(=Instrumentation.=) The marvellous subtleties of Strauss' instrumentation and the irresistible sweep and large contour of his orchestration have already been so thoroughly aired by prominent critics the world over, that there is little further to say beyond epitomizing in a few brief sentences the general consensus of opinion. Founding his art of scoring upon that of Berlioz and Wagner, Strauss evidently has also made a careful study of the means and methods of his eminent contemporary, Saint-Saëns, for the performances of "Samson et Dalila" at the Berlin Royal Opera, when controlled by Strauss' magnetic force, are a source of artistic delectation. The fundamental reason that makes his scoring so effective is his intimate acquaintance with the characteristics of each individual instrument even to the minutest detail of mechanical limitation or latent potentiality. Therefore his instrumentation pure and simple as distinct from orchestration _en masse_ is unhesitating and authoritative. In thus appreciating the imperative necessity for an exhaustive study of the instruments themselves, Strauss has done no more than to follow the precepts of his illustrious model, Wagner. Strauss would be entitled to but little credit had he not advanced beyond his master, for proportionately, Wagner established a far greater number of unalterable precedents than Strauss has since been able to add to. The criticism has been advanced that Strauss' demands upon the technique of the performers are excessive, and that he is given to force the instruments, and especially those of brass, into unnatural registers. Such points, however, would appear to be for the gentlemen of the orchestra to decide, and the enthusiasm and grim determination with which they overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties at rehearsal, and the suavity and verve with which the performances of his works by first-class orchestras are carried through, may be looked upon as tangible proof that Strauss knows what he is about. The performers may complain of the demands made upon them, but they realize that the page before them bears the impress of a master of instrumentation whose music is written with special regard for the very instrument they are playing,--can and must therefore be played. And they accordingly respect the author of their arduous though fascinating task. Finally, if the now childlike simplicity of Schubert's orchestration proved a stumbling block to the Viennese orchestra only fifty odd years ago (as stated on page 75), and furthermore Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" shared the same fate at a still more recent date, it will not be difficult to realize that Strauss fifteen years ago taxed the virtuosity of the performers with passages that are already no longer dreaded. As to the details of instrumentation, he has strengthened and elaborated upon the methods of his predecessors, assimilated the procedures of his contemporaries, besides resuscitating various obsolete instruments