With the struggle toward national musical individuality on the part of the different nations of Europe, especially with the achievements of modern France, and with the development of the internal aboriginal musical resources of America, the creative musical life of the United States took on an entirely new aspect. While the influences which shaped the romantic and neo-classic epoch did not cease, they became greatly modified. The ideals of that epoch yielded to new issues, and the general forward movement was divided into two camps, one seeking a national individuality for American music and the other a continuation of the most recent European developments, especially those of France and post-Wagnerian Germany. Neither of these two movements was destined eventually to dominate the field. The promoters of neither movement were wholly convinced or wholly single-minded. The so-called 'Nationalists' experimented to some extent with the ultra-modern technical developments, and the ultra-moderns could not refrain from some essays with primitive American themes. It was inevitable that a broad eclecticism should arise, and in this a more truly national movement stepped forth than was presented by either of the existing wings. The will for the greatest freedom, essential to the American spirit, asserted itself, and in its newest phase the nation is declaring for a complete musical independence, based upon the unrestricted assimilation and reflection of every phase of musical influence, within and without. I No American composer stands forth with a more sharply defined individuality than Henry F. Gilbert, and none has given himself with greater ardor to the accomplishment of something truly American in musical art. The ultimate stature of an artist finds a certain measure of adumbration in the absorptive and impressionable capacity of his early years. With Gilbert this capacity was exceptionally large and sensitive. As a mere boy in his teens he had an insatiable curiosity concerning every discoverable phase of the world's music, and at that age, while America was still in the throes of the Wagner controversy, he was thoroughly familiar with the music of the entire group of now famous French, Russian, Bohemian, and other composers, whose names at that time were wholly unknown on this side of the water, and comparatively little known at home. At the same time he gained an authoritative knowledge of the folk-songs of the world, and made extensive studies into remote aspects of the world's literature. Gilbert was born in Somerville, Mass., in 1868, and studied for a time with MacDowell, in Boston, but he never had much academic training. Concerning his formative influences, the composer may be allowed to speak for himself, as he has done in the following words: