Julius Benedict (1804-1885), an eminent German who made England his home during the last fifty years of his life, contributed frequently and successfully to the Norwich Festivals, of which he was the conductor from 1845 to 1878, inclusive. Here in 1860 his beautiful cantata ‘Undine’ was performed, in which the famous singer Clara Novello made her last public appearance. In 1863 at the same festival his cantata ‘Richard Cœur de Lion’ was produced and in 1866 ‘The Legend of St. Cecilia.’ The cantata ‘Graziella,’ intended for the Norwich Festival of 1881 but not completed in time, was produced at the Birmingham Festival of 1882. Of these cantatas, ‘The Legend of St. Cecilia’ is the most important. The poem, written by the English critic and author Henry F. Chorley, presents four characters--Cecilia (soprano), her husband, Valerianus (tenor), the Prefect of Rome (bass), and a Christian Woman (contralto)--and choruses of Roman citizens, Christians, and angels. It sets forth the wedding festivities, the conversion of Valerianus to Christianity by the angelic vision through Cecilia’s prayers, the discovery of his defection by the angry prefect of Rome who had just joined them in wedlock, his trial, the parting and finally the death of the pair--Valerianus by being beheaded and Cecilia by the slow martyrdom of the stake. Michael Costa (1808-1884), an Italian composer and conductor who lived in England after 1830, was closely identified with English choral music as conductor of the Birmingham Festivals from 1849 to 1882, as conductor of the Sacred Harmonic Society and the Handel Festivals from 1857 to 1880, in which latter capacity he wrote additional accompaniments to most of Handel’s oratorios, and as composer of two important oratorios which will be mentioned in a later chapter, and of several shorter choral works. His serenata, ‘The Dream,’ which was written to a poem by William Bartholomew for the marriage festivities of the Princess Royal of England to Prince Frederick William of Prussia, afterward Emperor Frederick, is a short and delightfully melodious composition for four solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. Oberon (bass) commands the fairies to prepare a car for Queen Mab (alto), who charms the eyes and ears of The Lady (soprano) so that she may in her dreams see the form and hear the tones of adoration of ‘her beloved lover’ (tenor). The principal numbers are a dainty and bright chorus of fairies (‘Make the car of a golden king-cup’), an impassioned serenade by the lover (‘O the joy of truly loving’), and a closing choral serenade (‘Lady, arise! look forth and see’), tuneful and sparkling.