heme is given to the flutes and oboes; after a powerful
climax, and a beautiful subsidence of the storm in the lower
strings, the second subject appears in the relative major
with honeyed lyricism. The conclusion, which is made rather
elaborate by the latter-day symphonists, is reduced to a
brief modulation by Mr. Chadwick, and almost before one knows
it, he is in the midst of the elaboration. It is hard to say
whether the composer's emotion or his counterpoint is given
freer rein here, for the work is remarkable both for the
display of every technical resource and for the irresistible
tempest of its passion. In the reprise there is a climax that
thrills one even as he tamely reads the score, and must be
overpowering in actual performance: the cheerful consolation
of the second subject provokes a cyclonic outburst of grief;
there is a furious climax of thrilling flutes and violins
over a mad blare of brass, the while the cymbals shiver
beneath the blows of the kettledrum-sticks. An abrupt silence
prepares for a fierce thunderous clamor from the tympani and
the great drum (beaten with the sticks of the side-drum).
This subsides to a single thud of a kettledrum; there is
another eloquent silence; the English horn returns to its
first plaint; but grief has died of very exercise, and the
work ends in a coda that establishes a major harmony and
leaves the hearer with a heart purged white and clean.

The "Melpomene" overture is a work of such inspiration and such
scholarship that it must surely find a long youth in the chronicle of
our music.

_Arthur Foote._

[Illustration: ARTHUR FOOTE.]

[Illustration: Autograph of Arthur Foote]

The nearest approach Americans make to the enthusiastic German
_Maennerchor_ is in the college glee clubs. The dignity of their
selections is not always up to that of the Teutonic chorus, but they
develop a salutary fondness for color and shading, exaggerating both a
little perhaps, yet aiming at the right warmth and variety withal.
Even those elaborate paraphrases and circumlocutions of Mother Goose
rhymes, to which they are so prone, show a striving after dramatic
effect and richness of harmony, as well as a keen sense of wit and
humor that are by no means incompatible with real value in music.

Among their other good deeds must be counted the fostering of the
musical ambitions of Arthur Foote,