and purr of the "Hommage a Chopin," must be granted at least an
unusual command over pianistic materials, and a most unusual acuteness
of observation.

He can write _a la_ Smith, too, and has a vein quite his own, even
though he prefers to build his work on well-established lines, and fit
his palette with colors well tempered and toned by the masters.

In this line is opus 21, a group of four pieces called "Echoes of Ye
Olden Time." The "Pastorale" is rather Smithian than olden, with its
mellow harmony, but the "Minuetto" is the perfection of chivalric
foppery and pompous gaiety. The "Gavotte" suggests the contagious good
humor of Bach, and the "Minuetto Grazioso," the best of the series,
has a touch of the goodly old intervals, tenths and sixths, that taste
like a draught of spring water in the midst of our modern liqueurs.

The musical world in convention assembled has covenanted that certain
harmonies shall be set apart for pasturage. Just why these arbitrary
pastorales should suggest meads and syrinxes, and dancing shepherds,
it would be hard to tell. But this effect they certainly have, and a
good pastorale is a better antidote for the blues and other civic ills
than anything I know, except the actual green and blue of fields and
skies. Among the best of the best pastoral music, I should place
Smith's "Gavotte Pastorale." It is one of the five pieces in his book
of "Romantic Studies" (op. 57).

This same volume contains a "Scherzo alla Tarantella," which is full
of reckless wit. But the _abandon_ is so happy as to seem misplaced in
a tarantella, that dance whose traditional origin is the maniacal
frenzy produced by the bite of the tarantula. An earlier Tarantella
(op. 34) is far truer to the meaning of the dance, and fairly raves
with shrieking fury and shuddering horror. This is better, to me, than
Heller's familiar piece.

The "Second Gavotte" is a noble work, the naive gaiety of classicism
being enriched with many of the great, pealing chords the modern piano
is so fertile in. I count it as one of the most spontaneous gavottes
of modern times, one that is buoyant with the afflation of the olden
days. It carries a musette of which old Father Bach need not have felt
ashamed,--one of the most ingenious examples of a drone-bass ever
written.

The "Menuet Moderne" is musical champagne. A very neat series of
little variations is sheafed together, and called "Mosaics." Mr. Smith
has written two pieces well style