First Published, 1898 (Arthur P. Schmidt).
1. A Ballad of Charles the Bold.
2. Midsummer Clouds.
These two choruses are some of the finest of MacDowell's little known part-songs for male voices, and are both written to his own lines. The first is a stirring ballad of olden times:—
_Duke Charles rode forth at early dawn
Through drifting morning mists,
His armour frosted by the dew
Gleamed sullenly defiance….
… All day long the battle raged.
And spirits mingled with the mist
That wreathed the warring knights…._
Charles, although his charger is led by Death against the foe, himself falls a victim to the tireless Reaper.
The second chorus, Midsummer Clouds, is in pleasant contrast to the blood and war spirit of the first. In it we have the imaginative charm and beauty of lines like the following:—
Through the clear meadow blue Wander fleecy white lambs….
There is a certain depth about the song, however, as if the scenic suggestion is only a symbol of something greater and more human, and this feeling is increased by the last verse:—