Naturally, the harmonic structure of _Jephta_ and the companion oratorios of Carissimi seems almost pathetically simple to the modern ear, accustomed to the richness of chromatic harmonization. His modulations, save in a few instances, such as the chorus _Abit in montes_ of _Jephta_, are restricted to the keys of the upper and lower dominant. This lack, however, was not perceptible to listeners of the composer’s own generation. They enjoyed the rhythmic vitality and dramatic truth of his works, the vivid descriptive quality of the shipwreck music in _Jonas_, the idyllic charm of the two-voice movements to which the playmates of Jephthah’s daughter dance their rounds. And in _Jephta_ the composer often gained a depth of pathos worthy of a really great singer’s rendering. Such a number is the _Plorate colles_, a model of expressive writing. It was from this _Plorate_ that Handel borrowed twelve measures to use in ‘Hear, Jacob’s God,’ in his ‘Samson.’ All in all, Carissimi may be held to have laid down the lines along which the Handelian oratorio was later to develop. As a contrapuntal writer his great merit lay in the adaptation of the polyphonic idea to the new conceptions of tonality. He stands for the introduction of a more serious musicianship in oratorio work, and his influence was noticeably great and made itself felt in the works of his successors up to Handel’s time. Among these men who carried on his work (though often they were mainly active in the operatic or instrumental fields), two in particular stand forth, Alessandro Stradella (d. 1681) and Alessandro Scarlatti (d. 1725). These two men, in a manner, sum up the activity of many others, of Provencale, Vitali, Colonna, Leonardo Leo, G. B. Bononcini, Bassani, Ristocchi and Polaroli in Italy; of the Italian musicians in Vienna--Bertali, Draghi, Ariosto, Badia and M. A. Bononcini; and in Munich, Pietro Tosi. All of these composers wrote oratorios between the years 1650 and 1750 and developed in them the principles of Carissimi with more or less originality and success. III