here is a
cantata, "The Last Chieftain." Bartlett's cantata is without efforts
at Indian color, but is a solid work with much dignity, barbaric
severity, and fire.

Bartlett was born at Olive, N.Y., December 28, 1846. His ancestry
runs far back into New England, his mother being a descendant of John
Rogers, the martyr. Bartlett is said to have "lisped in numbers,"
singing correctly before he could articulate words. The violin was his
first love, and at the age of eight he was playing in public. He took
up the piano and organ also, and in his fourteenth year was a church
organist. He studied the piano with S.B. Mills, Emil Guyon (a pupil
of Thalberg), and Alfred Pease. The organ and composition he studied
with O.F. Jacobsen and Max Braun. With the exception of a musical
pilgrimage in 1887, Bartlett has not come nearer the advantages of
Europe than study here under men who studied there. He has resided for
many years in New York as organist and teacher. As a composer he has
been one of our most prolific music-makers. His work shows a steady
development in value, and the best is doubtless yet to come.

He finds a congenial field in the orchestra. Seidl played his
instrumentation of Chopin's "Military Polonaise" several times. As the
work seemed to need a finale in its larger form, Bartlett took a
liberty whose success was its justification, and added a finish made
up of the three principal themes interwoven. A recent work is his
"Concertstueck," for violin and orchestra. It is not pianistic in
instrumentation, and will appeal to violinists. While not marked with
_recherches_ violin tricks, or violent attempts at bravura, it has
both brilliance and solidity, and is delightfully colored in
orchestration. There are no pauses between the movements, but they are
well varied in their unity.

There is an unfinished oratorio, "Samuel," an incomplete opera,
"Hinotito," and a cantata of which only the tenor solo, "Khamsin," is
done. This is by far the best work Bartlett has written, and displays
unexpected dramatic powers. The variation of the episodes of the
various phases of the awful drought to the climax in "The Plague,"
make up a piece of most impressive strength. The orchestration is
remarkably fine with effect, color, and variety. If the cantata is
finished on this scale, its production will be a national event.

The New England farmer is usually taken as a type of sturdy
Philistinism in artistic matters. It was a most e