who was for two years the leader of
the Glee Club of Harvard University. Though he has by no means been
content to delve no deeper into music than glee-club depths, I think
the training has been of value, and its peculiar character is patent
in his works. He is especially fond of writing for men's voices, and
is remarkably at home in their management, and he strives rather for
color-masses than for separate individualities in the voices.

Among his larger works for men's voices is an elaborate setting of
Longfellow's poem, "The Skeleton in Armor," which is full of vigor and
generally sturdy in treatment, especially in its descriptions of
Viking war and seafaring. The storm-scenes, as in Mr. Foote's "Wreck
of the Hesperus," seem faintly to suggest Wagnerian _Donner und
Blitzen_, but in general Mr. Foote has resisted the universal tendency
to copy the mannerisms so many take to be the real essence of the
Bayreuthian. A pretty bit of fancy is the use of a spinning-wheel
accompaniment to the love-song, although the spindle is nowhere
suggested by the poem. Indeed, the spinning is treated as a
characteristic motif for the Norseman's bride, somewhat as it is
Senta's motif in "The Flying Dutchman."

The chief fault with the "Skeleton" chorus is that it is always
choric. There are no solos, and the different registers are never used
separately for more than a bar or two, before the whole mass chimes
in. Even the instrumental interludes are short, and the general effect
must be rather undiversified, one of sympathy, too, for the unrested
chorus.

"The Wreck of the Hesperus" is an ambitious work, built on large
lines, but hardly represents Mr. Foote at his best. It is for mixed
voices, and is pitched in a most lugubrious key, being always either
vociferous with panic or dismal with minor woe. A worse trouble yet is
the attempt to make a short poem fit a long composition. The
Procrustean operation strains even Longfellow sadly.

This blemish is lacking in "The Farewell of Hiawatha," which is
written for men's voices. Though it, too, is of a sad tone, its sombre
hues are rich and varied as a tapestry. Its effects, though potent,
seem more sincere and less labored. It is altogether noble.

A larger body of sacred music for mixed voices than many other
Americans can boast, also swells Foote's opus-score. Here he shows the
same facility with the quartette as in his other works. In fact, I
think the effect of glee-club training