The choir of the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts singing “The Redemption” and “The Flood” under the direction of Mr. Alexis Boutros

has lasted long — and it is as if we felt the presence of that soft calm which refreshes us after a heavy winter.

There is no doubt that Saint-Saëns poured out the sap of his heart and his resolute skill in description, so that we can almost see an oil painting whose lines were drawn by a skilled painter and translated into melodies by a rare musical genius. As for the Redemption, it was adorned with the silent spiritual garment that accompanied it throughout the performance. Its music came stronger and truer, for it expressed the hopes of mankind, and we hear almost nothing but the sighs rising from every ravine and every depth toward God, that by the fulfillment of the mystery of the Redemption He might grant humanity deliverance from the yoke of the consequences of sin. There is no doubt that the Redemption surpassed the Flood in strength of composition, for it

left the listener room to solve musical problems for which it had itself paved the way. And this is the secret of strength in musical composition; for music is a riddle, and the listener's pleasure lies in discovering the meanings of this riddle and applying them to his own life, since music contains diverse elements that we can apply in our social life. Therefore we felt bound to gather all our powers as we listened to the Redemption, so as to grasp the strength of its meanings, the soundness of their harmony, and the beauty of their intent. We could have wished that the ending had come more full of glorification than it did, for redemption is usually followed by hope, and after hope comes victory — and the victory we did not feel as we should have at the close of the Redemption.

So much for the side of compo-sition. As for the performance, we shall not forget the mellow voices and the brilliant skill we heard in

the Redemption from the Misses Baaklini and Saba, while Mrs. Avedian captivated the mind with her middle-range voice. Complete understanding prevailed between the singers of the choir and the players, under the direction of Lebanon's foremost artist, Alexis Boutros, whom we cannot but thank for his efforts and his skillful direction — for he offers us most of the precious treasures of music on the occasions of the great feasts. To him we repeat our thanks, and we wish the adminis-tration of the Academy continued success in the field of art — the field we are in the utmost need of supporting in Lebanon.