One of the sturdiest musical figures in the ranks of American arrivés is Frederick Shepherd Converse (b. 1871), artistically of strong romantic leanings, although brought up under the classic influences of the widely influential course in theory conducted by the late James K. Paine at Harvard University. A taker of honors here, as well as at Munich under Rheinberger, where he went after a period of study with Chadwick in Boston, Converse has realized a degree of scholarship seldom attained or even aspired to in America. He is typically representative of what might be called the second generation of modern American composers, the one following immediately upon that of Foote, Chadwick, and their colleagues. Like all the active minds of his generation, he exhibits the tendency to break the shackles of classical tradition while still preserving reverence for its ideals. With the exception of one retrospective inspiration, the string quartet (opus 18), he appears to be done with the sonata form at about the eighth opus number. Previous to that he had produced a symphony in D minor (opus 7), a sonata for violin (opus 1), a string quartet, and an overture. The later string quartet has qualities of admirable lyrical beauty.
It is in his large romantic outreachings that Converse is best and most favorably known. Indeed, the composer himself styles his first orchestral tone-poem, the 'Festival of Pan,' a 'romance.' Subsequent orchestral works in so-called 'free' form (an absurd term, since every authentic form gains its strength through conformity to some law, even if not a familiar one) are 'Endymion's Vision,' a bit too 'free' in form but of rich and imaginative orchestral color, and, better known and more highly appraised, 'The Mystic Trumpeter,' after Walt Whitman. 'Night' and 'Day,' two poems for piano and orchestra, and La Belle Dame Sans Merci, ballade for baritone and orchestra, as well as the orchestral works mentioned, have all been produced by orchestras and artists of the first prominence and with marked success.
Mr. Converse has made two heroic ventures onto the still unwon but yielding field of American grand opera. 'The Pipe of Desire,' with text by George E. Barton, a one-act opera, is in mood a reflection from the poets of the Celtic twilight. It was given a special production of three performances in Boston, in 1906, and experienced a brief revival, in March, 1910, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, and in the following January in Boston. A second opera, in three acts, 'The Sacrifice,' dealing with a romantic Spanish-Californian subject, is regarded as showing a marked advance in operatic style. It was produced by the Boston Opera Company in March, 1911, with a measure of success, but the scope of its bearings has not yet been extended. Mr. Converse's most recent large work was the composition of the music for the 'Pageant and Masque of St. Louis,' May 28-31, 1914, a broad and vigorous piece of writing. In general, his music is of strong fibre, harmoniously and melodically and warm in color, though his style has not yet broken wholly away from its academic moorings. For several years after 1902 he served as instructor and professor in the musical department of Harvard University.
IV
A very substantial and influential personality in American musical life is that of Ernest R. Kroeger, who was born in St. Louis, Mo., August 10, 1862, and whose activities have ever since been identified with that city. The list of his published compositions is enormous and comprises works in many forms. As is the case with most American composers, his orchestral and chamber music works remain in manuscript, and consist of three 'symphonic overtures,' 'Sardanapalus,' 'Hiawatha,' and 'Atala,' the first Oriental in character, the two latter Indian, overtures on the subjects of 'Thanatopsis' and 'Endymion,' a 'Lalla Rookh' suite, two string quartets, and, for piano with strings, a trio, quartet, and quintet.
Despite Kroeger's scholarly handling of the sonata and fugue forms his tendency is strongly romantic, as is indicated by the subjects not only of his overtures but of the great number of his piano works, which touch a whole world of romance from Greek mythology to Indian and negro folk-lore. Among his more representative piano works are '12 Concert Études' (opus 30), a suite (opus 33), four 'sonnets' (opus 36), Sonata in D flat (opus 40), Prelude and Fugue in B flat minor (opus 41), 'Mythological Scenes' (opus 46), ten 'American Character Sketches' (opus 53), and twenty 'Moods' (opus 60). Widely known as a writer of songs of much poetic charm and appeal, his best works in this form are the 'Persian Love Song' (from opus 43), the famous 'Bend Low, O Dusky Night' (from opus 48), Ten Songs (opus 65), and a song cycle, 'Memory' (opus 66). He has written much for the organ, and there is a sonata for violin and piano (opus 32), also a recent large work for recitation or action, 'The Masque of Dead Florentines' (opus 75), on Maurice Hewlett's poem. In style Kroeger leans strongly upon the German tradition, but is fond of writing in an Oriental vein. He has held many positions of responsibility, among them being the presidency of the Music Teachers' National Association, and the important post of Master of Programs at the St. Louis World's Fair, which service won him an office in the French Academy. His influence has been far-reaching in the musical upbuilding of the Middle West.
Leaning somewhat more heavily upon the classic than the romantic aspects of German tradition, the work of Rubin Goldmark (b. 1872) makes serious claim to a place of high regard in the field of American music. While having had the advantages of European study, Goldmark also reflects a measure of the considerable influence exerted by Dvořák upon composition in America, having been one of those under the guidance of the Bohemian composer during his period of teaching in New York. In so far as this influence is discernible in one of Goldmark's well-defined musical personality, it is to be sought in the general nature of his musical ideals, and only very slightly in the specific Americanism encouraged by Dvořák (1841-1904). A firm emotional texture, gained by warmth of both harmony and melody, and a virility arising from a marked rhythmic sense characterize Goldmark's music. His creative impulse is guided more by emotional sincerity and verity than by the element of charm, though it is not without moments of tender and limpid beauty.
His trio for piano, violin and 'cello is an exceptionally substantial opus 1, and his 'Hiawatha' overture won enthusiastic praise from no less discerning a critic than James Huneker. Among his earlier works are a sonata for piano and violin, a 'Romanza' for 'cello, and a number of piano compositions and songs, the latter especially revealing an imagination of distinctive character. An 'Ode to Colorado' for mixed voices issues from the composer's occasional residence in Colorado Springs, as also four 'Prairie Idylls' for piano. From Goldmark's maturer powers springs the quartet in A major, for piano and strings, which, in its class, won the Paderewski Prize in 1909, the poetic merits of the work being revealed in a subsequent performance by the Kneisel Quartet. The impressive and highly-appraised tone-poem 'Samson' was produced by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in March, 1914.
One of the first of the post-Chadwickian generation of American composers to step into prominence was Howard Brockway (b. 1870), who received a very thorough training under the American O. B. Boise in Berlin. He brought back, among other large works, a symphony which he had composed at the age of twenty-four and which had called much attention to his gifts and potential career when performed at a concert of his works in Berlin. Walter Damrosch once said, 'The trouble with American composers is they write one symphony when they come back from Europe and then do nothing more.' A significant half-truth is contained in the remark. The classical musical education requires, tacitly or otherwise, the symphonic effort. Then come the American environment and the dampening absence of a market for symphonies by Young (and Old) America; then the writing of songs in order to find a way to a hearing; and then, if the composer is to belie the Damroschian dictum, a gradual artistic resurrection harmonious with American institutions, purposes, and ideals.