sixteen he became solo pianist
with Emma Abbott's company. As a composer Robyn has written some three
hundred compositions, some of them reaching a tremendous sale. A few
of them have been serious and worth while, notably a piano concerto, a
quintette, four string quartettes, a mass, and several orchestral
suites.

There are not many American composers that have had a fugue published,
or have written fugues that deserve publication. It is the distinction
of Ernest Richard Kroeger that he has written one that deserved, and
secured, publication. This was his 41st opus. It is preceded by a
prelude which, curiously enough, is thoroughly Cuban in spirit and is
a downright Habanera, though not so announced. This fiery composition
is followed by a four-voiced "real" fugue. The subject is genuinely
interesting, though the counter-subject is as perfunctory as most
counter-subjects. The middle-section, the stretto-work, and the
powerful ending, give the fugue the right to exist.

Among other publications are a suite for piano (op. 33), in which a
scherzo has life, and a sonata for violin and piano, in which,
curiously enough, the violin has not one instance of double-stopping,
and the elaborating begins, not with the first subject taken
vigorously, but with the second subject sung out softly. The last
movement is the best, a quaint and lively rondo. A set of twelve
concert etudes show the influence of Chopin upon a composer who writes
with a strong German accent. The etude called "Castor and Pollux" is a
vigorous number with the chords of the left hand exactly doubled in
the right; another etude, "A Romanze," is noteworthy for the practice
it gives in a point which is too much ignored even by the best
pianists; that is, the distinction between the importance of the tones
of the same chord struck by the same hand. A work of broad
scholarship, which shows the combined influence of Beethoven and
Chopin, who have chiefly affected Kroeger, is his sonata (op. 40). A
dominant pedal-point of fifty-eight measures, in the last movement, is
worth mentioning. In a "Danse Negre" and a "Caprice Negre," he has
evidently gone, for his Ethiopian color, not to the actual negro
music, but to the similar compositions of Gottschalk. Kroeger was born
in St. Louis, August 10, 1862. At the age of five he took up the study
of the piano and violin. His theoretical tuition was all had in this
country. He has written many songs, a piano concerto, sonatas