Part songs have been written either for sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses, or for male or female voices only. Many are in the ballad form, in which the same music is repeated to any number of verses; others are more elaborate, and contain portions allotted to solo voices, or to a single voice accompanied by a chorus. Part songs may be set to either secular or sacred poems. Schubert’s, Weber’s, and Mendelssohn’s contributions to this form of music are of great value and of wonderful variety. Those of the latter helped to revive the taste for part music in England, and assisted in the foundation of the many classes and smaller choral societies which nowadays are in existence all over the country, from Penzance to the north of Scotland, and the formation of which creates the demand in our country for composition of this kind. Amongst modern English writers may be named Henry Smart, Sullivan, Samuel Reay, Barnby, Macfarren, Miss Macirone, Eaton Faning, and last and greatest, J. L. Hatton. I might add to this list many names, for the making of part songs is without end. Whether in two, three, or more parts, the part song should be sung by a number of voices, the proportion, of course, being carefully balanced. I must tell you before I finish that there are also many duets, trios, and quartets which do not come within the range of the part song, it being intended that they shall be rendered by a single representative of each part, but many of these are extracted from works in which each part is taken by one of the _dramatis personæ_. Such excerpts we cannot include in our consideration of complete works. In my next sketch I hope to conclude the subject of vocal forms, and to turn your attention to instrumental varieties. (_To be continued._) FOOTNOTES: [1] Discant—Counter-melody. VARIETIES. MUSIC RUN MAD. “Yes,” says Heine, writing of the piano, “the piano is the instrument of martyrdom whereby the present elegant world is racked and tortured for all its affectations. If only the innocent had not to endure it with them! (Alas! my neighbours next door, two young daughters of Albion, are at this moment practising a brilliant study for _two left_ hands.) “These sharp, rattling tones, without a natural ‘dying fall’—these heartless, whirling tumults—this archi-prosaic rumbling and tinkling—this pianoforte mania kills all thought and feeling, and we grow stupid, insensible, and imbecile. This hand-over-hand dexterity of the piano—these triumphal processions of piano _virtuosi_—are characteristic of our time, and prove utterly the triumph of mechanical power over the soul. Technical ability, the precision of an automaton, identification with the wire-strung wooden machine—this sounding instrumentification of humanity, is now lauded and exalted as the highest attainment of man.” ENDLESS LABOUR. “Some respite to husbands the weather may send; But housewives’ affairs have never an end.” —_Tusser._