The position of Edward MacDowell (1861-1911) as a lyricist is still disputed. Mr. Finck ranks him among the four greatest song-writers of the world. In point of sincerity and individuality he was surpassed by few of his contemporaries. From the beginning of his maturity on he wrote scarcely a note that did not bear his personal signature. In two or three of his songs he is certainly hobnobbing among the great. But though nearly all his work is charmingly individual, one may doubt whether he has written a sufficient quantity of superior songs to entitle him to the rank to which Mr. Finck assigns him. But the songs are there, independently of what rank this or that writer chooses to give him. He is unsurpassed in giving his music certain special qualities or moods, distinct, yet not got by strained means--moods such as banter, sentimental tenderness, playfulness, and the like. The achieving of such results is one of the ultimate things in song writing from the technical point of view, and many first rank composers have been unequal to it. To achieve it is a special mark of genius for the art-song. Again, we find that MacDowell’s songs have a remarkable amount of distinction and individuality; though the personality of the composer is over all, each of the songs has its own personality, too. The range is considerable; from playfulness, through sensuous emotion, to deepest tragedy, and each type, at MacDowell’s hands, is equally individual and almost equally successful. The MacDowell idiom, derived in part from Grieg, is used flexibly for many things and is usually a fine instrument of emotional expression. We should not, however, leave this listing of the qualities of MacDowell’s songs without mentioning their frequent tendency to the banal, a tendency which is never marked or long sustained, but which appears in unexpected places to rob the songs of their final touch of aristocratic distinction.