r the ear, so th a t it may receive no sound b u t th a t alone. To such an amount does it reverberate, echoing in every direction, th a t every one stops with his hand his gaping ears, being in no wise able to draw near and bear the sound, which so many combinations produce. The music is heard throughout the town, and the flying fame thereof is gone out over the whole country.' T h e P r im it iv e K ey bo a r d .-We now arrive at a period when a vast improvement was made in the manner of constructing tho organ. I t has been shown that when the Winchester organ was made, and onwards to the date of the treatise by Theophilus, the method of admitting wind to, or of excluding it from, the pipes of a note was by a slide, which alternately covered and exposed the underside of the holes leading up to its pipes. The frictional resistance of the slides, at all times trying, would inevitably be increased by their swelling in damp weather and becoming t ig h t ; they would certainly have to be lengthened for every pipe added, which would make them heavier and harder to move with the hand ; and they involved the twofold task, already mentioned, of simultaneously thrusting one slide back while another was being drawn out. These circumstances, added to the fact that a given resistance can be overcome with less difficulty by a blow than by a pull with the fingers and thumb, must have directed attention to the possibility of substituting pressure for traction in the manipulation of the organ. Thus it is recorded that towards the end of the 11th century huge keys, or rather levers, began to be used as the means for playing the instrument; and however unwieldy these may have been, they were nevertheless the first rude steps towards providing the organ with a keyboard. A spring-box, too, of some kind was almost of necessity also an improvement of the same period ; for without some restoring power, a key, on being knocked down, would have remained there until picked up ; and that restoring power would be the most readily supplied by a spring or springs. In some of the early spring-boxes a separate valve seems to have been placed against the hole leading up to every pipe of each note, where it was held in position by an elastic appliance of the nature just named. The valves were brought under outward control by strings or cords, which passed through the bottom of the spring-box, and were attached to the key lying in a direct line beneath. As the keys must have been hung at their inner end, and have had their greatest fall in front, the smallest pipes of a note were no doubt from the first placed quite inside, and the largest in front, with those of graduating scale occupying an intermediate position in proportion to their size ; and thus the small valves, opening a lesser distance, were strung where the key had the least fall, and the larger pallets where they had the greatest motion. Edmund Schulze, of Paulinzelle, about the middle of the 19th century made for the present writer a rough sketch of the spring-box of an organ about 400 years old which he assisted in taking to pieces when he was quite a youth ; from whick sketch the drawing for the following illustration was prepared. The early keys are described as being from three to five inches wide, or even more ; an inch and a half thick ; from a foot and a half to a vard or more in length, with a fall sometimes of as much as a foot in depth. They must at times, therefore, have been as large as the treadle of a knife - grinder's machine. Their size and amount of resistance would on first thought appear to have been most unnecessarily great and clumsy ; but this is soon accounted for. We have seen that tho gauge of the keys was influenced by the size of pipe necessary for the lowest note. Their width would be increased when the compass was e x tended downwards with larger p ip e s ; and their length would be increased with the numbs? of valves that had to be strung to them ; while the combined resistance of the many strong springs of the larger specimens would render the touch insensible to anything short of a thump. I t was in the cathedral at Magdeburg, to wards tho end of the century of which we have been speaking (the 11th), that the earliest organ with a keyboard of which we have any authentic record was erected. I t is said to have had a compass of sixteen notes, but no mention is made as to what the notes were. In the 12th century the number of keys was sometimes increased ; and every key further received the addition of two or three pipes, sounding the fifth and octavo to the unison. According to S e id e l1 a third and tenth were added. All sounded together, and there was no escaping from the strong incessant ' Full Organ ' effect. There is a curious account written by Lootens 2 -an author but little known-of a Dutch organ said to have been erected in the church of St. Nicholas at Utrecht in the year 1120. The organ had two manuals and pedals. The compass of the former was from F, represented by a pipe of 6 feet standard length, up to b'

(b. Amberg, Upper Palatinate, Mar. 12, 1515 ; d. Nuremberg, Feb. 7, 1553), was a fellow - student with Georg Forster, the song-book editor, at the University of Heide(berg, and fellow-pupil with him in music under Lorenz Lem'in, the Heide(berg Kapellmeister. In 1545 he was rector of the Convent School at Heilsbronn. In 1547 he obtained a canonry at the church of St. Gumbert in Ansbach which had become Lutheran, and in 1548 was chosen to be p ro v o s t ; but the elections being contested, probably in consequence of the religious disputes of the time, he retired to Nuremberg. Forster speaks of him as a widely celebrated musician, and received twenty-six of his settings of secular songs1 into his great collection. Othmayr's own publications are sacred works chiefly, and the titles of some of them bear witness to the religious confusion of the time, as, for instance, ' Cantilenae aliquot . . . quibus his turbulentis temporibus ecclesia Christi utitur * (Nuremberg, 154G). Epitaphium D. Martin Lutheri a 4. Other works are ' Bicinia sacra * (1547), German hymns a 2 and ' Tricinia ' (1549), Latin motets a 3. J . R. m .

(b. Bristol, 1860), of Irish parentage, was conductor of the Rousbey Opera Company from 1891-96, and settled in Dublin in 1897. He produced the first opera to an Irish libretto, 4 Eithne,' in 1909, and has been lecturer in Irish Music at University College, Dublin, since 1914, as well as organist of the Jesuit church in Dublin, w. H. G. F.

(ft. Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dome, July 27, 1784; d. Clermont, Oct. 3, 1853), was a grandson of the first Lord Onslow, and descended through his mother, a de Bourdeilles, from the family of Brantome. Although eventually a prolific composer, he showed as a child no special love for music, and the lessons he took on the piano from Hullmandel, Dussek and Cramer, during a stay of some years in London, developed nothing beyond manual dexterity. Having returned to France, and settled in a province more famous for its scenery than for its opportunities of artistic relaxation, he associated with some amateurs who played chamber music, and was thus induced first to study the violoncello, and then after a two-year s' visit to Vienna to compose works modelled after those which gave so much pleasure to himself and his friends. Onslow, even after he had composed a considerable amount of chambermusic, felt the necessity for further instruction before attempting dramatic composition, and studied with Reicha. His three operascomiques, ' L'Alcalde de la Vega ' (Aug. 10, 1824), * Le Colporteur ' (Nov. 22, 1827), and ' Le Due de Guise ' (Sept. 8, 1837), however, after securing successive succes d'estime, disappeared, leaving the overture to 4 The Colporteur,' which for some time was to be heard in concert rooms, as their only representative. His three published symphonies, though performed several times by the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire, are also forgotten. He was elected a member of the Philharmonic Society in London in 1832, and wrote a symphony for it. A musician of respectable attainments and indefatigable industry, an accomplished gentleman, and moreover a man of fortune, he had VOL. in no difficulty in finding either publishers or appreciative friends, as was proved by his election in 1842 to succeed Cherubini at the Institut. With the above reservations it must be admitted that Onslow, by the number of his works and the elegant style of his best passages, merited the reputation he enjoyed during his lifetime. His works include a scena, * La Mort d'Abel,* for bass-solo and orchestra ; four symphonies ; thirty-four quintets and thirty-six quartets for strings, six trios for PF.. violin and violoncello; a sextuor (op. 30) for PF., flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon and contrabasso, or PF., two violins, viola, violoncello, and contrabasso ; a nonetto (op. 77) for violin, viola, violoncello, contrabasso, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn, which he also arranged (op. 77 bis) as a sextour for PF., flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon and contrabasso, or for PF., two violins, viola, violoncello and contrabasso ; a septet (op. 79) for PF., flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and contrabasso ; sonatas and duos for PF. and violin, or violoncello ; sonatas for PF., four hands, and many pieces for PF. solo. His quintets are undoubtedly his best works, and contain much charming music. No. 15, called ' Le Quintette de la balle,' describes his emotions-the pain, the irregular beating of his pulse, and his gratitude on his recovery- consequent on an accident that happened to him in 1829 at a wolf-hunt, where a spent ball hit him in the face, rendering him somewhat deaf in one ear for the rest of his life. His earlier quintets were written for two violoncelli, but at a certain performance in England the second violoncello failed to arrive, and it was proposed that Dragonetti should play the part on his double-bass. Onslow positively refused, saying the effect would be dreadful. However, after waiting some time, he was obliged to consent, and after a few bars was delighted with the effect. After this he wrote them for violoncello and double-bass, and the preceding ones were then rearranged in that way under his own inspection by Gouffe, the accomplished double-bass of the Paris Opera. Halevy pronounced his eulogium at the Institut, and printed it in his Souvenirs et portraits. D 'Ortigue collected materials for his biography, but only published an abstract of them in the Menestrel (1863-64, p. 113). Fetis drew his information from these two sources, to which the reader is referred for further detail. G. C. ; addns. D.N.B . ; Riemann.

(b. Kremenchug, Russia, Dec. 11, 1895), Russian-American pianist and composer. As a child he studied at the Conservatoire in St. Petersburg, where he was a pianistic prodigy; after 1906 he was a pianoforte pupil of Mrs. Thomas Tapper at the Institute of Musical Art in New York. His debut as pianist was made in New York in 1911 ; since then he has played in concerts in numerous cities of Europe and America. A radical and anarchistic composer, he is reported to have declared himself 1 not concerned with form or with standards of any nature.' His compositions include 2 piano concertos ; 2 symphonic poems, ' The Life of Man ' and ' The Fog,' and other orchestral pieces ; chamber music and sonatas ; choral pieces ; piano pieces and songs. w. s. s.

(b. Leipzig), organist in 1607 of the Lutheran church, Prague ; musician in 1611 at the court of Prince Lichtenberg. He composed psalms, a Magnificat and a book of 5-part pavans, galliards, etc. (Q.-L. ; Riemann).

opera in 3 acts ; words (English) by J. R. Planche, musie by Weber. Produced Covent Garden, Apr. 12, 1826 j in Italian (Maggione), Her Majesty's (in 4 acts), July 3, 1860, with recitatives by Benedict and six additional numbers from ' Euryanthe ' and elsewhere ; in German, Leipzig (Hell's translation), Dec. 23, 1826; Theatre Allemand, Paris, 1830; Theatre Lyrique (transl. by Nuitter, Beaumont Chazot), 1857. g.

(1st half of 16th cent.), English composer of church music. A ' Robert Okelaund' appears among the 'Gentilmen of the Chapell ' who received new liveries for the coronation of Edward VI. in 1547, but his name is given as ' Hockland ' in a similar list for the burial of Henry VIII. in that year.5 He contributed an anthem, ' Prayse we the Father,' and a ' prayer,' ' Prayse the Lord, O our soules,' to Day's 'Certaine N o t e s ' (1560). A 4-part Mass by him is in B.M. Add. MSS. 17,802-5. J . M

(Lat. oratorium ; Ital. dramma sacro per musica, oratorio ; Ger. Oratorium). A dramatic poem, usually of a sacred character, sung throughout by solo voices and chorus, to the accompaniment of a full orchestra, but-at least in modern times-without the assistance of scenery, dresses or action. I . A n c ie n t Oratorio I t is impossible to say when, where or by whom the first dramatic representation of a scene from Holy Writ was attempted. One of tho oldest examples of which we have any certain record is the 4 Festum asinorum,' celebrated at Beauvais and Sens, in the 12th century, and long remembered in connexion with a famous carol called the 4 Prose de l 'ane.' But it was not only in France that such representations found favour in the sight of the people. William FitzStephen mentions a Monk of Canterbury who wrote many Miracle- Plays during the reign of King Henry II ., and died in 1191 ; and we know, from other sources, that an English audience was always ready to greet entertainments of this description with a hearty welcome. The clergy also took them I under their especial protection, and retained their interest in them for so long a period, that, in 1378 the choristers of St. Paul's performed ihem regularly, under careful ecclesiastical superintendence. In other countries they attained an equal degree of popularity, but at a lomewhat later date. In Italy, for instance, we hear of a ' Commedia spirituale * performed for the first time at Padua in 1243, and another at Friuli in 1298; while * Geistliche Schauspiele ' first became common in Germany and Bohemia about the year 1322. The subjects of these primitive pieces were chosen for the purpose of illustrating certain incidents selected from the history of the Old and New Testaments, the lives of celebrated Saints, or the meaning of allegorical conceits, intended to enforce important lessons in Religion and Morality. For instance, ' II Conversione di S. Paolo ' was sung in Rome in 1440, and * Abram e t Isaac suo figluolo ' at Florence in 1449. Traces are also found of ' Abel e Caino * (1554), ' Sansone ' (1554), ' Abram et Sara ' (1556), ' II figluolo prodigo ' (1565), an allegorical piece, called ' La commedia spirituale dell' anima,' printed at Siena, without date (and not to be confounded with a very interesting work bearing a somewhat similar title, to be mentioned presently), and many different settings of the history of the Passion of our Lord. This last was always a very favourite su b je c t ; and the music adapted to it, combining some of the more prominent characteristics of ecclesiastical plain-song with the freedom of the secular chanson, was certainly not wanting in solemnity. Particular care was always taken with that part of the sacred narrative which described the grief of Our Lady at the crucifixion ; and we find frequent instances of the ' Lamentation ' of Mary, or of S. Mary Magdalene, or of The Three Maries. No great improvement seems to have been made in the style of these performances after the 14th century; indeed, so many abuses crept into them that they were frequently prohibited by ecclesiastical authority. But the principle upon which they were founded still ramained untouched, and the general opinion seemed to be rather in favour of their reformation than their absolute discontinuance. S. Philip Neri, the founder of the congregation of Oratorians, thought very highly of them as a means of instruction, and warmly encouraged the cultivation of sacred music of all kinds. On certain evenings in the week his sermons were preceded and followed either by a selection of popular hymns (see L a u d i S p i m t u a l i ) , or by the dramatic rendering of a scene from Scripture history, adapted to the comprehension of an audience consisting chiefly of Roman youths of the humbler classes, the discourses being delivered between the acts of the drama. As these observances were first introduced in the Oratory of S. Philip's newly built church of S. Maria in Vallicella, the performances themselves were commonly spoken of as Oratorios, and no long time elapsed before this term was accepted, not in Rome only, but throughout the whole of Europe, as the distinguishing title of the ' dramma sacro per musica.' S. Philip died in 1595, but the performances were not discontinued. While Peri and Caccini were feeling their way towards a new style of dramatic music in Florence, Emilio del Cavalieri was endeavouring with equal earnestness to attain the same end in Rome. With this purpose in view he set to music a sacred drama, written for him by Laura Guidiccioni, and entitled ' La rappresentazione dell' anima e del corpo.' The piece was an allegorical one, complicated in structure, and of considerable pretensions; and the music was written throughout in the stilo rapjrresentativo of which Emilio del Cavalieri claimed to be the originator. By a singular coincidence, the year 1600 witnessed the first performance, in Rome, of Emilio's * Rappresentazione ' and, in Florence, of Peri's ' Euridice.' The former was produced at the Oratory of S. Maria in Vallicella in the month of February, ten months before the appearance of ' Euridice ' at Florence. Emilio del Cavalieri was then no longer living, but he had left such full directions, in his preface, as to the manner in which the work was to be performed, that no difficulty whatever lay in the way of bringing it out in exact accordance with his original intention, which included scenes, decorations, action and even dancing on a regular stage (in palco). The principal characters were II Tempo (Time), La Vita (Life), II Mondo (the World), II Piacere (Pleasure), L' Intelletto (the Intellect), L' Anima (the Soul), II Corpo (the Body), two youths who recited the Prologue, and the chorus. The orchestra consisted of one lira doppia, one clavicembalo, one chitarrone and two flauti, ' o vero due tibie a ll' antica.' No part is written for a violin; but a note states that a good effect may be produced by playing one in unison with the soprano voices throughout. The orchestra was entirely hidden from view, but it was recommended that the various characters should carry musical instruments in their hands, and pretend to accompany their voices, and to play the ritor~ nelli interposed between the melodies allotted to them. A madrigal, with full instrumental accompaniment, was to take the place of the overture. The curtain then rose, and the two youths delivered the Prologue ; after which a long solo 1 was sung bv Time. The Body, when singing the words ' Se che hormai alma mia,' was to throw away his golden collar and the feathers from his hat. The World and Life were to be very richly dressed, but when divested of their ornaments, to appear very poor and wretched, and ultimately dead bodies. 1 Quoted in Bu rn ey 's History, iv. p . 91. 710 A great number of instruments were to join in the ritornelli. And, finally, it was directed that the performance might be finished either with or without a dance. ' If without,' says the stage-direction, * the vocal and instrumental parts of the last chorus must be doubled. But should a dance be preferred, the verse beginning Chiostri altissimi e stellaii must be sung, accompanied by stately and reverent steps. To these will succeed other grave steps and figures of a solemn character. During the ritornelli the four principal dancers will perform a ballet, embellished with capers (saltato con capriole) without singing. And thus, after each verse, the steps of the dance will always be varied, the four chief dancers sometimes using the Gagliarde, sometimes the Canario, and sometimes the Corrente, which will do well in the Ritornelli* The general character of the music will be readily understood from the following examples 1 of portions of a solo and chorus The occasion which immediately led to the second period of tho oratorio was the Canonisa- * See &Uo OjJ. H u t. Myu. vol. iii. p p . 87-40. tion of SS. Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier. In honour of this event Kapsberger set to music an Allegorical Drama, called ' Apotheosis, seu consecratio SS. Ignatii e t Francisci Xaverii,' which was several times performed at the Collegio Romano, with magnificent scenic decorations and full dramatio action, in the year 1622. The music of this piece, which is still extant, is miserably poor and so much inferior, both in originality and dramatic form, to the works of Monteverdi and other popular writers of the period, that it is impossible to believe it could have succeeded, had it not been for the splendour of the mise en scene with which it was accompanied. Another piece, on the same subject, entitled ' S. Ignatius Loyola,' was set to music in the same year by Vittorio Loreto. Neither the poetry nor the musio of this has been preserved, but Erythraeus * assures us that, though the former was poor, the latter was of the highest order of excellence, and that the success of the performance was unprecedented. Vittorio Loreto also set to music ' La pellegrina constante,' in 1647, and ' II sagrifizio d' Abramo,' in 1648. Besides these, mention is made of ' II Lamento di S. Maria Vergine,' by Michelagnolo Capellini, in 1627 ; ' S. Alessio,' by Stefano Landi, in 1634 ; ' Erminio sul Giordano,' by Michel Angelo Rossi, in 1637 ; and numerous oratorios by other composers, of which, in most instances, the words only have survived, none appearing to have been held in any great amount of popular estimation. An exception must, however, be made in favour of the works of Domenico Mazz o c c h i (q.v.), by far the greatest composer of this particular period, whose ' Querimonia di S. Maria Maddelena ' rivalled in popularity even the celebrated ' Lamento d' Arianna ' of Monteverdi. His oratorio, ' II martirio di SS. Abbundio ed Abbundanzio,' was produced in Rome in 1631 ; but his fame rests chiefly upon the ' Querimonia,' which when performed at S. Maria in Vallicella, by such singers as Vittorio Loreto, Buonaventura, or Maroantonio, drew tears from all who heard it. The following extract will be sufficient to show the touchingly pathetio character of this famous composition: S. Maria Maddelena. " * sangue, ma indarno We now come to Giovanni Carissimi. His first efforts were devoted to tho perfection of the sacred cantata, of which he has left us a multitude of beautiful examples; but he also wrote numerous oratorios, among which the best known are ' Jephte,' * Ezechias,' ' Baltazar,' ' Abraham e t Isaac,' ' Jonas,' ' Judicium Salomonis,' ' L'Histoire de Job,' ' La Plainte des damnes,' ' Le Mauvais Riche,' and ' Le Jugement Dernier.' These are all full of beauties, and, in 'Jep hte'1 especially, the composer has reached a depth of pathos which none but the greatest of singers can hope to interpret satisfactorily. The solo ' Plorate colies,' assigned to Jephtha's Daughter, is a model of tender ex pression ; and the echo, sung by two sopranos at the end of each clause of the melody, adds an inexpressible charm to its melancholy effect. I t was about this time that the spectacular representation began gradually to fall into disuse, though the dramatic character of the poem was still retained, with certain modifications, chief among which was the introduction of a personage called the ' Historicus,' to whom were assigned certain narrative passages interpolated between the clauses of the dialogue for the purpose of carrying on the story intelligibly in the absence of scenic action. This idea was no doubt suggested by the liturgical manner of singing the Passion during Holy Week. (See P a s s i o n M u s i c . ) Carissimi used this expedient freely, and his example soon led to its general adoption, both in Italy and Germany. Carissimi's most illustrious disciple-the only one perhaps whose genius shone more brightly than his own-was Alessandro Scarlatti, a composer gifted with talents so versatile that it is impossible to say whether he excelled most in the cantata, the oratorio or the opera. His sacred music, with which alone we are here concerned, was characterised by a breadth of style and dignity of manner which we cannot but regard as the natural consequence of his great contrapuntal skill. He gave to the aria a definite structure which it retained for more than a century-the well-balanced form, consisting of a first or principal strain, a second part, and a return to the original subject in the shape of the familiar ' Da Capo.' This symi Acceu(bl* Id modern reprints. Dou b ly the octavo edition of Novello. metrical system soon came into general use in every school in Europe. Scarlatti used rhythmic melody of this kind for those highly impassioned scenes which, in a spoken drama, would have been represented by the monologue, reserving accompanied recitative for those which involved more dramatic action combined with less depth of sentiment, and using recitativo secco chiefly for the purpose of developing the course of the narrative. Thus carefully planned, his oratorios were full of interest, whether regarded from a musical or a dramatic point of view. The most successful among them were ' I dolori di Maria sempre Vergine ' (Rome, 1693), ' II sagrifizio d' Abramo,' ' II martirio di Santa Teodosia,' and ' La Concezzione della beata Vergine ' ; but it is to be feared that many are lost, as very few of the composer's innumerable works were printed. Dr. Burney found a very fine one in MS. in the Library of the Chiesa Nuova at Rome, with 1 an admirable overture, in a style totally different from that of Lully,' and a song with trumpet obbligato. He does not mention the title of the work, but the following lovely melody seems intended to be sung by the Blessed Virgin bofore the finding of our Lord in the Temple : The publication (1905) of E. J. Dent's ex haustive monograph on Alessandro Scarlatti enables us to have a much clearer idea of the composer than was formerly possible. His researches have not unearthed the music of the above - mentioned ' I dolori di Maria sempre ?. Vergine ' and ' II sagrifizio d' Abramo,' which are ascribed to Alessandro Scarlatti by Fetis, Florimo and others ; possibly, however, the manuscripts may still be lying in one of the monastic libraries to which Dent was not able to procure access. Besides these two, three other oratorios are mentioned as having eluded his pursuit: but there remain eighteen ranging in date from a ' St. John Passion,' of about 1680, and ' Agar et Ismaele esiliati,' of 1683, to an unnamed oratorio of 1717 which Gevaert has entitled ' La Vergine addolorata.' Their subjects vary wid e ly : two are Passion oratorios, two others works for performance at Christmas, one a Latin oratorio on the subject of David, and several hagiological-some of a modern character concerning S. Philip Neri or S. Casimir, King of Poland. Many, again, are based on librettos in honour of the Blessed Virgin, ' La Santissima Annuntiata,' ' La Santissima Vergine del Rosario,' and so on ; though the general style of the words varies but little throughout the whole group of oratorios. The librettos, indeed, are in many respects very much akin to those of the operas ; and even the orchestration is sometimes very unecclesiastical, as in the above-mentioned Rosary oratorio, where ' Penitence ' has an air accompanied by a toy-nightingale, played as the performer may please. As Dent remarks : * except th a t the operas are in three acts and the oratorios in two, the only difference is in the absence of professedly comic characters, and of the formal statement in which the author protests th a t the words Fato, Dio, Deita, etc., aro only Scherzi poetici and imply nothing contrary to the Catholic Faith.' 1 Occasionally, however, as in the ' La Santissima Trinita,' which is simply a string of theological disputations between various allegorical characters, Scarlatti comes very close to the original hortatory standpoint of the oratorio performances of S. Philip Neri, on whose life one of the best of these works is based. They seem to vary much in quality ; some are tedious, not through any complexity (there is only one fugal chorus, in the early ' II martirio di Santa Teodosia,' in the whole group), but through absence of sincerity of touch, yet usually, when human interest is derivable from the words, Scarlatti is able to meet the demand. Dent quotes from the Assumption and Christmas oratorios some singularly delicate and fascinating music which gives rise to strong wishes that the complete works might be readily accessible: the air in which the hymns of the angels and shepherds in the stable at Bethlehem are depicted is particularly interesting as showing a close likeness, which can hardly be altogether accidental, to the ' Pastoral Symphony ' in Handel's ' Messiah.' Among the most popular of Scarlatti's contemporaries were D. Francesco Federici, who wrote two oratorios, ' Santa Cristina ' and * Santa Caterina de Siena,' for the Congregation of Oratorians, in 1676 ; Carolo Pallavicini, who dedicated * II trionfo della castitk * to Cardinal Ottoboni, about the year 1689; Fr. Ant. Pistocchi, whose ' S. Maria Vergine addolorata,' produced in 1698, is full of pathetic beauty ; Giulio d' Alessandri, who wrote an interesting oratorio called ' Santa Francesca Romana,' about 1690; and three very much greater writers-Caldara, Colonna and Stradella.1 Caldara composed-chiefly at Vienna-a large collection of delightful oratorios, most of which were adapted to the poetry of Apostolo Zeno and Metastasio. The most successful of these were ' Tobia,' ' Assalone,' ' Giuseppe,' ' Davidde,' ' La Passione di Gesii Cristo,' ' Daniele,' ' San Pietro a Cesarea,' ' Gesu presentato al Tempio,' ' Gerusalemme convertita,' and most especially ' Sisera,' which, as Zeno himself confesses, owed its reputation entirely to the beauty of the music. Colonna's style-especially that of his choruses-was broader and more dignified than Caldara's, and he did much towards raising the oratorio to the noble level it attained in the 18th century. But in point of natural genius there can be no doubt that Alessandro Stradella excelled all the best writers of this period. w. s. R . ; re v . w i th a d d n s . b y e . w. II. Mo d e rn Oratorio The point that these investigations have now reached is indeed the pivot of the whole history of oratorio. I t had its artistic birth in Italy simultaneously with opera ; and it at once gravitated in the direction of the sister form, and the two streams flowed side by side, their waters occasionally intermingling till at last they coalesced. Italian oratorio has indeed an exclusive history of its own ; it never spoke another language (though in its decay composers of other races handled it), and it never abandoned its intimate connexion with Italian opera. But the spirit that animated the great 16th-century religious liturgical music passed out of Italy with the birth of opera ; it met in Germany the spirit of the P assion M usic (q.v.), and the offspring of the two is modern oratorio. All unconsciously, but without any break, Palestrina and Victoria passed on the pure flame to Byrd and Gibbons, and they to Schiitz. We may say that all oratorio is religious recreation ; but, though the great men rose above the conception, Italian oratorio as a whole, from Cavalieri to Rossini, lays the stress on the recreation, while, though some of its exponents have fallen below their ideal, all other oratorio, from Schiitz to Elgar, lays the stress on the religion. Palestrina and Bach would cheerfully have persecuted each other as alien heretics, but they are spiritual brothers in their a r t ; Palestrina and Rossini were of the same blood and professed the same faith, but there is not the slightest real tie between them. I t is true that i Leo is sometimes grouped with these ; b u t as practically the whole of his life falls within th e limits of th e 18th century, he may perhaps be b e tte r considered separately. ORATORIO ORATORIO 713 what we may call modern oratorio was bom long before what we may call ancient oratorio had died ; and at times in the 18th century the path of the growing man came very near that of the dying child. But still the line of demarcation is there, and it is the central fact in the history of oratorio. The actual personal link between the great Italians of the 16th century and Schiitz was Giovanni Gabrieli, who received Schiitz at Venice as one of his pupils during the last three years of his life (1609-12). Gabrieli was a very remarkable composer of ruggedly sincere aims, who attempted to fuse the religious earnestness of the older generation both of Italians and Netherlanders with the technical methods of the operatic revolution, and produced in the process some most interesting works, though as he wrote nothing that can be called an oratorio, he remains outside the present investigation. Among his own countrymen he left no followers, but Schiitz imbibed a large measure of his spirit; and the six works that we may call oratorios (' Historia von der Auferstehung Jesu Christi,' ' Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz,' and four Passions, one according to each E vangelist), which he produced at intervals after his return to Germany, are the real first-fruits of German music. The influence of the old mystery play is no doubt present, as it was present in the earliest Italian oratorio ; but the whole conception is, nevertheless, different. There is no thought of the stage, no attempt at anything like a tune or at anything ' attractive ' ; the solemnity of the subjects is obviously the only thing present to his mind, and his sole aim is to represent them faithfully. E v o l u t i o n o f t h e G e rm a n S t y l e .- Sc h iitz wa s th e la s t c om p o s e r wh o wa s a t all s t ro n g ly in f lu en c ed b y th e t r a d i t io n a l mu s ic a l formulae of th e R om a n C h u rc h ; a n d in G e r m a n y th e influenc e of th e p la in - so n g q u ic k ly g a v e w a y be fore t h a t of th e C h o r a l (q.v.), which wa s e n t i re ly a n in d ig e n o u s p ro d u c t , a n d wa s in d e e d be in g t r e a t e d a s th e b a s is of c om p a r a t iv e ly e la b o ra te a r t i s t ic w o rk of th e m o te t ty p e e v e n b e fo re th e t im e of S ch iitz , th o u g h h is : own o ra to r io s sh ow n o re c o g n isa b le t r a c e s of a n y th in g of th e k in d . I n 1672, th e y e a r of S c h u tz 's d e a th , J o h a n n S e b a s t ia n i p ro d u c e d a t K o n ig sb e rg a P a s s io n o ra to r io in w h ic h all t r a c e of th e p la in -so n g h a d c om p le te ly d is a p p e a r e d ; a n d f rom t h a t t im e o nw a rd s G e rm a n mu s ic k n ew i t n o more , a p a r t f rom p a s s in g p u re ly a r t i s t ic re fe renc e s , a s in th e ' Credo ' of B a c h 's Mass in B min o r . B u t th o u g h i t is c e r ta in t h a t th e n o b le c h o ra l tu n e s we re mo re a n d mo re u s ed b y c om p o se rs-s om e t im e s in fa i r ly p la in , som e t im e s in h ig h ly e la b o r a te s e t t in g s 1-y e t we a re o f te n in th e e a r lie r t im e s le f t 1 I t must be confessed th a t Bach and all other adapters of chorales were th e reverse of purists. Luther and all his contemporaries and followers wrote their melodies in a flexible rh ythm th a t is as innocent of any sort of bar-fetters as plain-song itself ; and * considerable torturing process was often necessary before th ey without exact evidence as to the frequency of their introduction as congregational elements into the Passion oratorio, in the manner exemplified later on in Bach and Graun. Thus the two oratorios which are the greatest sacred works by a German composer between Schiitz and Bach-Keiser's settings of Brockes's favourite poem Der fu r die Silnde der Welt gemartete und sterbende Jesus, and Kcinig's poem Der zurn Tode verurtheilte und gekreuzigte Jesus, are extant only in selections entitled respectively ' Auserlesene Soliloquiae ' and ' Seelige Erlosungsgedanken,' which contain merely the contemplative numbers and the recitatives of the evangelist-narrator. Keiser, who was bom in 1673, the year after Schutz's death, and was consequently twelve years the senior of Bach and Handel, still remains a mere name to most p ersons: Schiitz and Buxtehude, the two greatest of the other great early Germans, have recently come to their own so far as publication is concerned, but Keiser still lacks due recognition. The above-mentioned extracts from his two masterpieces were, however, published by the composer himself, and undoubtedly express a very noble and very mature art. Bach's religious music is steeped through and through with the influence of these works, produced respectively in 1712 and 1715, just indeed at the time when he was passing out of his early rather stiff style into the enjoyment of his full powers ; and though of course it would be out of the question to make any real comparison between the total output of the two men, yet nevertheless there are pages in these works of Keiser which are quite worthy of tho younger composer in some of his very finest moods. Indeed, it would need considerable search before we could find six bars more full of supreme pathos than these that open a ' Soliloquium Mariae ' in ' Der gekreuzigte Jesus '- sung, no doubt, 1 molto adagio ed espressivo m e r t m einen Jammer -s tand, ih r d ie ih r k en n t, was could be fitted to the more modem conditions which were euppoeed to be indispensable which are followed by a sort of 1 accompanied recitative ' and an aria ' con affetto,' the whole forming a wonderful piece of the highest e x pressiveness and beauty. Or again, take from Lento. ^ the same work the close of the ' Chor der nachfolgenden or the air of the ' Fromme Schacher,' with its ' violette all' unisono, piano per vutta 1' aria,' playing chiefly reiterated notes with lovely tranquil effect-or indeed very many other things. ' Der gekreuzigte Jesus ' is on the whole considerably the finer of the two works ; but the earlier ' Der sterbende Jesus ' contains also some very beautiful numbers, such as the ' Soliloquium ' for the ' Tochter Zion '-' Die Rosencronen sonst der ranken Dornen Spitzen ' o-consisting of (a) a ' Cavata,' cantabile, in A major, (b) a recitative beginning in C and ending in A major, (c) a ' Larghetta ' in B minor, (d) a ' Da capo,' presumably the ' Cavata,' (e) a recitative beginning in F j minor and ending in A major, (/) an aria, canto cantabile, in D major, (g) two concluding bars for the tenor - evangelist. Keiser shows several examples of this sort of extended solo scena (which really finds its closest parallel in certain works of Pur cell) ; and though his oratorios are of course, in general scope and type, much smaller than those of Bach, yet in maturely artistic expression of notably fine ideas the best work of the older man need not be ashamed of the comparison. One of his most modern touches is his great fondness for nuances, like 1 cantabile,' ' con affetto,' and so on ; in later years, it is true, German religious musio degenerated into a good deal of mere sentimentality, but there is as little of that in Keiser as in Schiitz or Bach. We have now four oratorios from the pen of John Sebastian Bach-three Passion oratorios and a Christmas oratorio 1 : certainly a ' St. Mark Passion,' and most probably y e t another, have disappeared. Of the Passion oratorios, that ' according to St. Luke ' was regarded by Mendelssohn as spurious, but it is now generally accepted as a genuine but very early work ; i t is of but slight importance, and demands little more than historical mention. Of the other two great works the ' St. John Passion ' is the earlier, dating from 1724, five years before the ' St. Matthew Passion,' and is the more dramatic and the less reflective of the two ; in the ' Christmas Oratorio,' written in 1734, five years after the ' St. Matthew Passion,' the dramatic element is practically non-existent, the pastoral music being the only portion which is not, so to speak, evangelically mystical in outlook. The title is Bach's own, but the oratorio is really not a whole singly conceived work like each of the Passions, but a collection of six separate cantatas written for six separate holy-days, beginning with Christmas and ending with Epiphany. Telemann, who was Bach's senior by four years, and survived both him and Handel, wrote forty-four Passions, and many oratorios on other subjects, among which ' Der 1 The so-called Eut