In another of Scarlatti’s oratorios, _Sedecia, rè di Gerusalemme_[72] (1706), we meet with a splendidly effective use of orchestral means--always remembering that the orchestra of that day was not our present one. The introductory _sinffonie_ is here nothing more or less than a violin concerto[73] in disguise, and the orchestra--consisting of obbligato and second violins, trumpets, tympani (especially prominent in the military music in Part I of the work) and oboes--takes an important part in the musical development from beginning to end. Among the vocal numbers might be instanced a particularly expressive duo between Anna and her son Ishmael (accompanied by an obbligato oboe); an aria of Ishmael’s, accompanied by two solo violins, and Sedecia’s two arias in Part II. In this oratorio in particular, Scarlatti speaks with the accents of a master who is consciously striving toward the realization of a new ideal. It offers striking proof of the fact of how great Scarlatti might have become as a composer of oratorio had not opera so largely preëmpted his best efforts. The closing movement of _Sedecia_, a five-part chorus on broad lines, with incidental solo-quartet sections, recalls in its style the magnificent triumphal choruses of Handel’s oratorios. _S. Casimiro, rè di Polonia_ (1713) also contains arias of great beauty; and written during the master’s last period of creative activity, _La Vergine addolorata_ (1717) must be considered one of his finest works. A ‘Lament of Mary’ printed by Raf. Carreras in his _El Oratorio Musical_ (1906), p. 188, approaches Bach in power and expressiveness. The austere and serious power which Scarlatti infused into his sacred music was not attained by his immediate successors and contemporaries. But the master’s predilection for brilliancy and effect, when we compare his music with that of Purcell, though its greater dramatic interest and movement is incontestable, brought about, perhaps, a less degree of emotional expression and a less intimate touch in the portrayal of mood pictures. Alessandro Stradella, born in Naples about 1645, was not as prolific a writer as Scarlatti, yet he left over 150 works (among them ten operas and eight oratorios) at the time of his early death--he is supposed to have been murdered in Genoa in 1681. He has much in common with Scarlatti. In Stradella’s works we find the same recurring suggestion of Handelian breadth and strength, and in general that freedom and grandeur of conceptive outlook which stamps the great composer.