In Belgium contemporary choral composition since Peter Benoît has been influenced by the Neo-French school. We have G. L. Huberti’s _De laatste Zonnestraal_ (1892) and (in manuscript) _Verlichtung_ (1882), _Bloemardinne_ and ‘Death of William of Orange,’ A greater tone-poet is Émile Mathieu, with three secular choral works, _Le Hoyoux_, _Le Sorbier_ and _Freyhir_ (1893). Jan Blockx’s cantatas are mostly founded on national episodes. Among them are: _Vredezang_, _Het droom van’t paradies_, _Clokke Roelandt_, _Scheldezang_ (1903). The ‘Roland’ cantata is his best-known choral number. Edgar Tinel’s dramatic oratorio, _Franciscus_ (1888), is the greatest choral work the Flemish school has produced. It has been more fully noted in Chapter IX. III In Italy the renaissance of choral composition might be said to begin in 1898, with Don Lorenzo Perosi’s appointment as director of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. In his sacred trilogy, _La Passione di Cristo_, comprising (a) _La Cena del Signore_, (b) _L’Orazione del Monte_, (c) _La Morte del Redentore_ (performed for the first time at Milan, 1899, at the Italian Congress of Sacred Music), and in his oratorios, _La Transfigurazione del Nostro Signor Gesù Cristo_ (1898), _La Risurrezione di Lazaro_ (1898), _Il Natale del Redentore_ (1899), _Mosè_, and _Il Giudizio Universale_ (1903), all written in a style ‘made up of all styles and ranging from the Gregorian chant to the most modern modulations,’[91] he shows deep melodic instinct, richness of melodic invention, and a strong dramatic veritism which has done much to make them popular in Italy. ‘Each of the oratorios,’ to quote again the great French critic, ‘is really a descriptive mass, which from beginning to end traces out one dominating thought.’ Critics in general are still divided as to the ultimate value of his music; but its sincerity and strength of purpose are unquestioned.