The song writers of this period were many as they are in all periods in every country. Many write one or two songs that are lucky enough to become popular, but this does not make a great composer, for the great either bring something new into the world, or create music which by its quality moves other people to write good and beautiful music. SONG WRITERS Brahms towered among song writers after the time of Schubert and Schumann. He carried forward the form which has given Germany fame for her exquisite _lieder_ (songs). Great beauty with simplicity of vocal melody against an accompaniment that had the character of a full-fledged piano piece distinguished these songs from those of an earlier period in which the accompaniment gave just a little support to the singer. The old songs however, were often heart appealing by their very simplicity for they had almost a folk-song manner. Franz Abt (1819–1885) was one of these writers. He must have made a fortune out of _When the Swallows Homeward Fly_—only, as the composer can not control these things, he probably never knew that this song was to be found on nearly every piano in America for almost fifty years! Robert Franz (1815–1892) made the world want to singer German _lieder_ for the haunting beauty of his songs. _The Rose Complained_ and _In Autumn_ are fair examples of a collection said to include 350 published songs. In Chapter XXIV you have seen the place in song occupied by Schubert and Schumann. From them to Brahms does not seem such a great stretch, but only the musician knows how wide it is. The form in which Brahms wrote _lieder_ brought a new feeling to the composers, not by way of imitation, but because vocal music developed naturally into the paths along which he led the way. Richard Strauss, known for his great tone poems, also for his operas _Salome_, _Elektra_ and _The Rose Cavalier_, shortly after Brahms wrote some of the most beautiful songs in the world. We also find many by his colleagues, Felix Weingartner (1863), Hans Pfitzner (1869), Mahler and others, whose songs, though beautiful, showed their skill less than their operas, symphonies, and choral works. HUGO WOLF—SONG GENIUS Hugo Wolf (1860–1903) will be regarded, as time goes on, as one of the greatest composers of the 19th century. This, notwithstanding the fact that he published 260 songs and nothing at all for orchestra, and in chamber music, he wrote only one very interesting quartet introduced in this country nearly twenty years ago by the Flonzaley Quartet. Such a master would no doubt have left more than songs, would have been one of the musical beacon-lights of the world, had his life not been one of tragedy.