of his operatic method to Moussorgsky, and that of his orchestration to Rimsky-Korsakoff. Now we know whence comes his impressionism. In spite of this poverty of invention he merely remains the most notable and the most profoundly musical of the composers of to-day. As for M. Fanelli, there are, to my knowledge, few French composers of his generation who could in 1883 be compared with him for boldness of orchestration and strength of inspiration. (Translation).

At the 1891 Handel Festival a 'Gloria Patri' for double chorus and double orchestra was performed, the parts having been copied from a MS. score in the possession of Dr. Cummings, containing this movement in isolated form. In the Monthly Musical Record for June, 1897, an article appeared, signed T. W. Bourne,' in which the writer gave convincing reason for supposing that this 'Gloria' was really the final movement of the Nisi Dominus'; and later on the Psalm with this ending was published by Messrs. Novello under the editorship of Mr. Bourne. Messrs. J. Pearson & Co., of 5, Pall Mall Place, S.W., now have among other interesting and valuable musical autographs a Concertino band part of this Psalm in the composer's handwriting, in which the double 'Gloria' appears as the concluding movement so now, if any doubt previously existed on the point, it may be considered to be finally removed. The MS. bears no signature, but this would not be expected on a band part. The title reads:

CONCERTINO

NISI DOMINUS

a 5 con V.V.

DEL SIGNOR G. F. HENDEL.

The first word denotes that the part is for the 'Concertino,' as opposed to the 'Ripieno,' band; it is as a matter of fact for the leading first and second violins, the bass and vocal parts being in places added as cues. As some misunderstanding has arisen as to the meaning of the third line of the title, 'a 5 con Violini,' it may be well to add that it means 'for five voices with accompaniment of Strings,' and was the usual way of denoting the nature of such a work in Italian MSS. of the period, the numeral in each case being made to correspond with the number of voices employed in the work described.

In the Spectator of February 8, 1712, we find the following announcement: 'Whereas Messrs. Abraham Jordan, Senior and Junior, have, with their own hands (joynery excepted), made and erected a very large organ for St. Magnus Church, at the foot of London Bridge, consisting of four setts of keys, one of which is adapted to the art of emitting sounds by swelling the notes, which never was in any organ before; this instrument will be publicly opened on Sunday next, said Abraham Jordan gives notice to all Masters and the performance by Mr. John Robinson. The above Performers that he will attend every day next week at the said church to accommodate all those gentlemen who shall have a curiosity to hear it.'

in the building of this organ by Christopher Schreider According to Mr. Henry Leffler, Jordan was assisted (son-in-law of Father Schmidt). Mr. Leffler gives the specification of St. Magnus' organ as he found it

in 1795:

THE HISTORICAL ORGAN IN THE CHURCH OF ST. MAGNUS-THE-MARTYR, LONDON BRIDGE.

MR. G. F. SMITH, ORGANIST OF ST. MAGNUS. (From a Photograbh by Arthur Weston, 16 & 17, Poultry, E.C.)

Swell (8 stops)-Op. Diap., 32 pipes; Stop. Diap., 32; Prin., 32; 12th, 32; 15th, 32; Tierce, 32; Trumpet, 32; Clarion, 32.

Choir (5 stops)-Op. Diap., 52 pipes.; Stop. Diap., 52; Flute, 52; 15th, 52; Vox Humana, 52.

St. Magnus's Church is chiefly famous on account of its organ, the gift of Sir Charles Duncombe, Lord Mayor of London, 1708, and Alderman of the Ward of Bridge. (Charles Duncombe was born in 1648, and was apprenticed to Alderman Backwell, the leading A very fine old organ. 1795 organist-Mr. Cook. goldsmith of London at that time. Duncombe Dr. W. B. Gilbert, in his 'Antiquities of Maidstone, remained a City banker till 1695, when he purchased shows that the Jordans were an ancient family located the estate of Helmsley, in Yorkshire, which had been in that town as early as the 15th century. He says: bestowed by the House of Commons on Fairfax. 'Thomas Jordan resided (in 1477) at the ancient family After his retirement from business he took an active seat in Stone Street, called for some centuries part in politics, and was returned for the Borough of "Jordan's Hall." Many members of the family have Downton, in Wiltshire, which he represented from at various times been concerned in the affairs of 1695 to 1698, and again in 1702 till his death. At a Maidstone, and one of the Jordans in the last century cost of £600 he erected a 'curious dyall,' which was a distiller in the town. Having a genius for projects from the front of the steeple of St. Magnus,' organ-building, he removed to London, where he made in remembrance of having himself, when a boy, being detained on this spot, ignorant of the time.) This historical instrument, built in 1712, contained the first nag's head swell, which was introduced by its inventor, Abraham Jordan.

many fine instruments.'

Mr. J. W. Billinghurst, who inspected this organ in May, 1855, says that it was repaired in 1825 by Parsons, and again in 1850-51 by Gray & Davison. By 1855 the specification recorded sixty years

Pedal (four stops): Sub-bass, 32-ft. tone; Open diapason, 16 ft.; Bourdon, 16-ft. tone; Trombone, 16 ft.

Couplers (seven): Great to Pedal; Swell to Pedal; Choir to Pedal; Swell to Great; Swell sub-octave to Great; Choir sub-octave to Great; Great octave Accessories: three composition pedals to Great; four composition pedals to Swell; Tremulant to Swell (by pedal).

Dr. C. Steggall, organist to the Hon. Soc., Lincoln's Inn, and harmony under Sir John Goss. He was appointed organist of St. Barnabas', South Lambeth, 1871; Mare Street Chapel, Hackney, 1874; St. John's Angell Town, Brixton, 1875; St. Magnus', London Bridge, Easter, 1880 Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, 1873. He entered the Royal Academy of Music, 1874; was elected Associate, 1882, and was appointed a professor at the Guildhall School of Music in 1887.

THE ORGAN OF ST. MAGNUS' CHURCH. (THE FIRST SWELL ORGAN.)

The organists of St. Magnus' include the following: Both in construction and artistic design the organ John Robinson, 1712-27, afterwards organist to is probably the most interesting instrument extant Westminster Abbey; Mr. Cook, 1795; Mr. Thomas Charles Reynolds; James Coward, organist of the Crystal Palace (died January, 1880); George Frederick Smith, appointed Easter, 1880.

The present organist, Mr. G. F. Smith, entered the choir of the Temple Church as a chorister under Dr. E. J. Hopkins in 1866. He studied the organ under

The case is very fine, and is considered the most beautiful specimen to be found in any country, the carving by Grinling Gibbons being elaborate as well as unique. It is proposed to clean all old pipes, re-voice reeds, replace old action by tubular pneumatic, add a fourth manual, additional new stops, and a new engine; remove the thick coating of varnish

from the case and re-varnish it; and to re-gild the front pipes. To effect these alterations and additions a sum of nearly two thousand pounds is required. It would ensure the preservation of a valuable and unique instrument of great historical interest, noted for the great beauty of its tone, situated in a church from which rises one of Sir Christopher Wren's finest towers.

The church possessing no funds from which the money required can be drawn, an earnest appeal is made to all lovers of the king of instruments throughout the British Empire to assist in preserving this beautiful relic of the City, and to celebrate in the most fitting manner the two-hundredth anniversary of the opening of the organ.

welcome fact that one of his music-dramas is to see the light at the London Opera House on Friday, June 7. Influence less weighty would scarcely have induced Mr. Hammerstein (who has no particular love for English opera) to embark upon this interesting venture. Double reason, therefore, for us all to hope that the work and the presentation thereof, under the guidance of such a masterful conductor as Arthur Nikisch, may result in the achievement of a brilliant and enduring success for all concerned.

Following the Wagner precedent, Mr. Holbrooke has not set his trilogy to music in the precise order of its sequence. Thus the second section, entitled 'Dylan, Son of the Wave,' bears the opus number 53, while the first, 'The Children of Don,' stands as Op. 56+; and this A History of 'The organ and organists of latter work it is that will be given in London next St. Magnus-the-Martyr' (with illustrations) is in June. The story is based upon the Cymric legend preparation, and a copy will be sent to all of Math Mathonwy,' and is divided into a prologue subscribers. It is intended that the work of and three Acts. The incidents of the prologue, and reconstruction shall be entrusted to Messrs. in some degree of the whole opera, centre upon a William Hill & Son.

Remittances may be sent to the hon. treasurer, Mr. Henry J. Calder, Vestry Clerk, 3, Adelaide Place, London Bridge, E.C.; the bankers, Messrs. Robarts, Lubbock & Co., 15, Lombard St., account ‘St. Magnus' Organ Fund'; or to the hon. sec., Mr. George F. Sinith (organist of St. Magnus'), 'Seabourne,' Bonham Road, Brixton Hill.

certain magic cauldron, which is stolen from a cave in Arnwn by Gwydion, son of Don (the NatureGoddess), and installed in a Druidic temple of Arvon governed by Math, the Priest-King. Between Gwydion and Math no love is lost. A great destiny has been predicted for the children of Don, of whom, besides Gwydion, there are Govannion, who hates the Druids, but loves one of their priestesses; and Elan, who becomes the mother of Dylan, the future hero of their race. Math's discovery of the course of events gives rise to the great scene of the second Act, where

MR. JOSEPH HOLBROOKE'S NEW OPERA, Gwydion is sentenced to be transformed into a beast

'THE CHILDREN OF DON.'

BY HERMANN KLEIN.

After the successful production of 'The Ring' at Bayreuth in 1876, trilogies and tetralogies rather came into fashion. Some fifteen years ago I heard at Dresden one of the elaborate series of music-dramas composed by August Bungert around the noblest of all epics, Homer's Iliad. At about the same time I read portions of three beautiful operatic libretti written by Mr. Frank Coutts on the subject of Merlin,' all, or nearly all of which were, I believe, set to music by the late Isaac Albeniz, whose charming one-act opera, Pepita Jimenez,' ought long ago to have been heard in this country. A little later Mr. Francis Neilson, M.P., when working as régisseur at Covent Garden, gave me interesting particulars of a trilogy founded upon the saga of the North American Indians, which he had written for the late Anton Seidl, and of which that gifted disciple of Wagner-much better known, of course, as a conductor than as a composer-actually sketched a large portion prior to his premature death at New York in 1898.

and left bound in the temple. He and Elan are about to take poison from the magic cauldron, but are prevented by their gods. Nevertheless Gwydion becomes a wolf, and there is much trouble before Math (in the third Act) removes the spell from Gwydion and his brother, Govannion. The latter subsequently attempts to drown the child Dylan, but the sea cannot harm him, he being a 'son of the wave.' However, the ferocious Govannion kills the Arch-Druid, Gwion, thus making way for Gwydion to fill his place as chief of the Druids and publicly 'adopt' Dylan as his son. Thus do the brothers regain control of their long-lost cauldron.

This seems to be a picturesque plot. It is certainly set forth in picturesque verse; and, judging by a brief perusal of the score, has been treated by Mr. Holbrooke in highly dramatic and impressive fashion. Of both, however, more anon! Meanwhile, the cast, so far as it has been selected, will include Mr. Henry Weldon (Math), Mr. Alan Turner (Gwydion), Mr. Frank Pollock (Arawn), Mr. Frederick Blamey (Gwion), Madame Augusta Doria (Elan), Miss Blomfield (Don), and Madame Jeanne Jomelli (Goewin).

The Imperial Choir of London, which came into such

And now comes our talented young countryman, Mr. Joseph Holbrooke, with a big trilogy of music prominence last year at the official opening of the Festival dramas also dealing with a Welsh subject, though one of Empire at the Crystal Palace, before their Majesties the much less familiar to most people than the 'Merlin King and Queen, will this year perform at the opening of trilogy constructed by Mr. Coutts. The author of the the 'Shakespeare's England' exhibition at Earl's Court, libretto in this case veils under the nom de plume of on May 11, under Dr. Charles Harriss's direction. The 'T. E. Ellis' the personality of Lord Howard de Walden, choir will consist of thirty-nine choral Societies of greater who seems, so far as I can at present judge, to have London, supplemented by the Queen's Hall Orchestra and manifested both dramatic deftness and poetic feeling the New Symphony Orchestra. Miss Phyllis Lett will sing, in the moulding and development of his extremely and the conductors will be Sir Henry Wood and Dr. Harriss. intricate material. Anyhow, to this distinguished The performance will commence at 3.30 p.m. In accordance alliance the English composer owes the rare and with Dr. Harriss's ideas the programme will be entirely

It was first performed at the Liceo, Barcelona, in 1896-not, as stated in Grove's Dictionary,' in 1895.

British.

+ Both vocal scores are published by Novello & Co., Ltd.

Church and Organ Music.

We have already referred in these columns to Sir Walter Parratt's lecture on "The teaching of organ-playing,' delivered at the Royal College of Organists on February 22 of last year. But we think his remarks (which are published in full in the recently issued report of the College) are so valuable to all interested in the subject, and so suggestive of many relative points, that we venture to treat his discourse in closer detail. For this purpose the kind consent of Sir Walter Parratt and Dr. Harding (secretaries of the Royal College of Organists) has been given.

from one who has so entirely mastered its intricacies. The allusion to Sir John Stainer's 'Primer,' and to Best's 'Pedal Studies,' was graceful and apt. And it is not as widely recognised as it should be that pedal exercises alone are of little value, and only when, as in the case of Best's examples, they are accompanied by manual passages of contrived and contrasted difficulty can they be considered of high educational value. The recommendation to practise organ fingerstudies on the pianoforte is of course very sound, as, though only two distinct touches are available on the organ, viz., legato and detached, the equality of tone obtainable on the pianoforte will result in the equal note-division so vital to good touch on the organ.

At the outset Sir Walter claims, as being necessary to the teacher, a fairly competent knowledge of his 'Make your pupils think.' This advice contains subject and a vivid personality. The touch of sarcasm practically the whole of the teacher's art, and in the first qualification is of course only intended to cannot be too strongly insisted upon. But until the show the great importance of the second, and we fully pupil possesses a knowledge of harmony we believe no agree that many people with less music would be teacher can obtain the best results. Even with that able to control their classes better on account of their knowledge it is surprising how slowly some pupils personality than others with more music and less comprehend the harmonic structure of, for example, so personality.' Sir Walter put clearly before his audience simple a chord as a first inversion, if it be presented in the importance of studying the various widely divergent some musical figure. When once this faculty has been characteristics of pupils, some of whom think acquired the way for rapid progress will be clear, and slowly, some quickly, others being highly intelligent the work of the teacher lightened in no slight degree. in anything but music, others again unaccount- We also recommend a course of study in analysis, ably quick in music to the exclusion of all else. as a contrast to the synthetic processes of the student He quoted instances of University men who of harmony. It is just as necessary to understand seemed to have found a new study into whose the methods of construction adopted by the composer territory they had no passport, and of first-class, as the rules which govern the building up of a simple clever men who could not be taught to play the exercise in harmony, and we think every teacher organ nearly so well as a boy of ten or eleven, should keep this before his pupils. who hardly knew his alphabet. All this fully justifies In saying that nothing will induce people to play the assertion that 'no teacher can hope to succeed [on the organ] scales or scraps of them with unless he discovers the personal equation of his pupil.' the usual fingering,' Sir Walter Parratt touches We feel confident that no examination in teaching upon a weakness which is, alas, far too common. (and they are becoming more and more numerous) Unnecessary finger changing and wriggling in can be of much value unless this aspect of the question the simplest succession of scale-notes are the be considered. Many instances have presented prevailing custom, and the example he gives themselves in which teachers who have graduated in (Mendelssohn's sixth Sonata, Ist variation R.H.) the art of teaching have signally failed through trust- most happily. or should we say unhappily? ing to a fixed series of rules which they apply to all describes the pains which the student will often take their pupils indiscriminately. over a simple passage of five notes. There are the consecutive notes, A, F, G, A, &c., and the sort of fingering frequently used is 4th changed to 3rd, 2nd to 3rd, 4th to 3rd, and so on. The next sentence is, indeed, too true - 'The organist's fingering is, as a rule, deplorable.'

The complex nature of the organ is, we think, not always grasped by the average person, and there are no doubt many who would never become even fairly good performers, simply because they do not possess the control of mental and muscular action so necessary to the organist. Sir Walter described the familiar jokes of patting the head with one hand and stroking the waistcoat with the other; describing circles in the air with one foot, and at the same time writing imaginary capital letters with the hand. But these, and his recommendation to change the knife and fork into opposite hands, certainly contain a great deal of valuable suggestion. The organist's left hand is too often weak, and may be observed at its weakest moment when extemporising. How seldom does it fail to accompany the pedals an octave higher! The advice to 'send some thoughts down your left arm' is valuable indeed. In speaking of the organist's position at the instrument, we are delighted to find ourselves supported by the greatest living authority in our contention that the radiating pedal-board is the best. Sir Walter says 'fortunately they [radiating pedalboards] are becoming universal.' But we are inclined to doubt whether his fear that the appearance of the extra F and G on modern pedal-boards will alter the whole scale is well founded. Our conviction is that these are merely extra notes infrequently used, and should therefore be considered negligible.

The all-important subject of independence between the left hand and feet naturally received some attention

But the fingering of scale-passages is not the only difficulty with organists. One too often sees unsystematic fingering of arpeggios, as for instance in such a chord as the second inversion in G major, when the B is as often as not played by the middle finger of the right hand, while we remember having seen the first inversion of the same chord fingered similarly!

But in drawing attention to such inaccuracies as incomplete note- and rest-values, omission of repetition of notes, strict observance of the accuracy of notes, &c., Sir Walter strikes at the root of much which is responsible for bad musicianship, and we hope his advice will be accepted and acted upon by those who may be conscious of any weakness in these matters. His illustrations from the Bach Passacaglia and the little G minor Fugue of chords of intentionally thin construction which some organists unthinkingly fill up,' are excellent examples of that lack of reverence to the composer's intention, which is too frequently in evidence.

The high importance of distributing the manual parts evenly, or at least comfortably, between the two hands it is impossible to over-estimate, and, as Sir Walter