been honored with a call to the directorship of the
Liverpool Philharmonic Society. For some years past he has lived at Bonn
and Berlin, and devoted himself exclusively to composition. His first
public appearance as a composer was in connection with the performance of
his operetta, "Scherz, List und Rache," set to Goethe's words; following
which he produced several chamber compositions, among them a trio (op.
5), two string quartets (op. 9, 10), Capriccio (op. 2) for four hands,
Fantasie (op. 11) for two pianos, the G minor and D minor violin
concertos, besides two symphonies. He has also written an oratorio,
"Arminius," and two operas, "Loreley," to the text which the poet Geibel
wrote for Mendelssohn, and "Hermione," an adaptation of Shakspeare's
"Winter's Tale." His greatest successes, however, have been made with his
works in the cantata form, as he is a recognized master in writing for
large masses of voices and instruments, though many of his solo melodies
possess great beauty. In this class of his compositions the most
conspicuous are "Scenes from the Frithjof-Saga," familiarly known as
"Frithjof," "Flight of the Holy Family," "Roman Triumph Song," "Roman
Obsequies," "Salamis," "Fair Ellen," "Odysseus," and "Rorate Coeli."

Frithjof.

The story of the old Norse hero Frithjof is told with exceeding spirit
and beauty in the "Frithjof's Saga" of Esaias Tegner, Bishop of Wexioe,
Sweden, which has been translated into almost every European language,
and to which music has been adapted by Crusell, Hedda Wrangel, Boman,
Sandberg, Zanders, Caroline Ridderstolpe, Panny, Silcher, and other
Scandinavian and German composers. It was Bishop Tegner's Saga from which
Bruch derived the incidents of his musical setting of this stirring Norse
theme.[18]

To make the text of the libretto intelligible, the incidents leading up
to it must be briefly told. Frithjof was the son of Thorstein, a friend
of King Bele of Baldershage, and was in love with Ingeborg, the king's
daughter and his foster sister. Bele died, and left his kingdom to his
two sons. When Thorstein passed away, he bequeathed to his son his ship
"Ellida" and his gold ring. Soon thereafter Frithjof sailed across the
fiord to demand the hand of Ingeborg. Her brothers Helge and Halfdan
scorned his suit, whereupon Frithjof swore they should never have help
from him. King Ring, a neighboring monarch, hearing of the trouble
between them, im