Mrs. Jessie L. Gaynor has won an enviable position for herself, chiefly as a composer of children's songs. Her work is marked by bright and pleasing rhythms, excellent discretion in the proper choice of harmony, and a fluent ease that makes her productions unusually singable. It is not given to many composers to be able to make any real appeal to younger hearers, but Mrs. Gaynor is possessed of the sympathetic insight that enables her to win the utmost popularity with them. Her work is not confined to this vein, but includes some more ambitious songs for older performers, and even vocal quartettes.
Eleanor Smith is another song writer who believes that children should be given the best of music, and not allowed to listen wholly to the popular rag-time tunes of the day. Her position as music teacher in the Cook County Normal School has enabled her to put her ideas in practice, and her songs for boys are delightful bits of worthy music. She, too, has done more ambitious work, such as a Rossetti Christmas Carol, the contralto solo, "The Quest," eight settings of Stevenson's poems, the Wedding Music for eight voices, piano, and organ, and a cantata, "The Golden Asp."
Mrs. C. Merrick, who publishes her works over the name of Edgar Thorn, is another talented woman who displays great gifts in small forms. Her "Amourette," for piano, has often figured on concert programmes. In her two collections, "Forgotten Fairy Tales" and "Six Fancies," many of the numbers show a rare imaginative charm. The same composer has produced several effective male choruses, which have been sung by the Mendelssohn Glee Club and other organizations.
Among other song-writers, Mildred Hill, of Louisville, has been able to preserve the real Southern flavour in some of her works,—a result that is seldom attained, in spite of the countless efforts in this direction. She, too, has insisted in putting good music into her children's songs. Mrs. Philip Hale, a resident of Boston, has produced a number of songs and piano works, the latter under the pseudonym of Victor René. Stella Prince Stocker is another well-known song-writer. Mrs. Theodore Sutro, a pupil of Dudley Buck, has also composed songs, besides piano works and a four-voiced fugue. Louise Tunison is another song composer well worthy of mention, while Adeline Train has produced some solos of remarkable delicacy. Helen Tretbar, famous as a writer and translator of musical works, has tried her hand at songs also. Another literary song-composer is Fanny Raymond Ritter. A prominent figure in the musical world to-day is Josephine Gro, who writes songs and piano pieces, and is the author of many popular dances.
CHAPTER X.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Though not as prolific of women composers as its musical reputation might indicate, Italy has still produced some famous names. The women of the earlier schools of contrapuntal work have already been mentioned. Francesca Caccini was an exponent of the first growth of opera. After her comes a gap, and we find no women at work during the time of Scarlatti, for example, and few in the era when the early conventional opera saw its palmy days in the hands of Cimarosa and his compeers. A number flourished at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and now that Italy is experiencing a musical regeneration, the women are still present in the field.
One of the foremost of them to-day is the Countess Gilda Ruta. She was born at Naples, and was the daughter of a musician of some note, in fact, he became one of her best teachers. Among others with whom she studied was the opera composer, Mercadante, whose long career extended well into the last century. She became a pianist of great renown, but won her laurels more in the field of composition. Her opera, "The Fire-Worshippers," is a worthy example of its school. Her orchestral ability showed itself also in the form of a concerto for piano, while among her other works are a number of songs and a good deal of instrumental music.