eless. Schumann was a deep student of psychology and of human life.
In the majority of cases he eschewed the melodramatic. It is true that
we have at least one song, _The Two Grenadiers_, which is melodramatic
in the extreme; but this, according to the greatest judges, is not
Schumann at his best. It was the particular delight of Schumann to take
some intense little poem and apply to it a musical setting crowded full
of deep poetical meaning. Again, he liked to paint musical pastels such
as _Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai_, _Fruehlingsnacht_ and _Der Nussbaum_.
These songs are redolent with the fragrance of out-of-doors. There is
not one jarring note. The indefinable beauty and inspiration of the
fields and forests have been caught by the master and imprisoned forever
in this wonderful music.

_Im wunderschoenen Monat Mai_, which comes from the _Dichterliebe_ cycle,
is indescribably delicate. It should be sung with great lightness and
simplicity. Any effort toward a striving for effect would ruin this
exquisite gem. _Fruehlingsnacht_ with its wonderful accompaniment, which
Franz Liszt thought so remarkable that he combined the melody and the
accompaniment, with but slight alterations, and made a piano piece of
the whole--is a difficult song to sing properly. If the singer does not
catch the effervescent character of the song as a whole, the effect is
lost. Any "dragging" of the tones destroys the wonderful exuberance
which Schumann strove to connote. The balance between the singer and the
accompanist must be perfect, and woe be to the singer who tries to sing
_Fruehlingsnacht_ with a lumbering accompanist.

_Der Nussbaum_ is one of the most effective and "thankful" of all the
Schumann songs. Experienced public singers almost invariably win popular
appreciation with this song. It is probably my favorite of all the
Schumann songs. Here again delicacy and simplicity reign supreme. In
fact simplicity in interpretation is the great requirement of all the
art songs. The amateur singer seems to be continually trying to secure
"effect" with these songs and the only result of this is affectation. If
amateurs could only realize how hard the really great masters tried to
avoid results that were to be secured by the cheap methods of
"affectation" and "show," they would make their singing more simple.
Success in singing art songs comes through the ability of the artist to
bring out the psychic, poetical and musical meaning of the song.