‘Song of Triumph.’--Brahms wrote his _Triumphlied_ in 1871 to commemorate the German victories and the consequent establishment of the German empire, and he dedicated it to Wilhelm I. Its first performance was at Vienna in 1872; a repetition occurred at Cologne in 1873 at the fifty-first Festival of the Lower Rhine. The text was adapted by the composer from the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. The work, consisting of three movements, was written for double chorus, orchestra and organ, together with two short baritone solos. A lively yet solemn prelude introduces the first number, at the close of which both choirs enter with the words ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!’ The principal theme of this movement is founded on an old German song, _Heil dir im Siegerkranz_. This part closes with a tremendous contrapuntal climax of Handelian proportions. The second part, like the first, has its prelude, followed by a short fugue, after which a new melody is introduced and sung antiphonally by the two choirs. The strongest climax occurs in the third movement. After a brief orchestral introduction a baritone solo is heard, ‘And behold then the heavens opened wide,’ to which the choruses reply, ‘And yonder a snow-white horse.’ Then the baritone sings, ‘And lo! a great name hath He written,’ following which the choruses utter the stately phrase, ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords,’ sung antiphonally with ever-increasing fervor and ending with the full power of voices, organ and orchestra, the stately effect of which is beyond description. The _Schicksalslied_ (‘Song of Destiny’) for chorus and orchestra, with text by Hölderlin, is a noble and expressive work, which received its first performance Oct. 18, 1871, at a concert given by the Carlsruhe Philharmonic Society, the composer conducting. The two ideas of death and eternal life are placed in juxtaposition and although these dominant ideas are dramatically balanced against each other, the close dispels the clouds and lets in a flood of light. Indeed the composer seems to open heaven itself to his hearers and to usher them in. While the poet morbidly depicts the existence of immortals on the one hand and suffering humanity on the other, Brahms, by introducing an orchestral prelude of great beauty, injects a new idea, namely, that there is hope for man and that he is not to be ruthlessly chained to uncertainty or lured by the Unknown. After dramatically setting forth the two conflicting ideas, in the development of which Brahms closely follows the poet in the music, he returns once more to the beautiful music of the introduction, which brings the hearers safely back again into an atmosphere of peace and hope and solace. It is a striking example of the power of instrumental music to change the effect produced by the poetic text.