and ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ A quiet closing chorus, ‘Thou, O Lord, art our Father,’ is sung by chorus and soloists. ‘The Music Makers,’ Elgar’s opus 69, published in 1912, is a setting of an ode by Arthur O’Shaughnessy for contralto solo, chorus and orchestra, the chorus bearing the brunt of the vocal work. An idea of the content is given in the first stanza: ‘We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by the lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;-- Word-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams; Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems,’ after which the achievements of the Music Makers are recited in the building of ‘the world’s great cities’ and the fashioning of ‘an empire’s glory.’ Especially significant is the stanza beginning: ‘A breath of our inspiration Is the life of each generation’; and concluding with: ‘Till our dream shall become their present, And their work in the world be done.’ The work opens with an orchestral prelude, very melodious and noble in style, which, after a strong climax, leads into the first chorus, ‘We are the music makers.’ This enters softly and rises to tremendous force at the words, ‘and shakers of the world for ever.’ The composition abounds in striking contrasts of dynamics and rhythm, and while portions of it are sung in a narrative manner, there are exceedingly dramatic passages and in these Elgar calls the orchestra to his aid most effectively. The whole work is grateful for singers and full of color. Possibly the loveliest part of it is the section comprising the fourth and fifth stanzas, beginning with the above quotation, ‘A breath of our inspiration,’ and including the first contralto solo and obbligato. III The elder composers, who first set the stream of English music in the direction of original forms of expression, have not been idle in the years since 1900. Alexander C. Mackenzie (born 1847) contributed to the Leeds Festival of 1904 a cantata, ‘The Witch’s Daughter,’ adapted from Whittier; Henry Coward (born 1852) composed ‘Gareth and Linet,’ a musical romance of large proportions based on Malory’s _Morte D’Arthur_ for the Sheffield Festival of 1902; and Frederick H. Cowen (born 1852) wrote for the Cardiff Festival of 1900 an oratorio, ‘The Veil,’ the text of which is taken from Robert Buchanan’s deeply mystical poem, ‘The Book of Orm,’ an apologia for the vindication of the ways of God to man, justifying death and sorrow and evil. The work is divided into the following sections: 1, The Veil Woven; 2, Earth the Mother; 3, The Dream of the World without Death; 4, The Soul and the Dwelling; 5, Songs of Seeking; 6, The Lifting of the Veil.