r's "Gipsy
Songs."

IV--FRANCE, ITALY AND ENGLAND

France, unlike Germany, has never had genuine art songs. Of chansons,
romances and other light songs there is an abundance, but its serious
work has been rather in the line of opera. Gounod, however, has many
lovely things, some of them popular: "Oh, That We Two Were Maying;"
"Maid of Athens," and others, are well known. Delibes shows a distinct
German influence in his song-writing. "Nightingale," and "Regrets," have
high merit. Godard has more than a hundred songs to his credit, many
delightful: the "Arabian Song;" "Farewell;" "The Traveler," are among
the best. A French woman song writer, Mdlle. Chaminade, is distinctly
popular to-day, but her work is not considered by critics to be
strikingly original.

Italy has never been interested in art song; indeed, except for the folk
songs of the street, there are few, if any, except such as are found
imbedded in operas and are distinctly a part of them. Tosti, to be sure,
has written many songs and so have other Italian composers of our day,
but nothing which stands among the great lyric songs of the world.

In England the ballad is the musical form of the song, and here this
nation excels. The ballads are strong, sincere and beautiful. Clubs
should have a number of meetings on the ballads of England, Scotland,
and Ireland. Sullivan has written some lovely songs, and so have Goring
Thomas, Stanford, and Cowen. There is a new English school of merit,
with fresh and original ideas. Sing Thomas's "Spring Is Not Dead" and "A
Summer Night." "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," by Stanford, is an excellent
piece of work. Mackenzie has followed Brahms more or less; sing "Hope,"
his best song.

V--AMERICAN SONGS

Until recently we in America, like the English, have written but few
lyric songs. But to-day we have a large number of such composers, and
there are those in other nations who think that the best work of our
time is being done in this country.

Prof. John K. Paine has written only a few songs. Among them are:
"Moonlight," and "The Matin Song," both charming.

Arthur Foote has written forty songs--among them, "On the Way to Kew,"
and, "In Picardie"--and is sometimes compared with Franz. Clayton Johns
has a hundred songs, his "Winter Journey" being suggestive of Russian
music; "Were I a Prince Egyptian," is good. Reginald de Koven is called
the most popular of America's song writers; his settings of verses by
Eugene Fie