Henry K. Hadley (born 1871) is prominent among the group of younger Americans who have assiduously cultivated choral writing, having published seven or eight choral works of varying size, up to the present time (1915). His first cantata was ‘In Music’s Praise,’ which won the prize offered in 1901 by the Oliver Ditson Company, music-publishers. This was followed in 1904 by ‘A Legend of Granada,’ a cantata for women’s voices with soprano and baritone solos (words by Ethel Watts Mumford). Four other cantatas for women’s voices with various solo parts succeeded this one--‘The Fate of Princess Kiyo’ (1907), a legend of Japan (words by Edward Oxenford); ‘The Golden Prince’ (1914); ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ (1911); and ‘The Princess of Ys.’ Hadley’s longest choral work is the lyric drama ‘Merlin and Vivian’ (1907), to the poem by Ethel Watts Mumford, an ambitious composition calling for the full resources of solo, choral and orchestral forces. It is in three parts, whose scenes are laid respectively on the ‘Isle of Avalon,’ at King Arthur’s court, and at Castle Joyousguard. The characters are Morgan-le-Fay, the enchantress, Queen of Avalon; Vivian, the sorceress; King Arthur; Merlin, the enchanter, Arthur’s councilor; Adrihim, the spirit of the architect of King Suleiman; and Ariel, the spirit of music and light. Frederick Shepherd Converse (born 1871), after several orchestral works in the larger forms, entered the choral field with a composition of oratorio dimensions, ‘Job,’ a dramatic poem for solos, chorus and orchestra, which was composed for the fiftieth annual festival of the Worcester (Mass.) Musical Association in 1907. The text is taken from Job and the Psalms in the Vulgate. accompanied with an English paraphrase. The characters represented are Job, tenor; his Friend, baritone; a woman of Israel, mezzo-soprano; and the voice of Jehovah, bass; the chorus represents the voices of prayer and adoration. A preface to the work points out that ‘the dramatic motive of the poem is the development of the moods of Job, distress under suffering, rebellion, doubt, and final submissive understanding of the will of God. In emotional contrast with him is the Woman of Israel, who represents the spirit of unquestioning faith. The Friend stands, like the three friends of the Bible story, for the spirit of conventional piety. The chorus represents superhuman voices, which declare the glory of God; against their sustained mood of adoration and praise beats the contest of human emotions. The impersonal universal spirit of the chorus is conveyed in the music by simple diatonic harmonies, the warp upon which the solo parts are woven in modern chromatic design.’