The first part is divided into four scenes--‘Bethlehem,’ ‘Nazareth,’ ‘Lazarus’ and ‘The Way to Jerusalem.’ The second part contains two--‘Jerusalem’ and ‘At the Sepulchre.’ The first scene, dealing with the narrative of the shepherds, the announcement by the angel and the Magnificat sung by Mary, is introduced by a pastoral prelude which establishes the atmosphere of the scene. In the second scene, ‘Nazareth,’ are two very dramatic choruses, ‘Whence hath this man his wisdom?’ and ‘Is not this Jesus?’ It contains also an effective quintet, ‘Doubtless thou art our Father,’ and a well-written chorus, ‘He maketh the sun to rise,’ which is one of the finest in the work. The ‘Lazarus’ scene is darksome throughout, while ‘The Way to Jerusalem,’ strongly contrasted with the preceding, is festive in character and contains a beautiful three-part chorus for children’s voices, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ The first part closes with a massive ‘Hosanna’ chorus combined with a trio for female solo voices. The anger and dissension caused by the Lord’s sojourn in Jerusalem are dramatically depicted in an introduction which opens the second part and which is followed by an expressive baritone solo, ‘When the Son of Man shall come.’ This scene also contains a charming chorus for women’s voices, ‘The hour is come,’ and the expressive farewell of Jesus, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem.’ The crucifixion is not brought into the work except by indirect mention in a chorus and the work closes with the scene ‘At the Sepulchre,’ in which an angel tells the waiting Mary Magdalene that Christ has risen. This leads, after a tenor solo, to the final fugal chorus, ‘Him hath God exalted.’ Frederic Hymen Cowen (born 1852) wrote two oratorios that fall within this period--‘The Deluge’ (1878), and ‘Ruth,’ written for the Worcester Festival of 1887. The incidents of the familiar story of ‘Ruth’ (here called a dramatic oratorio) are grouped into two parts by the librettist, Joseph Bennett, and the composer has given throughout a pleasing, though not deep, musical setting to the text. VII Oratorio by native American composers is a very young product and practically dates from the composition of Paine’s ‘St. Peter,’ though several works with the title of oratorio had been written before this. Paine, however, was the first American to approach his task with an adequate equipment of ripe musicianship and knowledge of technical means of expression. As yet he has been followed in this field by comparatively few American composers, though many worthy works in cantata-form have been written.