The British Composer and His Public.

To one used to the still prevailing prejudice in America against any native music but the popular variety, the amount serious British music, old and new, that is constantly being performed in London, England is amazing. While the early madrigals and motets have always been more or less kept alive by the various choral societies, the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century lyrics and instrumental music still wear the garb of novelty, so that the present interest in their revival seems another indication of that awakened national musical consciousness which responded so enthusiastically two years ago to "The Beggar's Opera." Its sequel "Polly" is to be produced next month. the demand for seats is already high. These works are so purely and so characteristically English in both their music and their texts that they appear to imply the same protest against foreign influence today as they did when they were written.