_Rinaldo._--This cantata is written for tenor solo and male chorus to a text by Goethe and its value lies in the beauty of the choruses and in the intimate solos, expressive of the love which has filled the heart of the hero Rinaldo for the enchantress Armida. The poetic text, however, is rather vague and leaves too much to the imagination of the hearer. Armida, the heroine, does not appear at all nor does the ‘diamond shield,’ to which is assigned such an important function in rousing the enamored Rinaldo from his shame, and the music is not sufficiently definite to supply the hearer with the missing links. Especially effective is the closing chorus, which depicts Rinaldo, freed from the wiles of the enchantress and safe with the crusaders on their homeward journey. III The mastery of Max Bruch (b. 1838) over concert choral forms has won him a foremost place among German choral writers of the nineteenth century and his works are known and valued wherever choral music is cultivated. He combines fluent, pleasing melody with rare skill in handling and grouping his orchestral and vocal forces. His choral writing is always broad, dignified, impressive and vocally grateful. The list of his choral works is quite imposing. His larger works comprise the two oratorios _Moses_, opus 67, and _Gustav Adolf_, opus 73, both late compositions, and three epic cantatas, a form to which he gave especial attention. These three, which are frequently classed as secular oratorios, are _Odysseus_, opus 41, _Arminius_, opus 43, and _Achilleus_, opus 50. In addition he has produced a number of shorter compositions in cantata and choral ballad form. They are, in the order of their composition, ‘Frithjof Scenes’ for solos, male chorus and orchestra; ‘Fair Ellen’ for solos, chorus and orchestra; ‘Salamis, a Triumph-song of the Greeks,’ poem by H. Lingg, for solos, male chorus and orchestra; ‘Frithjof at His Father’s Grave’ for baritone solo, female chorus and orchestra; _Normannenzug_ for baritone, male chorus and orchestra; _Römische Leichenfeier_, text by Lingg, for chorus and orchestra; ‘The Lay of the Bell’ (_Das Lied der Glocke_) for solos, chorus and orchestra; ‘The Cross of Fire’ (_Das Feuerkreuz_) for solos, chorus and orchestra; and ‘Leonidas’ for male chorus and orchestra. He has also written several very attractive short sacred choruses, among them the _Jubilate, Amen_, opus 3, for soprano, chorus and orchestra, and ‘The Flight of the Holy Family’ for chorus and orchestra.