Shortly after taking the Abt Society prize, he won three offered by
the Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York, and in 1884 he took the $1,000
prize offered by the Cincinnati Festival Association.

This last was gained by his setting of the Forty-sixth Psalm for
soprano solo, chorus, and orchestra. The overture opens with a noble
andante contemplatif, which deserves its epithet, but falls after a
time into rather uninteresting moods, whence it breaks only at the
last period. The opening chorus, "God Is Our Refuge and Strength,"
seems to me to be built on a rather trite and empty subject, which it
plays battledore and shuttlecock with in the brave old pompous and
canonic style, which stands for little beyond science and labor. It is
only fair to say, however, that A.J. Goodrich, in his "Musical
Analysis," praises "the strength and dignity" of this chorus; and
gives a minute analysis of the whole work with liberal thematic
quotation. The psalm, as a whole, though built on old lines, is built
well on those lines, and the solo "God Is in the Midst of Her" is
taken up with especially fine effect by the chorus. "The Heathen
Raged" is a most ingeniously complicated chorus also.

The cantata, "Prayer and Praise," is similarly conventional, and
suffers from the sin of repetition, but contains much that is strong.

Of the three prize male choruses written for the Mendelssohn Glee
Club, the "Ode to the Sun" is the least successful. It is written to
the bombast of Mrs. Hemans, and is fittingly hysterical; occasionally
it fairly shrieks itself out. "In Autumn" is quieter; a sombre work
with a fine outburst at the end. "The Journey of Life" is an andante
misterioso that catches the gloom of Bryant's verse, and offers a good
play for that art of interweaving voices in which Gilchrist is an
adept.

"The Uplifted Gates" is a chorus for mixed voices with solos for
sopranos and altos; it is elaborate, warm, and brilliant. In lighter
tone are the "Spring Song," a trio with cheap words, but bright music
and a rich ending, and "The Sea Fairies," a chorus of delightful
delicacy for women's voices. It has a piano accompaniment for four
hands. In this same difficult medium of women's voices is "The
Fountain," a surpassingly beautiful work, graceful and silvery as a
cascade. It reminds one, not by its manner at all, but by its success,
of that supreme achievement, Wagner's song of the "Rhinemaidens."
The piano accompaniment to Gilchrist's choru