The Masters and their Music Part 17

Fugue.

2. Woodland Sketches.

"To a Wild Rose."

"Will o' the Wisp."

"At an Old Trysting Place."

"In Autumn."

"From an Indian Lodge."

"To a Water Lily."

"From 'Uncle Remus'."

"A Deserted Farm."

"By a Meadow Brook."

"Told at Sunset."

3. Two Songs from Opus 33.

"Cradle Hymn."

"Idyll."

4. Selections from Opus 39.

"Romance."

"Arabeske."

"In the Forest."

"Idylle."

"Shadow Dance."

"Witches' Dance." Opus 17, No. 2.

5. Eight Songs. Opus 47.

"The Robin Sings in the Apple-tree."

"Midsummer Lullaby."

"Folk-song."

"Confidence."

"The West Wind Croons in the Cedar Trees."

"In the Woods."

"The Sea."

"Through the Meadow."

6. Sonata, "Eroca." Opus 30.

CHAPTER VIII.

ARTHUR FOOTE AND MRS. H. H. A. BEACH.

There is nothing especial in common between the composers here mentioned that they should be put together in one program, excepting the fact that they both live in Boston; nor, on the other hand, is there anything especially contrasting between them. For this reason I think it better to give the selections of the different composers separately, leaving the superintendent of the concert to arrange the program of selections in any order most pleasing to him.

ARTHUR FOOTE.

Arthur Foote was born of a good New England family at Salem, Ma.s.s., March 5, 1853. He pursued the usual course of a well-bred New England boy, pa.s.sing successively through the district school and academy, and at length graduated at Harvard in 1874. He had already made considerable study of music, both upon instruments and in theory, and under the competent instruction of Mr. Stephen A. Emery had made considerable progress in composition.

He now entered seriously upon the study of music, with the intention of making it a life-long profession. His teachers were Mr. B. J. Lang, in organ and pianoforte playing, and Prof. J. K. Paine, in composition.

In 1875, after examination, he received from Harvard the degree of A.M.

in music. Since 1876 he has been engaged as a successful teacher of the pianoforte in Boston, and since 1878 has been organist of the First Unitarian Church in Boston. In daily work, as an interesting and stimulating instructor in art, Mr. Foote leads an honored life; but he is better known to the outside world by his compositions, which indicate talent of a high order. The range of them and the variety are alike remarkable.

Among his important compositions are to be mentioned an Impromptu (G minor); Gavotte (B minor); Mazurka (G minor); Opus 6, consisting of five pieces; Prelude and Nocturne (F minor and F major); Sarabande (G major); Pet.i.te Valse (for the left hand); Polonaise (D major) and Gavotte in C minor (Opus 8, No. 1); Eclogue (Opus 8, No. 2); Suite in D minor (Opus 15), containing Prelude and Fugue, Romance and Capriccio; Sarabande and Courante of J. S. Bach (transcribed); two Pianoforte Pedal Studies; etudes Alb.u.m, a collection of etudes, selected and arranged in progressive order; and Additions to b.u.t.tshardt Method of Pianoforte Technic.

I do not find myself very well prepared to make a program of compositions of Mr. Foote which fully satisfies. The best I can do with the material I have is the following, which is offered to those needing it as a suggestion:

PROGRAM.

Five pieces for piano. Opus 6.

Prelude and Nocturne.

Sarabande.

Pet.i.te Valse. (For left hand alone.) Polonaise.

Three pieces for piano. No opus number.

Impromptu in G Minor.

Gavotte in B Minor.

Sarabande and Courante from the Violoncello Sonatas of Bach.

Arranged by Arthur Foote.

The pieces here listed will occupy about forty minutes in performance.

All of this music is seriously intended, all is well done, and all musical. Naturally, the best pieces are the last, since the experienced composer, Mr. Bach, had already laid the foundation, and his music has had a longer time to ripen and grow a halo.

SONGS BY ARTHUR FOOTE.

In addition to the foregoing program of works by Mr. Arthur Foote, following is a selection of songs which can be confidently recommended as attractive and valuable additions to these ill.u.s.trative programs, and as well worthy the widest possible currency on their own account:

"Into the silent land."

"O my love's like a red, red rose."

"If you become a nun, dear."

"A song from the Persian."

"In Picardie."

"O swallow, swallow, flying south."

"On the way to Kew."

"When icicles hang by the wall."

"Irish folk-song."

"I'm wearing awa'."

"Go, lovely rose."

The first one in the above list is a very lovely quartet for female voices--originally composed for funeral occasions--upon Longfellow's translation of the song by Silas. It is a very beautiful quartet. The "Song from the Persian" is a duet for soprano and alto or baritone, preferably baritone, of an unusual, but on the whole pleasing, character. "O my love's like a red, red rose" is very charming, indeed, but perhaps best of the entire list is the soprano song, "O swallow, swallow, flying south," which is dedicated to Mme. Lilian Blauvelt.

Several of these selections are to be had for a low voice or a high voice, but most of them are for mezzo-soprano or baritone. There is one for ba.s.s, "When icicles hang by the wall," and one for alto, "I'm wearing awa'," and of the collection as a whole, I say again, it is an honor to American art. They are songs that are extremely well worth knowing.

MRS. H. H. A. BEACH.