aken from the vocabulary of the German cat) under
them. Instances of this kind might be called characterization, or
description by suggestion, and some of the best composers have made
use of them, as will appear in these pages presently. The list being
so small, and the lesson taught so large, it may be well to give a few
striking instances of absolutely imitative music. The first bird to
collaborate with a composer seems to have been the cuckoo, whose notes

[Music illustration: Cuck-oo!]

had sounded in many a folk-song ere Beethoven thought of enlisting the
little solo performer in his "Pastoral" symphony. It is to be borne in
mind, however, as a fact having some bearing on the artistic value of
Programme music, that Beethoven's cuckoo changes his note to please
the musician, and, instead of singing a minor third, he sings a major
third thus:

[Music illustration: Cuck-oo!]

[Sidenote: _Cock and hen._]

As long ago as 1688 Jacob Walter wrote a musical piece entitled
"Gallina et Gallo," in which the hen was delineated in this theme:

[Music illustration: _Gallina._]

while the cock had the upper voice in the following example, his clear
challenge sounding above the cackling of his mate:

[Music illustration: _Gallo._]

The most effective use yet made of the song of the hen, however, is in
"La Poule," one of Rameau's "Pieces de Clavecin," printed in 1736, a
delightful composition with this subject:

[Music illustration: Co co co co co co co dai, etc.]

[Sidenote: _The quail._]

The quail's song is merely a monotonic rhythmical figure to which
German fancy has fitted words of pious admonition:

[Music illustration: Fuerch-te Gott! Lo-be Gott!]

[Sidenote: _Conventional idioms._]

[Sidenote: _Association of ideas._]

[Sidenote: _Fancy and imagination._]

[Sidenote: _Harmony and emotionality._]

The paucity of examples in this department is a demonstration of the
statement made elsewhere that nature does not provide music with
models for imitation as it does painting and sculpture. The fact that,
nevertheless, we have come to recognize a large number of idioms based
on association of ideas stands the composer in good stead whenever he
ventures into the domain of delineative or descriptive music, and this
he can do without becoming crudely imitative. Repeated experiences
have taught us to recognize resemblances between sequences or
combinations of tones and things or ideas, and on these analogies,
e