The adequate rendering of Franz's songs lies both with the singer and the accompanist. Most of them demand a well trained voice of a fine musical quality, and often of a wide compass, an unusual degree of general musical education, a clear poetical comprehension of text and music, and a most distinct enunciation and intelligent phrasing. The accompaniment calls for a very clever player, well schooled in Bach's polyphonic style, who has a singing tone and who, in the whole conception and delivery, is in full harmony with the singer. Nearly all of these songs can be well rendered and enjoyed in an English translation, if only the translator be guided in his work by the utmost regard for the melos and rhythm of the poem and its music. Franz's songs are still far too little known, although in the old world, and we are proud to say in the new also, some enthusiastic admirers, singers, musicians and writers have done a great deal for their introduction. They are everywhere respected, but unduly neglected in vocal concerts as well as in our homes, where their influence would be felt still more. May these lines help to win them many true and lasting friends. There remains still another highly important musical achievement of Robert Franz to be noted,--a series of works through which he has deserved the lasting thanks of all earnest friends of musical art, and which will for all time connect his name with those of our greatest masters of the oratorio, Bach and Handel. Before him Mozart had made a similar attempt with the music of Handel, and Mendelssohn with that of Bach, but neither achieved a complete success. These old masters did not fully write out the accompaniments to their great works in the form which has become the rule with their successors, but rather left them as outlines, a mere figured bass indicating the accompaniment, which the composer either played or personally supervised. The old art of playing from a figured bass has in our time become almost obsolete; besides our ears have through the wonderful development of instrumental music become accustomed to new sounds and orchestral effects, which are now absolutely essential to us. Also, some instruments have since been discarded and others modified. It was an extremely difficult task to complete this accompaniment, which was merely suggested, and arrange it for our modern orchestral instruments, at the same time retaining the spirit and style of the old great masters. It required a thorough historical and theoretical knowledge, a fine sense of the peculiar character of the different instruments and a complete mastery of polyphonic and contrapuntal art, qualities found only in a true musician, who was himself highly gifted as a composer. Scholarly professors might perhaps have performed this feat in a merely correct and antiquarian manner, but only a true musician could inspire these accompaniments with the same life as the old masters would have