ny others. From his
instrumental works also many charming bits have survived and still
please the public, such, for instance, as the famous "Largo." Of the
oratorios, his greatest are the "Messiah" and "Israel in Egypt." The
most complete biography of Haendel is that by Chrysander.

* * * * *

In order to appreciate the importance of Bach and Haendel in the history
of music, it is necessary to know something of the condition of the
world of music when they commenced to work in it. The music-making of
the world at that time had come from three original sources, and, in
spite of the vast increase in the number of composers and in the volume
of musical production, these streams had been kept, and still remained,
almost entirely distinct from each other.

At the foundation of all the art of music lies the folk-song--simple
melodies which spring up in every country and are easily learned, and
pass from one to another until they become current over large extents
of territory. The folk-song had its origin, most likely, in the dance;
and the dance, in turn, was an artistic evolution from the cadenced
chant, accompanied by a measured march, with which the early religious
services were performed. The folk-song of the nation naturally
disposed itself in the tonality most esteemed by the people, and,
accordingly, we find in some countries that most of the folk-songs are
in major tonality, while in others minor tonality prevails; the rhythm
being determined by the favorite dancing step of the people. Thus, in
Germany, many of the folk-songs are waltzes; in Spain, seguidillas; and
in Italy, tarantellas. The making of folk-songs must have gone on
continually through the spontaneous creation of new melodies by gifted
but untaught musicians in all parts of the musical world. These
melodies were seldom written down, but were passed from one to another
orally; and down to the time of Haendel and Bach very little recognition
of the folk-song as a possible element in art had been accorded by any
trained musician. This is not the place to trace the evolution of the
folk-song into more and more symmetrically disposed phrases and
agreeable relations of tonality. Enough to say that from the rather
slow and minor songs of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, folk-song
had blossomed out until, in the time of Bach, it had come to express
very much of the simple delights and sorrows of the natural people.

At the opp