n whole or in
part, very frequently since. This masterpiece of Grecian genius is so
mighty in conception and so mighty in execution that it has not lost
power at all in the long centuries since it first thrilled the Greeks.
To realize its possibilities musically is to give proof enough of the
very highest order of genius,--a genius akin to that of Sophokles. It
may be said that in general Paine has completely fulfilled his
opportunities.

Mendelssohn also set two Greek tragedies to music, Sophokles' "Oedipus
in Kolonos" and his "Antigone." Mendelssohn is reported to have made a
first attempt at writing Grecian music, or what we suppose it to be,
mainly a matter of unison and meagre instrumentation. He was soon
dissuaded from such a step, however, and wisely. The Greek tragedians,
really writers of grand opera, made undoubted use of the best musical
implements and knowledge they had. Creative emotion has its
prosperity in the minds of its audience, not in the accuracy of its
mechanism. To secure the effect on us that the Greek tragedians
produced on contemporary audiences, it is necessary that our music be
a sublimation along the lines we are accustomed to, as theirs was
along lines familiar to them and effective with them. Otherwise,
instead of being moved by the miseries of Oedipus, we should be
chiefly occupied with amusement at the oddity of the music, and soon
bored unendurably by its monotony and thinness.

Mendelssohn decided then to use unison frequently for suggestion's
sake, but not to carry it to a fault. His experiments along these
lines have been of evident advantage to Paine, who has, however, kept
strictly to his own individuality, and produced a work that, at its
highest, reaches a higher plane, in my opinion, than anything in
Mendelssohn's noble tragedies,--and I am not, at that, one of those
that affect to look down upon the achievements of the genius that
built "Elijah."

Paine's prelude is an immense piece of work, in every way larger and
more elaborate than that to Mendelssohn's "Antigone" (the "Oedipus
in Kolonos" begins strongly with only one period of thirteen
measures). The opening chorus of Paine's "Oedipus" is the weakest
thing in the work. The second strophe has a few good moments, but soon
falls back into what is impudent enough to be actually catchy!--and
that, too, of a Lowell Mason, Moody and Sankey catchiness. Curiously
enough, Mendelssohn's "Antigone" begins with a chorus more like a