The only trouble about it is that the singers have to take care of details and shadings which is too often the least of their worries.

The German societies, where the members sing for pleasure, and not for a salary, are careful to excess, if there can be excess in such matters, and it is their great good fortune to be the interpreters of choruses written in this manner.
It is impossible to give an analysis of this vast work here.

We have already spoken of the charming interlude, _Les Bergers a la Creche_.
This pastoral is followed by _Marche des Rois Mages_, a pretty piece, but a little overdeveloped for its intrinsic worth.

The vocal parts, _Beatitudes_ and _Le Pater Noster_, would be more suitable in a church than in a concert hall.

Then come some most brilliant pages, _La Tempete sur le lac de Thiberiade_, and _Le Mont des Oliviers_, with its baritone solo, and finally, the _Stabat Mater_, where great beauties are combined with terrible length.