In England the ballad is the musical form of the song, and here this nation excels. The ballads are strong, sincere and beautiful. Clubs should have a number of meetings on the ballads of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Sullivan has written some lovely songs, and so have Goring Thomas, Stanford, and Cowen. There is a new English school of merit, with fresh and original ideas. Sing Thomas's "Spring Is Not Dead" and "A Summer Night." "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," by Stanford, is an excellent piece of work. Mackenzie has followed Brahms more or less; sing "Hope," his best song.
V—AMERICAN SONGS
Until recently we in America, like the English, have written but few lyric songs. But to-day we have a large number of such composers, and there are those in other nations who think that the best work of our time is being done in this country.
Prof. John K. Paine has written only a few songs. Among them are: "Moonlight," and "The Matin Song," both charming.
Arthur Foote has written forty songs—among them, "On the Way to Kew," and, "In Picardie"—and is sometimes compared with Franz. Clayton Johns has a hundred songs, his "Winter Journey" being suggestive of Russian music; "Were I a Prince Egyptian," is good. Reginald de Koven is called the most popular of America's song writers; his settings of verses by Eugene Field are familiar, and his best known song, "Oh, Promise Me," has had great popularity.
G. W. Chadwick, the director of the New England Conservatory, has written seventy-five songs, some of them most original. "Allah" is the best known and probably his strongest; but, "Before the Dawn;" "Bedouin Love Song;" and "Green Grows the Willow," are also fine.
Ethelbert Nevin is a well-known and admired writer of lyrical songs. Walter Damrosch, Horatio Parker, the late Gerrit Smith, Victor Herbert, and many others have been steadily turning out good work.
Edward MacDowell, however, is America's most distinguished song writer, and his early death was lamented as a national calamity among music lovers. Like Grieg in having a Scotch strain in his blood, his work also shows a certain resemblance to that of the Norwegian. His music is highly polished, always interesting and never imitative. Two lovely settings of old words are noticeable: "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon," and "Kennst Du das Land?" "The Pansy" and "The Mignonette," are the best of a group of six flower pieces; "Menie" is remarkable for its tender sadness and delicacy; but his most popular song is "Thy Beaming Eyes." Critics consider his most scholarly work to be his eight settings of verses by Howells, and "The Sea." See "National Music of America and Its Sources," by L. C. Elson (The Page Company), and "American Composers," by Rupert Hughes (The Page Company).
VI—INTERESTING SONGS
In addition to studying this great subject by countries, and by special treatment of the masters of song writing individually, clubs may be interested to look up and sing many of the old English songs suggested under such heads as these in H. K. Johnson's "Old Familiar Songs" (Henry Holt):