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Six German Volkelieder. Transcribed for the Pianoforte, by Adolph Gollmick. The modest term "transcribed," as used by modern German composers, means something more than is implied by the literal acceptation of the word. A transcription of a popular air is a little pianoforte piece, in which the theme is expanded, amplified, and accompanied by new and varied harmonies, while from beginning to end it is never lost sight of. It is a "song without words" upon an already known and favourite sub- ject. We have many excellent compositions of this kind, as the best composers have not thought them unworthy of their genius. Herr Goll- muck has written many beautiful chamber-pieces for the piano, and these Volkslieder will be a welcome addition to their number. Ho has taken six German ballad-airs, familiar to every lover of Teutonic national music, and has treated them with great taste and skill, preserving in every case the characteristic features of the melody, and its expres- sion whether gay or sentimental. We constantly hear the song, sometimes in its simplest form, sometimes enriched by original and unexpected chords, and sometimes wrapped as it were in a tissue of brilliant accompaniments both above and below, but always so constructed as to stand out in clear relief from its harmonious back- ground, provided that the performer has acquired the great art of canta- bile-playing. For the attainment of this art we know no better practice than these elegant Volkalied, and the young pianist will find them as at- tractive as useful.
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