the various irregular phrases of the voice have an incisive quality which makes them rank as descriptive. The accompaniment is little more than a chord support at most points, but now and then rises into great delineative power. The method is one of selection until only the essentials remain. Each unit of expression which Sibelius has here used is ideally fitted for its purpose. Moreover, the song, though free in the extreme, has a close structure which is entirely convincing. The originality of this song should ultimately make a deep impression on current song-writing. III In latter-day England song-writing has risen to a dignity and importance which it had not possessed since the time of Purcell. With Arthur Goring-Thomas, whom we have already mentioned, a new note of artistic sincerity entered the art. This was continued by an unusually talented man, Arthur Somervell (born 1863), who has composed some of the best song cycles of recent times. Somervell is by no means a radical in his method. But his lyric sense is keen and his invention fertile. His cycle from Tennyson’s ‘Maud’ attains rare fidelity and tragic intensity. Among his other numerous songs are the two cycles, ‘A Shropshire Lad’ and ‘James Lee’s Wife,’ the latter scored for orchestral accompaniment. These both show his happy invention and his high musicianship. A song-writer who has gained a much more glittering reputation less deservedly is Edward Elgar, whom people regard for some reason as the chief representative of modern English song. As a matter of fact, Elgar’s song output has been slight and has not pretended to show the best he was capable of (as Reger did attempt to show in _his_ songs). There is little of Elgar’s forceful musicianship which comes across to us in these songs. The ‘Sea Pictures’ have made their effect chiefly through the effective orchestration which their composer provided for them. Considered as independent music, they are inferior and somewhat conventional. The best is probably ‘Where Coral Lies.’ ‘The Swimmer’ will serve to suggest Elgar’s descriptive style. The conventional, in fact, hangs over most of Elgar’s songs. The one which notably escapes it is the beautiful lyric, ‘My Love Lives in a Northern Land,’ which is worthy to be signed by a first-class musician. Of the others we may mention ‘Queen Mary’s Song,’ which, with its accompaniment in imitation of a lute, is effective in concert; ‘Through the Long Days,’ The Shepherd’s Song,’ and The Pipes of Pan.’