‘As the Hart Pants.’--Mendelssohn’s setting of the Forty-second Psalm was first presented at a Gewandhaus concert in Leipzig in 1838. It is smaller in form than the ‘Walpurgis Night,’ but is symmetrical and artistic. A sustained introduction leads to a chorus, tender and full of passionate longing, ‘As the hart pants after the water brooks, so panteth my soul for Thee, O God,’ in which the highest point among the choral portions of the work is reached. A beautiful adagio melody is given out by the oboe and repeated as a soprano solo, ‘For my soul thirsteth for God.’ The third number, ‘My tears have been my meat,’ given as a soprano recitative, leads to a march-like chorus for women’s voices, ‘For I had gone with the multitude.’ The male voices then sing in unison ‘Why, my soul, art thou cast down?’ and the female voices answer, ‘Trust thou in God.’ A pathetic soprano recitative follows, beginning ‘O my God! My soul is cast down within me.’ The eighth number is sung by a male quartet with string accompaniment, ‘The Lord will command His loving-kindness in the daytime,’ a beautiful response full of hope and consolation; while through it is heard the saddening strain of the soprano. The closing full chorus repeats the fourth number, ‘Trust thou in God,’ more elaborately developed, and ending in a pæan of praise to God. This Psalm-cantata is one of the finest as well as most frequently performed of Mendelssohn’s shorter choral works and breathes throughout a deeply religious feeling couched in terms of refined romantic sentiment.