works--Operas and lyric dramas--Wagner's return to the principles of
the Florentine reformers--Interdependence of elements in a lyric
drama--Forms and the endless melody--The Typical Phrases: How they
should be studied. _Page 202_


[Sidenote: CHAP. VIII.]

_Choirs and Choral Music_

Value of chorus singing in musical culture--Schumann's advice to
students--Choristers and instrumentalists--Amateurs and
professionals--Oratorio and _Männergesang_--The choirs of Handel and
Bach--Glee Unions, Male Clubs, and Women's Choirs--Boys' voices not
adapted to modern music--Mixed choirs--American Origin of amateur
singing societies--Priority over Germany--The size of choirs--Large
numbers not essential--How choirs are divided--Antiphonal
effects--Excellence in choir singing--Precision, intonation,
expression, balance of tone, enunciation, pronunciation,
declamation--The cause of monotony in Oratorio performances--_A
capella_ music--Genesis of modern hymnology--Influence of Luther and
the Germans--Use of popular melodies by composers--The
chorale--Preservation of the severe style of writing in choral
music--Palestrina and Bach--A study of their styles--Latin and
Teuton--Church and individual--Motets and Church Cantatas--The
Passions--The Oratorio--Sacred opera and Cantata--Epic and
Drama--Characteristic and descriptive music--The Mass: Its
secularization and musical development--The dramatic tendency
illustrated in Beethoven and Berlioz. _Page 253_