_Miriam’s Siegesgesang._--This noble cantata, known in English as ‘The Song of Miriam’ or ‘Miriam’s War Song,’ was composed by Schubert in March, 1828, the last year of his short life. It was written for soprano solo and chorus to Grillparzer’s lines paraphrasing the part of the sixteenth chapter of Exodus that sets forth Miriam’s thanksgiving for the escape of the Israelites and the people’s song of triumph as they rejoice over their own deliverance and the destruction of the pursuing Egyptians. Schubert left it with only a pianoforte accompaniment, though intending to score it for orchestra. What death prevented him from doing was supplied a year or two later by his friend Franz Lachner, who at the time was kapellmeister at the Kärnthnerthor Theatre in Vienna. The date of its first performance is in doubt. Nottebohm gives it as January 30, 1829, the occasion being a benefit concert to raise funds for a monument in memory of the composer. A spirited solo and chorus (‘Strike the cymbals’) opens the work. This is followed by a graceful song in which the Lord is described as a shepherd leading his people out of Egypt. In the next number the awe of the Israelites is depicted as they pass unharmed through the divided waters, while Pharaoh’s hosts are engulfed behind them. The sea becomes calm again and the first chorus is repeated, closing with a majestic fugue (‘Mighty is the Lord at all times’). Though the cantata is short, it is replete with passages of enduring charm. * * * * * Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859), the celebrated violinist and composer of instrumental music and operas in a style intermediate between the old classical and the new romantic schools, left much choral music which, however, has quite largely lost its early vogue. In the shorter forms are three psalms for solos and double chorus; the Twenty-fourth Psalm for solos and chorus with pianoforte; the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Psalm for solos and chorus with organ or pianoforte; the Eighty-fourth Psalm (Milton) for solos, chorus, and orchestra; two hymns--‘St. Cecilia’ for soprano solo and chorus, and ‘God, thou art great’ (_Gott, du bist gross_) for solos, chorus, and orchestra; and a patriotic cantata, _Das befreite Deutschland_ (‘Free Germany’). III