Taylor’s songs and choral works are by-words on recital programs and
his shorter works are household words in concert hall and studio.
Those that have had the greatest vogue are _Mayday Carol_ and
_Captain Stratton’s Fancy_.
_Mayday Carol_ is a setting of an Essex folk-song in which the
arranger has kept the warmth and simplicity of the original, and yet
given it a sophisticated background. The harmonization is rich, and
the counter melodies dextrously woven.
_Captain Stratton’s Fancy_ is a setting of the poem by John
Masefield, and the combination has proved a song that has been the
delight of hundreds of baritones. The spirit of the rum-loving
pirate, “the old bold mate of Henry Morgan,” is rollickingly
emphasized by the music.
_Banks o’ Doon_ to a poem of Robert Burns, shows Taylor’s lyric
talent at its best. He has achieved the distinction of composing
a melody which has all the attributes of a folk-song. There is
simplicity, restraint, and yet a poignancy which brings out all the
tender warmth of the exquisite poem.
For piano, Taylor has written only two pieces, _Two Studies in
Rhythm_, Opus 5. These are a _Prelude_ in 7-8 time, and a _Poem_ in
5-8 time. The rhythms are never manufactured, or artificial; they are
metric units written as conceived, spontaneous and natural. As in the
5-4 movement of the Tchaikovsky _Pathetique_, one forgets the unusual
time divisions, because of the fluency of the rhythmic sequence.
As a writer of choral music, Taylor has earned an enviable
distinction. Chief among his works for chorus are _The Chambered
Nautilus_, a cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra, Opus 7; _The
Highwayman_, a cantata for women’s voices and orchestra, Opus 8; and
the sixty arrangements for women’s voices of _Traditional Airs_,
which he made for the Schumann Club of New York. In reviewing these
transcriptions, Sidney Grew, the English lecturer and critic, wrote
as follows in “The Musical Standard” (London):
“In these arrangements of old-time pieces and folk-music Taylor
seems to have his own idea of the psychology of the poems, and
occasionally he is (to an Englishman’s mind) drawn away from the
poetical idea of a piece and controlled by the objective power of
music. But this remark I make no more than tentatively, because
to prove it would require a very thoroughgoing study of matters
not within the range of a reviewer. He has a good contrapuntal
sense, but is not at all interested in contrapuntal subtleties.
His harmonic sense is free, yet he does little to disturb even the
purist. In most of the numbers he achieves or retains atmosphere;
and in disposing the texts among long notes in the accompanying
parts he generally modifies the phrases so as to make verbal sense.
On the other hand, he often brings in a group of voices with quite
instrumental freedom, giving to these whatever words happen to be
going at the moment in the leading part. One point will please
singers, Taylor’s arrangements have no meaningless reiteration of
words, but are all intellectually clear and direct. Deems Taylor
makes elaborate use of the humming voice, sometimes as choral
accompaniment to a solo melody and sometimes as a meditative
contrapuntal comment on the piece.”
The experience he gained in writing for voices has stood him in
good stead in his opera _The King’s Henchman_, for his magnificent
choruses are among its finest moments.
Of his orchestral works, the earliest was _The Siren Song_, Opus
2, written in 1912, but not performed until 1923, despite the fact
that in 1913 it won the orchestral prize awarded by the National
Federation of Women’s Clubs. Taylor’s opinion of the work is
at variance with those of his fellow critics. At the time the
Philharmonic played _The Siren Song_, as critic of the “World,” he
wrote as follows:
“We thought it a promising work with a certain freshness of feeling
and a disarming simplicity of utterance that partly atoned for its
lack of well-defined individuality. It followed the program with
clarity and a degree of dramatic effectiveness, although the music
did not seem to reach very far beneath the surface of the subtle
and rather neurotic poem whose mood it aimed to express.”
Henry T. Finck, writing in the “Post,” valued the work more highly:
“Deems Taylor’s _The Siren Song_ is marked Opus 2. It would be
a remarkably interesting composition if it were an Opus 20, or
beyond. To be sure it betrays the influence of Wagner, but that’s
a most desirable influence. The three themes are distinctly
recognizable and well worked out, with stunning climaxes and real
dramatic and atmospheric sense for the sea and the siren. It is a
fine mood picture and well worth keeping in the repertory.”
The piece is written after a poem by Joseph Tiers, Jr., which tells
of mariners hearing the siren’s song, and either losing their
souls, or resisting, being haunted by her voice forever. There are
two principal themes, one representing the “Sea” and the other the
“Siren,” followed by a martial passage in lighter vein.