ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a detailed examination of Sullivan's cantata, structured as a series of scenes, each of which corresponds to a different aspect of his work a design moving from the particular to the general, from close analysis to broad cultural concerns. Reminiscence themes are common in nineteenth-century dramatic and programmatic music, both before and independently of Wagner's development of the leitmotivs technique. The influence of Wagner is also revealed in his individual use of leitmotivs, not so much in terms of musical technique but in its application towards dramatic ends. The nature of the music's small-scale form and syntax – whose understanding is most important for these short, continuous arioso-like sections. The leading musical genre of the Victorian age – the oratorio culture stemming from Handel and Mendelssohn – is fused with the contemporary innovations of Wagner and later Romantic music, but never abandoned wholesale: a deep empathy with native traditions is sublimated with fresh continental influences.
