Theresa Gordon (Mezzo-Soprano)
As every child knows, a book for children is a very different thing from a book about children, and the distinction is equally marked in music. Many composers, in attempting to catch the ears of the children, have merely titillated the emotions of their guardians, and while Bizet's music to this suite, for which a supplementary title is 'Children's Games,' is rather of the latter order, there is no question that Schumann's Scenes of Childhood is of the former. Of other children's suites, there are Elgar's 'Wand of Youth' and 'Nursery Suite,' Debussy's 'Children's Corner,' collections of pieces by Mussorgsky and, indeed, most of the Russians, and even one by Stravinsky. But children, particularly modern children, are not easy to catch. They will snap at tho most unlikely flies, while a composer may bait his hook with the utmost cunning and never get a bite.