said of America? This much at
least: when we consider that, beyond the most rudimentary attempts,
music in our land is not yet a century old, a start has been made
which promises great things. Such pioneers as Paine, Chadwick,
MacDowell, Foote, Parker, Osgood, Whiting and Mrs. H.H.A. Beach have
written works, often in the larger forms, showing genuine inspiration
and fine workmanship, many of which have won permanent recognition
outside of their own country. Of late years a younger group has
arisen, the chief members[342] of which are Converse, Carpenter,
Gilbert, Hadley, Hill, Mason, Atherton, Stanley Smith, Brockway, Blair
Fairchild, Heilman, Shepherd, Clapp, John Powell, Margaret Ruthven
Lang, Gena Branscombe and Mabel Daniels. These composers all have
strong natural gifts, have been broadly educated, and, above all, in
their music is reflected a freedom, a humor and an individuality which
may fairly be called American; that is, it is not music which
slavishly follows the "made-in-Germany" model.[343] The composer of
greatest genius and scope in America is undoubtedly Charles Martin
Loeffler; but, although he has become a loyal American, and although
his best works have been composed in this country, we can hardly claim
him as an American composer, for his music vividly reflects French
taste and ideals. His inspired works--in particular _La Mort de
Tintagiles_, _The Pagan Poem_ and a Symphony (in one movement)--are of
peculiar importance for their connection with works of literature and
for consummate power in orchestration. Not even Debussy has expressed
more subtly the tragic spirit of Maeterlinck than has Loeffler in _La
Mort de Tintagiles_; and _The Pagan Poem_, founded on an Eclogue of
Virgil portrays most eloquently the romance of those pastoral days.
Loeffler's latest work, a String Quartet[344] dedicated to the memory
of Victor Chapman, the Harvard aviator, is remarkable for the
heart-felt beauty of its themes and for advanced technique in treating
the four solo instruments.

[Footnote 342: This valuation of American composers is made solely on
the basis of published compositions.]

[Footnote 343: For additional comments on this point see an article by
the author in the Musical Quarterly for January, 1918.]

[Footnote 344: Performed recently several times by the Flonzaley
Quartet.]

Let us now indulge in a few closing remarks of advice to the young
student faced with all this perplexing novelty. Our stud