Spohr (1784-1859) was a prolific composer in instrumental and vocal forms. His ‘Jessonda’ was regarded as one of the strongest early romantic operas and two of his three oratorios enjoyed a large measure of popularity during his lifetime and in subsequent years, particularly in England. His style was melodious, exceedingly chromatic and modulatory, but his musical powers lacked the ability for sustained flights. While his musicianship charms, one feels a certain discrepancy between the grandeur of some of his oratorio themes and his musical mode of handling them. The Handelian breadth and massiveness is absent. His three oratorios are ‘The Last Judgment,’ ‘Calvary’ and ‘The Fall of Babylon,’ the last named written for the Norwich (England) Festival of 1842. ‘The Last Judgment’ (_Die letzten Dinge_)--not to be confounded with an earlier, crude oratorio, _Das jüngste Gericht_, written in 1812--was composed in 1825 and first performed on Good Friday, 1826, at the Lutheran Church at Cassel. The first large performance was at the Rhenish Festival at Düsseldorf of the same year. Its first hearing in England was at the Norwich Festival, September 30th, 1830, and in America, at Boston, March 20th, 1843, when it was presented by the Handel and Haydn Society. The English title of the oratorio is misleading and was a mistranslation, confused with Spohr’s earlier work, of similar name but different meaning. There is no suggestion of the terrors of the last judgment in this oratorio. The text of the first part is given over wholly to the general thought of praise ‘unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever.’ The second part is concerned with those portions of Revelation that describe the signs of the last day, closing with St. John’s vision of a new heaven and a new earth. The first part contains among other numbers the well-known chorus, ‘All glory to the Lamb that died’; the admirable tenor solo and chorus, ‘Blessing, honor, glory and power,’ with a tranquil beginning and ending, but expanding into a well-written fugue in the middle; and the closing number, a beautiful quartet and chorus, ‘Lord God of Heaven and Earth.’ The second part begins with an orchestral introduction which graphically portends the signs and wonders of the last day. These are dramatically related in the following long bass recitative with vigorous, agitated accompaniment. After the powerful chorus, ‘Destroyed is Babylon,’ the vision of a new heaven and earth is proclaimed by the soprano, and three transitional numbers lead to the last movement, a majestic chorus, ‘Great and wonderful are all Thy works,’ which consists of a smooth introduction, a lively fugue, still another fugue (‘Thine is the kingdom’), followed by an exultant outburst of praise and the final Amen.