It will readily be understood why the creator of such beautiful works of art should be unwilling to make the piano accompaniment play a subordinate part. However, he does not raise it to the principal position, as does Wagner, in his latest music dramas, but melodically, rhythmically, harmonically, interweaves it with the vocal strain in such a way that each part completes the other, both forming a wonderful unity. In fact, as regards this intimate and organic connection of song and accompaniment, Franz hardly has his equal among the great song composers, notwithstanding many splendid instances of this combining power found in the songs of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms. Quite often Franz's song accompaniments are written in such a manner that each part forms a beautiful song by itself, so that one is almost tempted to sing one of the inner voices; while sometimes the accompaniment is even written strictly in four parts, making it seem like a choral composition. This leads us to the cardinal features of Franz's style, and shows his close relationship to Sebastian Bach and to the already mentioned old hymns and folk songs. August Saran has treated this subject most thoroughly in a very remarkable book culminating in the statement, "Robert Franz's song is in its whole nature and musical structure nothing else but the old German folk-song, enriched and idealized by the peculiar expressiveness of modern music." Those old folk-songs had once reached their highest development on sacred ground in the protestant Choral as it became so wonderfully perfected in Bach's polyphonic and contrapuntal art. We find that Franz has applied this same art and spirit to modern lyric songs, although at the same time he fully recognizes what all the later musical epochs have contributed in the way of greater delicacy or intensity of expression, richer, and freer use of the rhythms, new harmonic modulations, a closer regard for the intelligent phrasing of poetic words, and a richer and far more varied and effective technique of the pianoforte.