is returned by the warrior, and disguised as a youth the princess follows
him on his expedition against Caracul, King of Lochlin. On the day of the
battle Fingal places her on a height, near the shore of the Carun, whence
she can overlook the fight, and promises her if victorious that he will
return at evening. Comala, though filled with strange forebodings,
hopefully waits her royal lover's coming. As the tedious hours pass on a
fearful storm arises, and amid the howling of the blast the spirits of
the fathers sweep by her on their way to the battlefield to conduct to
their home the souls of the fallen,--the same majestic idea which Wagner
uses with such consummate power in his weird ride of the Valkyries.
Comala imagines that the battle has been lost, and overcome with grief
falls to the ground and dies. The victorious Fingal returns as evening
approaches, accompanied by the songs of his triumphant warriors, only to
hear the tidings of Comala's death from her weeping maidens. Sorrowing he
orders the bards to chant her praises, and joining with her attendants to
waft her departing soul "to the fathers' dwelling" with farewell hymns.

The cantata is almost equally divided between male and female choruses,
and these are the charm of the work. Many of the songs of Comala and her
maids are in graceful ballad form, fresh in their melody, and marked by
that peculiar refinement which characterizes all of Gade's music. The
parting duet between Fingal and Comala is very beautiful, but the
principal interest centres in the choruses. Those of the bards and
warriors are very stately in their style and abound in dramatic power,
particularly the one accompanying the triumphal return of Fingal. The
chorus of spirits is very impressive, and in some passages almost
supernatural. The female choruses, on the other hand, are graceful,
tender, and pathetic; the final full chorus, in which the bards and
maidens commend the soul of Comala to "the fathers' dwelling," has rarely
been surpassed in beauty or pathos. The music of the cantata is in
keeping with the stately grandeur and richly-hued tones of the Ossianic
poem. The poetry and music of the North are happily wedded.

Spring Fantasie.

Though the "Spring Fantasie" is in undoubted cantata form, Gade
designates it as a "Concertstueck;" that is, a musical composition in
which the instrumental parts are essential to its complete unity. Its
origin is unquestio