In this field, too, Max Reger, a Bavarian and a brilliant member of that South German group of composers among which Richard Strauss is the most prominent figure, has done notable work, though his creative activity has been displayed mainly along instrumental lines. A grandiose setting of ‘Psalm 100’ for mixed chorus, orchestra and organ; ‘12 Religious Folk-Songs of Germany’ for mixed chorus; three six-part _a cappella_ mixed choruses (opus 39) and a five-part _a cappella_ ‘Palm-Sunday Morning,’ to say nothing of his forty easy four-part songs for service use, and his choral cantatas for the great festivals of the Evangelical church year--all testify to his interest in choral music. Reger is a lover of elaborate counterpoint and recondite harmonic device and he, like Schumann, has been influenced largely by J. S. Bach and Brahms. From the former he has taken over the cult of traditional forms, from the latter he has learned to make use of the abounding treasure of folk-song inspiration, how to pour the wine of new ideas into the old formal bottles, and how to venture even into metaphysics in his search for exact expression. This is very evident in his secular choral works, in _An den Gesang_ (‘To the Genius of Song’), opus 21, for male chorus and orchestra; the _Gesang der Verklärten_ (‘The Song of the Glorified’), opus 75, for five-part chorus and orchestra; _Die Nonne_ (‘The Nun’), opus 112, for mixed chorus, orchestra and organ; and the imposing _Weihe der Nacht_ (‘The Consecration of Night’), opus 119, for alto solo, male chorus and orchestra, and _Römischer Triumphgesang_ ‘Roman Triumphal Song’, opus 126, for male chorus and orchestra. Reger, even in his earlier works, shows a tendency toward extreme complexity in structure and an excess of technical elaboration which is not counterbalanced by that strong control of imagination which makes for ultimate clarity. On the contrary, he heaps Pelion upon Ossa in harmonic daring and arbitrary modulation. And still his is not to be considered the last word in this respect in choral composition, for he has been out-Heroded by the Viennese composer Arnold Schönberg.