Much might be said of his one Catholic work, the _Lauda Sion_, composed in
1846 for the feast of Corpus Christi at Liège, very beautiful in spite of
the dry dogmatic Latin text, strange text for him! Much, too, of the three
Motets for female voices; of the Hymn: "Hear my Prayer," with its soaring,
bird-like soprano solo: "O for the wings of a dove!" of his masculine,
strong settings of eight or ten of the Psalms, mostly for chorus with
orchestra, with their Old Testament flavor; and of numerous smaller sacred
compositions.
Of course so sensitive a nature, subject to many moods, quick to take
impressions and to turn them into music, was prolific in songs with piano
accompaniment. From his earliest composing days, at intervals throughout
his life, he produced sets of _Lieder_ and duets, to the number of
ninety or more. They are all musical, refined, full of feeling, some of
them strikingly original; but before the few great ones of Beethoven,
the numberless songs of Schubert, those of Schumann, and above all
Robert Franz, they retreat into the shade. Yet they have been favorites
in musical homes and concert rooms, especially in England, where they
introduced the love of German song, tempting many feeble imitators, while
awakening there some worthier responses from the kindred spirit, Sterndale
Bennett.
More truly original, with more marrow in them, and more of the enduring
quality, are his four-part songs, both for mixed and for male voices.
These have been the staple and the best material on which the Liedertafeln
all over Germany, and the part-song clubs of England and America have
built. After more pretentious, ingenious, sensational part-songs of later
origin, it is always refreshing to hear one of them; for they are sincere
music, thoroughly artistic, with heart and soul and poetry in them. With
them we may mention several larger pieces for male chorus, such as he
composed to Schiller's Ode "To the Artists," with accompaniment of brass.
The exhortation of the music is worthy of the poem; male choirs feel well
when they lift their voices in a strain so manly and so edifying.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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