"I see no objection to a composer writing 'to order,' as long as he
sends out nothing of which he does not approve. Handel's 'Dettingen Te
Deum,' Mozart's 'Requiem,' Mendelssohn's 'Elijah,' and a hundred other
works furnish us with successful examples of this class of composition.
"I do not," he continues, "consider the _art_ of composing one which
can be acquired (the science may), but such an art is all but useless
without serious cultivation."
In his modesty, Sir Joseph will give no opinion as to which he
considers his best work, but sends, for publication here, a few bars of
one of his part-songs which has had the widest acceptance--"Sweet and
Low."