l done produces a lovely effect. A
trifle more flexibility in the melody would have been an advantage, but
it is a beautifully made piece and well worthy attention. He has also
a ballad of very considerable dramatic force, and I have always been
fond of his "Reverie Poetique," which is very much in the style of
Henselt. A melody without a great range, but running in two parts upon
rather diversified harmonies, constitutes the first part of this piece,
and it is afterward developed or varied in double notes, which are
principally sixths, in a very lovely manner. The only drawback, aside
from the difficulty of playing it well, is the length to which it is
spun out. Undoubtedly it is a little monotonous, owing to the same
motive coming over so many times. On the other hand, however, it
pretends at the start to be nothing more than a poetic "reverie," and
it has the character of a reverie--something which dwells and muses and
perhaps never arrives. I mentioned, before, two reveries called "In
the Morning" and "At Evening." The first of these is a very clever
study, and both are well worth studying.

The works of both these composers have a distinct and pronounced
pedagogic value, but in wholly different directions, and both appeal
principally to American pianists. The Gottschalk pieces now are mainly
used in the earlier stages of instruction for forming good melody
habits. They appeal to the poetic sensibility of the players who as
yet are hardly ready for Chopin or any of the more elaborate composers.
Dr. Mason's works, especially those I have here mentioned, appeal upon
the opposite side to the harmonic sense, and to the sense of working
out a theme with good consistency and persistency. While the
Gottschalk pieces improve the style of melody and the sparkle of the
playing, the Mason pieces conduce to system and regularity in study and
to a serious and careful treatment of the left-hand part as well as the
right, and they have in them some of that quality which belongs to
nearly all the works of Bach, when undertaken by students: they promote
seriousness and musical feeling.

Hence I propose the following program as on the whole affording a good
idea of the works of these composers:

PROGRAM.

Gottschalk-Weber:
Overture to "Oberon." Four hands.
Mason:
Amitie pour Amitie. (Available for four hands if preferred.)
Air and Variations Grotesques. "Ah Vous Dirais-je Maman."
Spr