On Behalf of Plain English.

I have taken the liberty of translating into English the labels of the Records in all cases where they needed it. I believe that ours is the only country in the world where concert givers and Gramophone Record makers prefer foreign languages. We even go so far as to give Russian titles in French, an absurdity for which there is no excuse. The implied romantic attraction of foreign titles is a manifestation of snobbery with which I have no sympathy. A musical journal has just said:

'We notice a reference to Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun in an American contemporary. Presumably there is no earthly reason why L'Après-Midi d'un Faune should not be translated word for word, but the result cannot be proclaimed a huge success.'

Why is it not a success? It is an exact literal translation. If there is anything wrong with it, Debussy and Mallarmé, and not the translator, must take the blame. At all events I have used that very title in this book. Of course we all know French and German and Italian nowadays-but we ought to remember that some of our neighbours don't.

Where, however, the composer has originally used a language other than his own, I have left his title undisturbed. The Use of Orchestral Scores.

I want to urge an increase in the number of gramophonists who study orchestral records with the full orchestral score. This is a delightful occupation, and not nearly so difficult as may be supposed. I give some hints on the subject in my discussion of Wagner's Siegfried's Death March, on pages 37 to 41. More people would take up the use of full scores if it were recognised that to get useful guidance from them it is not necessary to be able to read the actual musical notes (which involves an understanding of 'transposing instruments'). If you are capable of following the general shape of a melody (as shown in musical notation) and the general character of a rhythm, you are in a position to use a full score to some advantage.

TABLE OF COMPOSERS REPRESENTED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF THE

GRAMOPHONE RECORD.

An exact classification of composers, such as would admit of no dispute, is here impossible, for fine shades and subtle spiritual relationships cannot be expressed in cold tabular form. The classification adopted below is, then, admittedly rough-and-ready, and the word 'school' is used in a wide sense. For particulars of the lives and works of these composers, and of their position in the history of the art, see The Listener's History of Music.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

I wish warmly to thank those representatives of the H.M.V., Columbia, and Aeolian Companies, who have kindly helped me in very many ways, and Mr. C. M. Crabtree, B.A., B.Mus., Mr. A. C. Praeger, F.R.C.O., and Mr. W. R. Anderson, B.Mus., Editor of The Music Teacher, who have read the proofs; also the various Publishers who have granted permission for the use of words of songs or of extracts from music or books of which they hold the copyright-their names being, it is hoped, in every case mentioned on the appropriate pages.

Mendelssohn. Song Without Words, No. 34.

Of all Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, No. 34 is probably the greatest favourite. In most editions it is called 'Spinning Song'; the makers of this Record and many of those who play and hear the piece call it 'The Bees' Wedding'. Neither of these names can claim any official authorisation; Mendelssohn simply left the piece as a Song Without Words'-and without them even as to title.

The same feature of this piece has been the origin of both its popular titles; the continuous semiquavers that run through its hundred bars apparently suggest to some minds the buzz of bees and to others the hum of a spinning wheel.

It may be of interest here to state which of the titles given to the Songs Without Words were the invention of the author. They are those of the two Gondola Songs, the Duet, the Folk Song and the Spring Song; all other titles are the invention of publishers or the public.

It is as the composer of Elijah and of the Songs Without Words that Mendelssohn is known to many in this country. There is, perhaps, hardly a British piano without its copy of some or all of the latter. Yet they were not immediately popular here. Novello's published the first book of them in 1832, and in 1836 had sold only 114 copies.

The expression Song Without Words is Mendelssohn's own. The remarks that follow are those of one of his greatest

C