Mendelssohn wrote many songs during his short lifetime and was probably the best known of all song-writers of the forties. But his work in this department has all but passed into oblivion. They are not ambitious efforts. They make no attempt to strike out new paths; they have no interest in sounding depths of emotion; they are content with the old forms and the old formulas of accompaniment. The best that can usually be said of them is that they are pleasing in melody and faultlessly graceful according to canons of correctness. On the whole, the ones best worth singing are those which are consciously _volkstümlich_. Among these we may name the very beautiful _Es ist bestimmt in Gottes Rath_, opus 47, No. 7; _O Jugend, O schöne Rosenzeit_, opus 57, number 4; _An die Entfernte_, opus 71, number 3; and _Das Lieblingsplätzchen_, opus 99, number 3, words from _Des Knaben Wunderhorn_. ‘Italy,’ in opus 8, and _Im Herbst_, in opus 9, have a very real charm. _Neue Liebe_, in opus 19, suggesting the elf riding through the forest, is about as near as Mendelssohn ever got to descriptive music in his accompaniments. The _Frühlingslied_ in opus 71 is by all means one of the best of his songs, showing contrast and depth of mood and rising to a thrilling climax on the words _Bist nicht allein_. Another song writer of peculiarly Germanic cast was Karl Reinecke (born 1821), friend of Schumann and Mendelssohn and protégé of the latter, who was for thirty-five years director of the Gewandhaus concerts at Leipzig. Reinecke’s songs cannot be called great, but they have to a remarkable degree insinuated themselves into the affections of the German people. They are at their best when they are nearest to the _Volkslied_, showing the German genius of achieving deep and noble expression in the simplest forms. We may mention especially the Children’s Songs, opus 37, of which the best are the lilting lullaby, _Wenn die Kinder schlafen ein_, and the moving _Gebet zur Nacht_. The essential wholesomeness of his talent is shown in the _Singspiel_, _Ein Abenteuer Händels_ (‘An Adventure of Handel’s), of which the very simple song, _Lied so treu und herzlich_, is typical. His song cycle, _Schneewittchen_ (for soprano and contralto with chorus of women’s voices), is excellent in its way. The simple prologue is a thing of great beauty, and _Schneewittchen’s_ song, _In seiner Kammer_, has a charming archaic style, recalling the long and flowing lines of the Minnesong. Salomon Jadassohn (1831-1901) and Robert Volkmann (1815-1883) were likewise successful song writers whose lyric work has largely passed into obscurity. Carl Friedrich Curschmann (1805-1841), a pupil of Spohr, was a prolific and extremely popular writer of songs in a sentimental and popular vein, marked by the sensuous quality which Franz Abt used so richly. An artist of more varied talents was Karl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert (1811-1891), who held important official