The various songs in folk-manner offer a fine study in musical taste and understanding. In the best of them the peculiarities of each text have been caught with such accuracy that any other musical interpretation seems impossible. Examine, for instance, the two ‘Love Laments of a Maiden’--the long, crawling, saga-like melodic line of the first, the dignified chorale form of the second. Both are impeccable in point of metre and word-accent. But the utter contrast in musical style shows Henschel’s fine discrimination in his treatments of his texts. He catches not merely the external characteristics, but the innermost meaning of each of his poems. Thus when he sets that tiny folk-masterpiece, _Wenn du bei meinem Schätzel kommst_, he suggests in his music the varying mood of the lines, but he keeps the song far away from the delineative, showing in his folk-like treatment of it that he regarded the poem primarily as a unit--as a _single_ play of wit. Songs like _Verstohlen geht der Mond auf_ and ‘Ladybird’ seem quite perfect examples of delicate and graceful song writing. _Mei Schätzerl_ is a humorous song which is hardly surpassed by Brahms or Wolf. Another song that is in every way a masterpiece is ‘The Miller’s Farewell,’ a melody purely in the folk-character, with a subtle pathos verging on tragedy. _Der Holdseligen_, one of the best of all his songs, is of a different sort. It is essentially an art-song, though at first glance it seems to bear the cachet of the folk. It is not a whit more difficult or complicated than any of the folk-songs, but there is in it somewhere that element of conscious design that makes the difference. A study of this song and one or two of Henschel’s pure folk-songs, such as _Mund und Auge_, will reveal much concerning the sensitive deftness of his art. In the more pretentious art-song Henschel is just as much the master. His ‘Morning Hymn,’ perhaps his best known song, is of a grandeur rarely to be met with outside of Hugo Wolf. Indeed, in the deeper emotions Henschel is seldom found wanting. His themes are truthful and convincing; his development clear and strong; his musicianship fertile and resourceful.