The Agnus Dei is a soprano solo, ornamented with many passages, all alike truly and simply conceived and full of grace.[40] The chorus takes up the Agnus Dei at the third repetition, and brings the movement to a calm conclusion, making use of the solo motif altered and simplified. The "Finis, I.O.D.G.," inscribed by Mozart, contrary to his custom, at the end of his score, show that he set considerable store by this truly admirable work. The second Litany in E flat major (243 K.), composed in {LITANY IN E FLAT MAJOR, 1776.} (273) March, 1776, also a carefully worked-out piece of music, displays the same arrangement. The operatic treatment of some of the parts is more conspicuous, because its tinsel glitter is in more marked contrast to the mature earnestness of the work as a whole. The Kyrie, expressive of mild calm, relieved by the agitation of the accompaniment, is simple in plan and execution. Solo and chorus alternate; the principal motif recurs at the end, after a middle part of smaller motifs grouped together. The Miserere is delicately shaded and finely expressed. After such harmonious renderings of a calm and collected mood, we are surprised by the words "Panis vivus" as an elaborate tenor song, altogether in the style of opera seria. In the succeeding movements, where the text seldom lends itself readily to musical adaptation, the hand of the master is visible in the admirable grouping of the larger sections and of the separate subjects, not less than in the true and beautiful expression of sentiment, and in the finely graduated and shaded unity of tone. The words "Verbum caro factum" are used as a solemn introduction; the Miserere has-a fine effect, commencing without an accompaniment, as if moaned forth from an overburdened breast, then increasing in intensity to a cry of anguish, and gradually sinking back into itself. The next succeeding Hostia sancta stands out against this dark background, its general tone as mild and consolatory as that of the Kyrie. Solemn grandeur predominates again in the Tremendum ac vivificum sacramentum, where the words "Tremendum" and "vivificum" are not separated, but are compacted into a connected, symmetrical movement with the words "Panis omnipotentia verbi caro factus, incruentum sacrificium, cibus et conviva." The disposition of the harmonies is in strongly marked but cleverly arranged opposition, intensified by the orchestra; the stringed instruments elaborate a forcible passage, opposed by the united oboes, horns, bassoons, and trombones. This noble and deeply impressive movement stands alone, both as to form and intention. The next following, "Dulcissimum convivium," a soprano solo resembling a cavatina, is soft and tender in expression, and pre-eminently operatic; the charm {CHURCH MUSIC.} (274) of style, displayed also in the careful accompaniment, does not compensate for fundamental weakness.