Apart from the general assimilation of the innovating features due to Wagner and Liszt, the most striking factor in musical evolution of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been the rise of nationalistic schools of composition. These have deliberately cultivated the use of native folk-song and dance-rhythms, and in the case of operas and symphonic poems have frequently drawn upon national legend for subjects. One of the earliest of these groups was the Bohemian, whose leader, Smetana, already mentioned in connection with the symphonic poem, chamber and piano music, also won a distinguished place by his vivacious comic opera 'The Bartered Bride,' known abroad chiefly by its inimitable overture. If Dvořák promised to be a worthy disciple of a greatly talented pioneer, his abilities were diffused by falling a victim to commissions from English choral societies, and in endeavoring to emulate Brahms. In reality he was most significant when unconscious, as in the Slavic Dances and his naïve and charming Suite, op. 39, although his symphony 'From the New World' and certain chamber works based upon negro themes are as enduring as anything he composed. Hampered by a truly Schubertian lack of self-criticism, his path toward oblivion has been hastened by this fatal defect, although his national flavor and piquant orchestral color deserve a juster fate. In the Scandinavian countries Grieg, and, to a lesser degree, Nordraak, as well as Svendsen and Sinding tempered nationality with German culture. Grieg, the more dominant personality, was a born poet, and imparted a truly national fervor to his songs and piano pieces. In the sonata form he was pathetically inept, despite the former popularity of his chamber works and piano concerto. Certain mannerisms in abuse of sequence, and a too persistent cultivation of small forms, have caused his works to lose ground rapidly; nevertheless Grieg has given a poetic and nationalistic savor to his best music that makes it impossible to overlook its value.