d pianoforte.

OPUS 38. EIGHT (formerly Six) LITTLE PIECES, MARIONETTES, FOR
PIANOFORTE.

_Composed about_ 1888. _Revised and rearranged by the Composer_,
1901. _First Published_, 1888 (J. Hainauer. Revised Version,
1901--Arthur P. Schmidt).

_Dedicated to Miss Nina Nevins._

ORIGINAL VERSION: REVISED VERSION:

1. _Soubrette._ 1. _Prologue._

2. _Lover._ 2. _Soubrette._

3. _Villain._ 3. _Lover._

4. _Lady-Love._ 4. _Witch._

5. _Clown._ 5. _Clown._

6. _Witch._ 6. _Villain._

7. _Sweetheart._

8. _Epilogue._

These little pieces are quite notable and extremely interesting
both in their original and revised versions. Although the
subjects they portray are the stiff-moving and grotesque figures
of Marionettes, their general effect is often intensely human.
The set as a whole may be viewed as a half serious, half
whimsical study of characters in human life, issued under the
disguise of jointed and painted dummies. Beneath the quaint,
stiff movement of the music there is just that touch of
seriousness, a sort of droll sadness, that makes of it something
more than a doll's play. The revised edition of _Marionettes_ is
the best and most characteristic, and in the United States is the
accepted one. In England, however, the original edition,
published at Breslau in 1888 by Julius Hainauer, is still being
sold.

_Soubrette_ is a stiff, but bright little piece. In places it has
a wistfulness that seems to suggest that the human counterpart of
the character has feelings, not being merely an emotionless
puppet for public amusement.

_Lover_ has much the same stiff movement as the preceding piece,
but is more tender and subdued, dying softly away in the final
bars. There is much human feeling in this number.

_Villain_ is a realistic Marionette piece, with a quaint,
foreboding and sardonic spirit, the little climax being quite
villainous.

_Lady-love_ brings a gentle and charming study to view, the
typical quaint movement of the pieces as a whole being here
considerably softened and made more flowing and graceful.

_Clown_ makes a jolly number, but beneath its outward dummy-like
comicalness there runs a strain of human feeling that towards the
end comes uppermost, the music becoming quite subdued, growing
fainter and fainter until nothing is left but a few little