Noble Kreider, through the possession of that more exalted sense of beauty and flashing quality of inspiration which illuminates only the rarer musical souls of any period, takes his place with those in the forefront of American musical advance. In this capacity, however, his place is less that of a militant than that of a standard-bearer of ideals of beauty. He has the further distinction of being the only American composer, of first rank at least, who has found the complete expression of his personality and ideals through the medium of the piano, and who, as an inevitable corollary of this circumstance, has more intimately and sympathetically than any other made the piano speak its own proper language. American composers write seriously, and sometimes admirably, for the piano now and then; Kreider lives and breathes through it. It responds to him sensitively and with its whole soul, as it did to Chopin. It has become identified with his imaginative quality.
Chopin has, indeed, been the strongest influence in the formation of Kreider's musical character, and while, in his earlier work, nothing was more evident than this fact, in his later nothing is more evident than the emergence of his own individuality. So distinct, however, is Kreider's personality that it is unmistakably present even in much of his earliest music. A mystery and sombreness, as of an influence of the North, foreign to Chopin, dominates certain of his moods; and then Kreider is more of a pagan than Chopin was.
The 'Two Legends' (opus 1) have beauty and inspiration, if not a particular distinction of modernity. The 'Ballad' (opus 3) is of heroic and Ossianic cast, restless, like much of Kreider's music, with contained passion—a passion which at times flashes forth in unexpected lightning strokes. A 'Nocturne' (opus 4) is haunting in melody and of an almost Oriental languor. The 'Impromptu' (opus 5) is a darting and upspringing inspiration, with a middle section of great lyrical warmth and beauty. Opus 6 comprises two 'Studies,' both containing a very high quality of beauty with special technical interest. 'Six Preludes' (opus 7) are characteristic, at times Chopinesque, and always fresh and inspirational. The 'Prelude' (opus 8) is a broad and powerful processional of great cumulative dynamic force. 'Three Moods' (opus 9) show the full emergence of the composer's individuality; the second, 'The Valley of White Poppies,' is a rarely perfect and ecstatic inspiration. Opus 10 contains a 'Poem' and a 'Valse Sentimentale.' There is also an unpublished work for 'cello and piano and a very original 'Nocturne.' Kreider's development has been chiefly self-directed. His birthplace and home is Goshen, Indiana.
Benjamin Lambord is a composer whose work reflects in a striking manner the evolutionary upheaval which, in the present generation, has carried the nation from the end of the old epoch to the beginning of the new. There could not well be a closer fidelity to the old German musical spirit and style, especially as pertains to the Lied, than in Lambord's early songs. Even that restricted medium, however, lent itself to all levels of creative impotence or dignity, and if there is a particular distinguishing characteristic in Lambord's work in that style, it is to be found in a peculiar depth of sincerity, an adumbration of personality yet to emerge in individualized expression. This quality will be observed in the first number, Christina Rossetti's 'Remember or Forget,' of the composer's opus 1, which consists of three songs. 'Four Songs,' opus 4, fall under the same dispensation; all indicate a leaning to poetry of high character. A trio for violin, 'cello, and piano (opus 5) from the same period shows good impulse and bold and well-defined themes, but is conventional in harmony and structure generally. An elaborate 'Valse Fantastique' (opus 6) shows a similar energy and boldness of contour. The modern musical ear must search diligently, however, to discover its fantastic element. 'Two Songs' (opus 7), on poems of Heine and Rückert, are deeply felt, and 'Lehn deine Wang' in particular manifests a tendency to enrich the older medium.
With opus 10, 'Two Songs with Orchestra,' however, the composer stands forth in a wholly new light, as an ultra-modern of exceptional powers, and with a subtlety, an imagination and a rich and varied color-sense of which the earlier works can be said to give no appreciable indication. The second of these songs, 'Clytie,' on a poem by André Chénier, is a highly mature expression in the ultra-modern Germanic idiom, technically speaking, though in its musical quality there is much of subtle individuality. The voice part is managed with an appreciation of both delicacy and power, as well as the requirements of artistic diction, and the accompaniment is a web of sensitive modulation and dissonance pregnant with sensuous beauty at every point. The upbuilding of the climax is masterly. The song was presented with much success at a concert of the Modern Music Society in New York in the season of 1913-14, when it was sung by Miss Maggie Teyte. At the same concert, under the composer's direction, was heard a number from his opus 11, 'Verses from Omar,' for chorus and orchestra. Here Lambord adds to his expressional scheme an effective pseudo-Oriental quality, gaining an insistent atmosphere with very simple means. Particularly interesting is the way in which he has varied the manner of employment of his main theme, showing a keen sense of thematic organization. Peculiarly gratifying is the a cappella rendering of the lines beginning 'But ah! that Spring should vanish with the rose' after the powerful climax for chorus and orchestra combined. The composer also has an 'Introduction and Ballet' (opus 8) for orchestra, a work of considerable elaborateness and much rhythmic and melodic variety, one which shows his thorough grasp of orchestral technique. With the nationalistic school Lambord has nothing in common. He is, however, a native New Englander, being born in Portland, Me., in 1879, and his earlier studies in composition were pursued under MacDowell at Columbia University. Later he travelled in France and Germany and studied orchestration with Vidal in Paris.
III
In the modification of the romantic through the influence of the ultra-modern school, the musical development of Campbell-Tipton presents a circumstance which is typical of the experience of many American composers whose formative period coincides with the present transitional epoch. The style of the composer's earlier work rested upon a broad Germanic basis, modern, yet scarcely having passed from the modernity of Liszt to that of Strauss. His work in the earlier vein is vigorous, structurally firm, definite in its melodic contours, and warm in its harmonic color. Force of personality asserts itself, even if the means employed are not highly individualized and lean overheavily upon tradition. To this period belong 'Ten Piano Compositions' (opus 1); 'Romanza Appassionata' (opus 2), for violin and piano; 'Tone Poems' (opus 3), for voice and piano; two 'Legends,' and other works, especially songs. The culminating expression of this period is the 'Sonata Heroic,' for piano, a work of solidity and brilliance, in one broadly conceived movement. It is quasi-programmatical and is founded upon two themes, representing the 'Hero' and the 'Ideal,' the latter in particular being a melody of much warmth and beauty. These are variously interwoven in the development section, and lead to a return upon the second theme and a climax upon the heroic theme. The work has had various public performances in America and Europe. 'Four Sea Lyrics,' for tenor with piano accompaniment, on poems by Arthur Symons, belong, broadly speaking, to the period of the sonata. They are works of distinguished character, 'The Crying of Water' being especially poignant in its expressiveness. The somewhat elaborately worked out 'Suite Pastorale' (opus 27), for violin and piano, and 'Two Preludes' (opus 26), mark no particular departure in style, except that the second of the latter is so modern as to have no bar divisions.
With the 'Nocturnale' and 'Matinale' (opus 28), especially the former, comes a marked departure toward impressionism and ultra-modern harmonic effect, with a gain in color and a corresponding loss in structural quality. The 'Four Seasons' (opus 29), symbolizing four seasons of human life, bear out the tendency toward impressionism and harmonic emancipation, and at the same time seek a greater substantiality of design and treatment. There is an 'Octave Étude' (opus 30), for piano, and a 'Lament' (opus 33), for violin and piano. Among other songs are 'A Spirit Flower,' 'Three Shadows,' 'A Fool's Soliloquy,' 'The Opium Smoker,' and 'Invocation.' An opera is in process of completion. Campbell-Tipton was born in Chicago, in 1877, and lives at present in Paris.