ed overhead in the middle of
the church, and diffused so bright a light that one could everywhere
clearly read the text-books. The musicians and singers, nearly two
hundred in number, were placed in the gallery of the church, arranged
in rows one above the other, and for the most part unseen by the
auditory, which, amounting to nearly two thousand persons, observed a
solemn stillness. My two daughters, Messrs. Wild, Albert, and Foeppel,
together with an amateur, sang the soli, and the performance was
faultless. The effect was, I must myself say, extraordinary."

The title of the work is clearly a misnomer, as well as a mistranslation,
for it contains nothing of the terrors of the Last Judgment, but, on the
other hand, is graceful and elegant in style. The affixing of this title
to it is said to have been the work of Professor Taylor, who arranged it
for the Norwich festival of 1830, and supposed he was preparing the
earlier oratorio, "Das juengste Gericht." The title has now become so
indissolubly connected with it that no effort has been made to change it.
In the first part the text is confined to ascriptions of praise. The
solo, "Blessing, honor, glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever," conveys the meaning of the whole
first part; while the second part is confined to those portions of the
Apocalypse which describe the terrible signs of the last day, concluding
with visions of the new heaven and a hallelujah. And yet Malibran, in her
biography of Spohr, calls the oratorio a musical copy of Michael Angelo's
"Last Judgment,"--showing that more than one person has confounded the
two oratorios.

The work opens with a very long overture of a grave and majestic
character, in limits far beyond those usually found in oratorio. It is
followed by the striking chorus, "Praise His awful Name," which is
beautifully written, and contains impressive soprano and bass solos. Some
brief tenor and bass recitatives lead to the second number, a short
chorus ("Holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts"), in which the voices have no
accompaniment except the horns. Three phrases of recitative for soprano
and tenor lead to the next chorus ("All Glory to the Lamb that died"), a
grand number, which is familiar to nearly every lover of oratorio music.
The next number is one of the most striking in the work. A short tenor
recitative introduces the tenor solo and chorus, "Blessing, honor, glory,
an