the Hamburg opera remained worthy of the services of a Handel or a Mattheson. [Illustration: FIRST SCENE IN KEISER’S OPERA OF “HANNIBAL.” ] John Mattheson was a Hamburger by birth, and began his musical career as a singer at the opera. He made his last appearance in that capacity in Handel’s “Nero” in 1705. Mattheson was a man of remarkable versatility of talent. He was a very prolific composer, but did not possess great originality nor depth of conception. He was a good actor, singer, and a finished performer on the harpsichord. As a literary musician he still holds an eminent place. He used his facile pen in the composition of an opera, or passion, or in the preparation of a musical essay; also in the translation of some such pamphlet as that on “The Properties and Virtues of Noble Tobacco.” His music, which once found so many enthusiastic admirers, is no longer performed, but his writings are still of value to students of musical literature. His most famous books are “The Complete Art of Conducting,” “The Newly Opened Orchestra,” and the “Triumphal Arch.” The last is especially valuable as a source of information concerning the lives of musical artists. These works have a place in every complete musical library. A more gifted musician was Georg Philipp Telemann, who was born four years earlier than Handel and Bach. Telemann was the last famous composer for the Hamburg theatre. His works are more distinctly German than the majority of those of the period, which was thoroughly under the influence of Italy in all matters pertaining to opera Telemann’s name marks the decline of the Hamburg stage. The time was not yet ripe for a distinctively national style of opera. It was destined for Gluck and Mozart, half a century later, to reform and develop German opera.