These songs, although not absolutely of the composer's best, have a charm, tenderness of feeling and beauty of expression that is often irresistible. They are essentially the love songs of a romantic, but refined and gifted poet. As a whole they are singularly free from sexual sensuousness, which is so often a trait in songs of their type. There is an idealism, wonderfully fresh and pure, about them, that is antagonistic to the composer's own assertion that verse often becomes doggerel when harnessed to music in song form.
Sweet Blue-Eyed Maid. (Daintily, not too sentimentally.) The spirit of this song is happy and it is beautifully, although simply, expressed.
Sweetheart, Tell Me. (Softly, tenderly.) The ability of MacDowell to suggest a definite mood in music is clearly demonstrated in this song, which has a simple melody of wonderful appeal and tenderness.
Thy Beaming Eyes. (With sentiment, passionately.) This is the most widely known of all MacDowell's songs. The composer himself thought it too sentimental and was not pleased with the popularity it gained. There is no mistaking its passionate feeling, however, and it strikes the human note frankly and spontaneously, without becoming commonplace. The song is at least sincere, and its popularity can do no harm to its composer's deeper music, which is less easily understood.
Gramophone records of Thy Beaming Eyes have been made for
"Columbia" by Charles W. Clarke, baritone, and for "His Master's
Voice" by Sophie Breslau, contralto.
For Sweet Love's Sake. (Simply, with feeling.) This song is not a very successful alliance of words and music. The former are of tender content, while the latter is after the style of a pleasant lullaby. The music does not in the least reflect the spirit of the words.
O Lovely Rose. (Slowly, with great simplicity.) This is the pure lyric gem of the Six Love Songs by MacDowell. It is very short, but has a rare charm and fragrance.
I Ask But This. (Moderately fast, almost banteringly.) There is an attractive piquancy and lightness about this song that makes it distinct from its companions. It suggests light-hearted love, and its demure ending, as the lovers part, was a happy thought on the part of the composer.
OPUS 41. TWO PART-SONGS, FOR MALE CHORUS.
Composed, 1890. First Published, 1890 (Arthur P. Schmidt).