The overwhelming success at Leeds [of Arthur Sullivan's "The Golden Legend", in 1886] was the more remarkable in that it came at the close of the greatest festival ever held there following new works of such calibre as Dvorak's oratorio "St. Ludmila," A. C. Mackenzie's cantata "The Story of Sayid," and Villiers Stanford's fine choral ballad "The Revenge," not to speak of a phenomenal performance by the Yorkshire chorus of Bach's great Mass in B minor, never before attempted at a provincial festival. The most tremendous ovation of all, though, was that which greeted the composer of "The Golden Legend" when he laid down his baton at the close of the noble choral epilogue. Such ringing British cheers had not been heard in that magnificent hall since Queen Victoria opened it in the "fifties."