her glories in poetry, in fiction and in painting. Among the
older group we have such names as Sullivan, with his inimitable
series of operas, theMikado,Gondoliers,Iolanthe,etc.; Parry,
with some notable choral works, and Stanford—a most versa-
tile man—Irish by birth, and with the humor and spontaneity
natural to his race; hisIrish Symphonyand his operaShamus
O’Brienwould give lustre to any period. The only genius of
the first rank however which England has produced since the
days of Purcell is Edward Elgar (1857-still living). Practically
self-educated and spending his early life in his native country
he escaped the influences of German training which so deadened
the efforts of former composers, such as Pierson and Bennett.
Elgar’s music is thoroughly English in its sturdy vigor[341] and
wholesome emotion. With something first-hand to say he has
acquired such a technique in musical expression that his com-
positions rank in workmanship with those of the great conti-
nental masters. In his use of the modern orchestra Elgar need
be considered second to none. His overturesIn the Southand
Cockaigne, his two Symphonies and hisEnigma Variationsare
universally acknowledged to be models of richly-colored and var-
ied scoring. Although his music is English it is never parochial
but has that note of universal import always found in the work
of a real genius. Among the younger men there are Wallace,
both composer and writer on musical subjects (his Threshold
of music being particularly stimulating), Holbrook, Vaughan
Williams, Roger Quilter, Arthur Hinton, Balfour Gardiner and
John Ireland, a composer of genuine individuality, as is evident
from his Violin Sonata in D Minor.
[Footnote 340: Some pithy remarks on the habitual English
attitude toward music may be found in the history of Stanford
and Forsyth, page 313,seq.]
[Footnote 341: See for example the broad theme in the middle
portion of the March,Pomp and Circumstance.]
Even such outlying parts of the world as Australia and South
America have contributed executive artists of great ability though,
to our knowledge, as yet no composer.
What, now, in this connection can be said of America? This
much at least: when we consider that, beyond the most rudi-
mentary attempts, music in our land is not yet a century old,
a start has been made which promises great things. Such pio-