The Art Ballad (Loewe and Schubert). By A. B. Bach.
(W. Blackwood and Sons.)—Mr. A. B. Bach, in his Art Ballad, has made a valuable addition to the literature of the musical world, especially as to the vocal part of it. He has gone most thoroughly into his subject, and has produced an interesting account of the differences between songs, ballades, romanzes, &c. He also analyses carefully all Loewe's principal ballades, and gives very interesting, though short, accounts of Loewe's and Schubert's lives. Mr. Bach's principal object has been to make Loewe, the great art ballad composer, better known to the English musical world, and he has to a considerable extent succeeded ; at any rate, few people will read his book without having a great desire aroused to hear the ballades he mentions sung. It is doubtful whether ordinary readers would care for all the early and more technical part of his book. It is sad that a composer of an oratorio that can be classed above Mendelssohn's St. Paul—we allude to the oratorio Huss— should be so little known in England ; but, as Mr. Bach remarks, it is probably due to the fact that most of his compositions are beyond the power of ordinary vocalists to sing, and ordinary audiences to appreciate. Let us hope that all Loewe's admirers will be rewarded by his increasing popularity in the years to come.
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