‘The May Queen’ was written for the Leeds Festival of 1858 and, notwithstanding the poorly-written libretto by Henry F. Chorley, is replete with musical beauties of striking power. The solo parts are assigned to the May Queen (soprano), the Queen (alto), the Lover (tenor), and the Captain of the Foresters, as Robin Hood (bass). The story relates the celebration of May-Day in ancient times on the banks of the Thames, which is interrupted by a quarrel between the jealous and despondent lover of the May Queen and Robin Hood, who enters at the head of a band of rollicking foresters and openly makes love to the May Queen. The Queen enters, the lover is arrested for having struck the forester, the May Queen intercedes for his release and thereby reveals her affection for him, the forester is banished for having stooped to woo a peasant girl, the Queen orders the wedding of the May Queen and her lover on the following morning, and everything ends happily. The music (there are ten numbers in the cantata) is characterized throughout by utmost refinement and grace of expression and is distinctly individualized in respect to the different personages. The finest solos are the lament of the disconsolate lover (‘O meadow, clad in early green’) and the forester’s robust song (‘Tis jolly to hunt in the bright moonlight’). The chorus-writing is scholarly, always effective without over-taxing the singers, bright, spirited, and spontaneous. This cantata is to be numbered among the most beautiful compositions of this class. VIII