by SUMNER AUSTIN (Baritone) and SOLOMON
(Pianoforte)
IN this country it used to be said of Brahms' songs that they were difficult* and ungrateful to sing, and that ho evidently had ho sympathy with the voice as an instrument of music. It is complete nonsense, as has long ago been realized; it is, indeed, difficult to believe that anyone ever thought it true. Almost more than any other of the great composers, he has drawn on folk music for his songs, some times taking a folk tune and setting it' very simply and eloquently with his own accompaniment, sometimes developing a fragment of folk tuno into a melody of his own, and sometimes inventing melodies so simple and natural that they can easily bo mistaken for folk songs. They range through a very wide field of emotion and expression ; many of the best are love songs.
Only once or twice did he choose .to set narrative ballads; more often he delights in presenting a mood of Nature, the meditations of a. thoughtful spirit in the open air.