This is one of a series of posts about books used as source material for Art Song Central.
Book Title: The World’s Best Music
Editor: Victor Herbert et. al.
Publisher: The University Society
Copyright: 1908 (Revised and Enlarged)
This multi-volume set has been posted at Google Books. Volumes 6, 7 and 8 contain sheet music for piano and voice. Each relevant volume is linked below with a listing of its contents.
Contents:
Volume 6:
- Volume 6 contains graded index at front
- Temple – In Sweet September
- Nelson – Mary of Argyle
- Marzials – Leaving Yet Loving
- Schubert – By the Sea (English only)
- Cowen – In the Chimney Corner
- Caracciolo – Unless
- White – Absent Yet Present
- Claribel – You and I
- Moir – Only Once More
- Lane – When the Lights are Low
- Arne – Polly Willis
- Wolf – Verborgenheit
- Temple – An Old Garden
- Bishop – The Mistletoe Bough
- Molloy – The Kerry Dance
- Wellings – Dreaming
- Behrend – The Gift
- Rodney – Calvary
- Faure, J – Crucifix
- Handel – Comfort Ye, My People
- Handel – Ev’ry Valley Shall Be Exalted
- Schubert – Voici l’instant supreme
- Ambrose – One Sweetly Solemn Thought
- Abt – Not a Sparrow Falleth
- Abt – He giveth His beloved sleep
- Mendelssohn – Jerusalem! Thou that killest the prophets
- Tosti – Venetian Song
- Löhr – Out on the Deep
- Adams – The Midshipmite
- Braham – The Anchor’s Weigh’d
- Jude – The Mighty Deep
- Bohm – Still wie die Nacht
- Clay – I’ll sing thee songs of Araby
- White – How do I love thee
- Stange – Die Bekehrte
- Lehmann, Liza – At the Making of the Hay
- Carmichael – A May Song
- Czibulka – Among the Lilies
- No name – In einem kühlen Grunde
- Molloy – Punchinello
- Bliss – Far Away
- Faning – I’ve something sweet to tell you
- Mendelssohn – I would that my love
- Marzials – Friendship
- Caracciolo – Nearest and Dearest
- Cowen – The Mission of a Rose
- Mozart – The Violet
- Thomas – Winds in the Trees
- Sullivan – Birds in the Night
- Mozart – Within This Sacred Dwelling
- Handel – Angels, ever bright and fair
- Wallace – Yes! Let me like a soldier fall
- Dressler – Prayer
- Wallace – Scenes that are brightest
- Handel – He shall feed his flock
- Nessler – It was not thus to be!
- Meyer-Helmund – The Daily Question
- Sullivan – My Dearest Heart
- Cantor – As the Dawn
- Cantor – Oh fair, oh sweet and holy
- Scott – Douglass, Tender and True
- Mattei – Dear Heart
- Somerset – Dawn
- Rubinstein – The Asra
- Barnard – Bid Me to Love
- Allitsen – A Song of Thanksgiving
- Wakefield – Polly and I; or A Bunch of Cowslips
- Lindsay – Tired
- Beresford – The Smuggler
Volume 7:
- Mullen – Afterwards
- Adams – Mona
- Franz – Gute Nacht!
- Wilson – Carmena
- Hutchison – Pierrot
- Lalo – L’Esclave
- Hildach – Im Volkston
- Meyer-Helmund – Dein gedenk’ich, Margaretha
- Mendelssohn – On Wings of Song (English only, arranged as a duet by Kiehl)
- Ries – Wiegenlied
- Dana – Flee as a Bird
- Granier – Hosanna!
- Gounod – Ave Maria
- King – Israfel
- Mendelssohn – But the Lord is mindful of His own
- Cornelius – Ein Ton
- von Hiller – Gebet
- Faure, J – Charité
- Behrend – Auntie
- Massenet – Élégie
- Brahms – Sapphische Ode
- Schubert – Der Wanderer
- Rubinstein – Wanderer’s Nachtlied (duet)
- Lassen – Allerseelen
- Purcell – Nymphs and Shepherds
- Wolf – Er ist’s
- de Lara – Rondel de l’adieu
- Somerset – Echo
- Bevan – The Flight of Ages
- Flotow – Ach! so fromm from “Martha”
- Gounod – Even bravest heart from “Faust” (English and Italian only)
- Wagner – Swan Song from “Lohengrin” (English only)
- Gounod – If Happy Fortune from “Faust” (English and Italian only)
- Verdi – Il balen del suo sorriso from “Il Trovatore”
- Donizetti – Il segreto per esser felici from “Lucrezia Borgia”
- Auber – Voyez sur cette roche from “Fra Diavolo”
- Dvořák – Als die alte Mutter
- Hahn – Si mes vers avaient des ailes
- Ordway (arr.) – Home Again
- Ferrari – J’ai tant de choses à vous dire
- Pergolesi – Nina (English only)
- Handel – Lascia ch’io pianga from “Rinaldo”
- Gounod – O That We Two Were Maying
- Folk Song – The Mill in the Valley
- Offenbach – The Sabre of My Father from “The Grand Duchess” (English only)
- Gounod – The King of Thulé from “Faust” (English and Italian only)
- Fontenailles – Obstination
- Strauss – Die Nacht
- Wekerlin (arr.) – Mon petit coeur soupire
- Marzials – Twickenham Ferry
- Thomé – Bonjour, Suzon!
- d’Hardelot – Sans Toi
- d’Albert – Das Mädchen und der Schmetterling
- von Fielitz – Heimliche Grüsse
- Bradsky – Du bist mein All
- Meyer-Helmund – Der Schwur
- Arne – The Lass with the Delicate Air
- Schumann – Widmung
- Götze – Schöne Zeit, O sel’ge Zeit
- Temple – My Lady’s Bower
- Denza – Call Me Back
- Tosti – Bid Me Good Bye
- Weidt – How Fair Thou Art
- Schumann – Ich grolle nicht
- Yradier – La Colombe (English only)
- Stanford – The Little Red Lark
- Thomas – A Jolly Good Laugh
- Pinsuti – Welcome Pretty Primrose
- Winner (arr. Hawthorne) – Listen to the Mocking Bird
- Behrend – Daddy
Volume 8:
- Fairlamb – An April Girl
- Bishop – Home, Sweet Home!
- Foster – Old Folks at Home
- Wilson – The Train for Poppyland
- Emmet – Close your eyes, Lena, my darling
- Mosenthal – The Minuet
- Sullivan – Little Maid of Arcadee
- De Koven – Cradle Song
- Danks – Silver Threads Among the Gold
- Jakobowski – Lullaby from “Erminie”
- Foster – My Old Kentucky Home
- Brahms – Cradle Song (English only)
- Arnold – The Star-Spangled Banner
- Emmet – Dixie
- Kittredge (arr. Smith) – Tenting on the Old Camp-Ground
- Wilhelm – The Watch on The Rhine
- Covert – The Sword of Bunker Hill
- Unknown – Maryland, My Maryland
- McCarthy – The Bonnie Blue Flag
- Adams – A Warrior Bold
- Unknown – My Country, ‘Tis of Thee
- Arne – Rule Britannia
- de Lisle – The Marseillaise Hymn
- Unknown – Battle Hymn of the Republic
- [Phile] – Hail, Columbia
- Haydn – Austrian National Hymn
- Unknown – John Brown’s Body
- arr. Barnby – Russian National Anthem
- Unknown – Italian National Hymn
- Unknown – God Save the King
- Fenollosa – Spanish National Hymn
- Moore – The Minstrel Boy
- Unknown – National Air of Japan (Piano only)
- arr. Parry – Comin’ Thro’ the Rye
- Grieg – I Love Thee (English only)
- Molloy – Love’s Old, Sweet Song
- Balfe – Then You’ll Remember Me from “Bohemian Girl”
- Cowen – Snowflakes
- Schubert – Serenade (English only)
- Carey – Sally in Our Alley
- Wagner – Dreams (English only)
- Foster – Nelly was a Lady
- College Song – Bonnie (4 part arrangement)
- Schubert – Hark! Hark! the Lark! (English only, 4 part arrangement)
- Godard – Florian’s Song
- Moncrieff – A Creole Love-Song
- Jensen – Oh! press thy cheek against mine own
- Bishop – The Bloom is on the Rye
- Tosti – Beauty’s Eyes
- Zeller – The Nightingale’s Song
- Tosti – Good-Bye
- Pinsuti – If
- Webber – Constancy
- Kjerulf – Last Night
- Tosti – Could I!
- Meyer-Helmund – A Maiden’s Song
- Scott – Annie Laurie
- Lassen – Thine Eyes so Blue and Tender
- Crouch – Kathleen Mavourneen
- arr. Coe – The Bluebells of Scotland
- van de Water – Apart
- arr. Kingley – Robin Adair
- Moir – Best of All
- Bartlett – The Wind is Awake
- Balfe – I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls
- Verdi – Ah! I have sighed to rest me (English only)
- Mozart [sic] – Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes
- Abt – Embarrassment
- Schubert – Who is Sylvia? (English only)
- Buck – In Thy Dreams
- Gounod – There is a green hill far away
- Winner – How the Gates came Ajar
- Braga – Angel’s Serenade
- Russell – The Old Sexton
- Verdi – Home to our Mountains (English only)
- Scotch Song – The Land o’ the Leal
- Knight – Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep
- Boott – The Sands o’ Dee
- Phelps – O Morning Land!
- Haydn – With Verdure Clad
- Balfe – The Arrow and the Song
- Faure, J – Palm Branches (English only)
- Barri – At Benediction
- Rubinstein – Thou art like unto a flower
- Sullivan – The Lost Chord
- Moore – The harp that once thro’ Tara’s halls
- Hook – Within a Mile of Edinboro’
- Dempster – The Rainy Day
- Kiallmark – The Old Oaken Bucket
- Stevenson – Oft in the Stilly Night
- Balfe – The Heart Bow’d Down
- Unknown – Bonnie Doon
- Lindsay – The Bridge
- Lassen – It Was a Dream
- Lover – The Low Back’d Car
- Lawson – Loch Lomond
- Kneass – Ben Bolt
- Burns – Auld Lang Syne
- Sullivan – Once Again
- Balfe – Killarney
- Foster – Old Black Joe
- Foster – Old Dog Tray
- Horn – Allan Water
- Koschat – Forsaken
- Foster – Massa’s in the Cold, Cold Ground
- Thomas – ‘Tis But a Little Faded Flower
- Spilman – Afton Water
- Volume 8 contains complete index at back
Notes:
I have a 1904 edition of this to scan if useful, and there is some considerable overlap with the 1918 edition of La Mejor Musica, volume 7 of which was previously scanned for ASC. The selections strongly reflect both the prevailing taste at the time and the proclivities of the panel of editors, which included Louis C. Elson and Victor Herbert.
Many of the songs in this collection are essentially unknown to modern audiences, having dropped from (or never entered) the standard repertoire, and often with good reason. Yet, there are also some wonderful songs to be discovered.
The edition does not appear to have been aimed at a scholarly audience, and has some significant drawbacks. Nearly every song has English as the “main” language, even though the prevailing aesthetic (in the USA, at least) is now to sing songs in their original language. In a few cases, the original language of the song is not even included.
Occasionally, other editorial choices were out of line with modern practice. There are also errors in both text and music, though they don’t appear terribly often. Attribution is sometimes sketchy as well. I’ve noted a few egregious errors but have certainly missed or ignored others.
Nevertheless, the printing is generally clear and readable, and there is a nice selection of well known songs and forgotten gems.
One potentially useful aspect of this collection is an index of the contents, graded by difficulty, at the beginning of Volume 6.
Songs from this volume will be uploaded as song posts are created for them. If you would like me to give priority to a song that is not yet posted, please let me know via the contact page.
