Edwin Ashdown.
Vanished Years. Song. By Seymour Smith.—A sympathetic, easy setting of the sad words by Helen M. Waitman. It is published in F and A flat.
The Violet and the Snowdrop. Song. By Ethel Harraden, with words by Gertrude Harraden.—A simple story, simply illustrated. The violin accompaniment, charming as it is, would have been much more so, had it been broken up a little more. There is no rest for it, and this destroys much of its effect. The same part has been transposed an octave for a violoncello. The song is within the compass of most singers—C to D, and not higher.
Two Melodies for violin and piano, by the same composer, Miss Harraden, meet all the requirements of the youthful amateur violinist. They are simple, effective, and melodious. As they are so evidently intended for young people, we are surprised that the violin part is neither fingered nor bowed.
Six Romances. For the pianoforte. By Sir George Macfarren.—If the others are as delightful as Nos. 4 (Lullaby) and 5 (Welcome), which we have before us, these romances are the most graceful and sympathetic works for the piano which this great theoretical master has given us.
Tarantella. In G minor. For pianoforte. By J. Hoffmann.—A very characteristic specimen of this phrenzied dance. The excitement is well sustained to the close.
Violanté. A Spanish Waltz. For piano. By Michael Watson.—Containing what Mr. Corder would call “distinct local colouring,” and developing a graceful subject. Is it because the melody is in Spanish that the title-page is in French?
Gavotte. In D. By Ariosti (1660-1730). Arranged by Edwin M. Lott for the piano.—An interesting relic by a man who, like Buononcini, was at the commencement of the eighteenth century a powerful rival to Handel in opera production, and who, like Buononcini, is now almost entirely forgotten.
Arpeggios.—An extremely useful collection of these technical passages. By Edwin M. Lott.—The arrangement of the arpeggios is founded on the well-known work of Charles Chaulieu, who taught the piano in London 1840-9.
Two Andantes, for the organ, by Walter Porter, are mild, harmless movements, containing many signs of the youthful amateur about them. Amongst others is the fact that the pedals are used without intermission from beginning to end, augmenting a want of contrast and variety already too apparent in both pieces.