New-York tribune., 1916-06-18
The Favorite Songs of
Our Favorite Singers
Thev Appear Now in Book Form, with Autobosraphcal
Sketches-Other New and Worthy Offerings
from the Music Publishers.

A series Of tho favorite songs Of the
,,.ainc operatic and concert artists is
heine prepared by Oliver Ditson Com
,onv. Of Boston, and several Of the
,.o,umcs are already published. Each
,.o,pmo is profaced with an auto
b;o-raphical sketch written by the
singer herself. and each gives an ex-
ceuent idea of her tastes and capa-
hilities. "My Favorite French Songs
of Emma Calve are in two volumes. In
her rreface Nine. Calv6 says: 81 have
added at the end Of each volume
Group Of songs which my grandmother
sang. I have likewise been able TO in
elY5e two old songs. hitherto unpub-
lisbed. one Of which I myself discov-
cred in Auvergne. The aged peasant
Who sang il 70 me declared that the
melody had been handed down through
tho centuries by oral tradition and
,bst il could be traced back 70 the
time when Julius Cesar invaded Gaul.
The song might properly be entitled
The Call Of the Roman Trumpeters,'
bYt IL IS known throughout the eoun-
.~vside as The Call of the shepherds,
md IS sung and repeated antiphonslly
from one mountain to another. For
tbis old air wrote words, and have
sung il everywhere with great success.
-~bo other hitherto unpublished song
ie q melody Of the thirteenth century
with verses by Mistral, the great Pro-
ycneal poet.
oI am glad to think that the songs
nv Grandmother sang mostly forgot
ten to.day-will be heard again, as
sung bv the fresh and charming voices
Of American young women.
Prom the time that my grand
mother. while rocking me in her arms
sang 10 me the songs Of our dear
France. I. too, began to sing, and have
,sver been able to do anything else
IN nv life! If ! might only have
eoualled the clarity of diction and the
depth Of sentiment which my adorable
crandmother gave TO her songs, and
which made Of her living harp! But
slasl l shall ever be, compared with
ber only A beginner-a beginner, how
ever. who has preserved for her
reverent and sincere admiration. 1t is
10 her memory that inseribe this
volume"
The songs themselves form most
interesting collection of the sort OF
music for which France is most to be
loved songs that require not only skill
in the use Of the voice, but interpretive
and even histrionic talent. In her
Grandmother Songs" there is an old
provencal noel. LA belle table est
mise" Berat's "Souvenire de Lisette,"
Marie Antoinette's "C'est mon ami" and
Nine. Trovanet's "Pauvre Jacques"
Among her own songs Nine. Calve has,
of course, chosen "L'amour est un
orison rebelli," and there are numerous
selections by Debussy, GODDARD, Faur6,
Duparc, Delibes, Gounod, Hahn, Mas
senct and Saint-Saens. In all, fifty
two songs are included in the collec-
tion, all of them worth singing, all Of
them representative of the best Of
French musical art and Of the art of
the great singer who chose them.
The collection Of Miss Geraldine Far
rar is. at least as far as the public is
concerned, far less personal. Among
them we find none of the operate airs
with which her name bas been associ-
ated. but in their place a group Of
German and Russian lieder. Miss Far
rar chose, among many others, Bee
thoven's "Mit einem gewalten band"
Franz's "Gute Nacht" and Der Schmet-
terling ist in die Rose verliebt,"
Gluck's "Wonnevaller Mai" and a num-
Der of the less often sung songs Of
Schubert and Schumann. The collec-
ton Is Of interest because of its inclu-
sion Of many Of the less known offer
ings in the recital field, offerings all Of