THE STANDARD ORATORIOS. Their Stories, their Music, and their Composers. A Handbook. By George P. Upton. 12mo, 335 pages, yellow edges, price, $1.50; extra gilt, gilt edges, $2.00. In half calf, gilt top $3.25 In half morocco, gilt edges 3.75 Music lovers are under a new obligation to Mr. Upton for this companion to his "Standard Operas,"--two books which deserve to be placed on the same shelf with Grove's and Riemann's musical dictionaries.--_The Nation, New York_. Mr. George P. Upton has followed in the lines that he laid down in his "Standard Operas," and has produced an admirable handwork, which answers every purpose that such a volume is designed to answer, and which is certain to be popular now and for years to come.--_The Mail and Express, New York_. Like the valuable art handbooks of Mrs. Jamison, these volumes contain a world of interesting information, indispensable to critics and art amateurs. The volume under review is elegantly and succinctly written, and the subjects are handled in a thoroughly comprehensive manner.--_Public Opinion, Washington_. The book is a masterpiece of skillful handling, charming the reader with its pure English style, and keeping his attention always awake in an arrangement of matter which makes each succeeding page and chapter fresh in interest and always full of instruction, while always entertaining.--_The Standard, Chicago_. The author of this book has done a real service to the vast number of people who, while they are lovers of music, have neither the leisure nor inclination to become deeply versed in its literature.... The information conveyed is of just the sort that the average of cultivated people will welcome as an aid to comprehending and talking about this species of musical composition.--_Church Magazine, Philadelphia_. _Sold by all booksellers, or mailed on receipt of price, by_ A. C. McCLURG & CO., PUBLISHERS. THE STANDARD CANTATAS. Their Stories, their Music, and their Composers. A Handbook. By GEORGE P. UPTON. 12mo, 367 pages, yellow edges, price, $1.50; extra gilt, gilt edges, $2.00. In half calf, gilt top $3.25 In half morocco, gilt edges 3.75 * * * * * The "Standard Cantatas" forms the third volume in the uniform series which already includes the now well known "Standard Operas" and the "Standard Oratorios." This latest work deals with a class of musical compositions, midway between the opera and the oratorio, which is growing rapidly in favor both with composers and audiences. As in the two former works, the subject is treated, so far as possible, in an untechnical manner, so that it may satisfy the needs of musically uneducated music lovers, and add to their enjoyment by a plain statement of the story of the cantata and a popular analysis of its music, with brief pertinent selections from its poetical text.