BACKWASH OF THE FRONTIER—HALLOWELL 467 
man, Farwell, Jacobi, Lieurance, Arthur Nevin, Skilton, and Troyer, 
who found native music interesting to them, because as Skilton has 
said, “many devices of the ultra modern comnosers of the present day 
have long been employed by Indians—unusual intervals, arbitrary 
scales, changing tune, conflicting rhythm, polychoral effects, hypnotic 
monotony.” #2 Indian songs were harmonized and arranged for per- 
formance by white musicians; Indian themes were handled freely in 
the composition of original works, much in the same way that Long- 
fellow handled Ojibwa myths. 
In the field of operatic composition, despite the popularity of other 
compositions of Herbert and Cadman, neither the former’s “Natoma” 
(1911) nor the latter’s “Shanewis” (1918) became established in oper- 
atic repertoire. Some compositions based on Indian themes have re- 
ceived high acclaim in the repertoire of orchestral music, others as 
popular songs. Skilton’s “Indian Dances,” along with MacDowell’s 
“Indian Suite,” were among the 27 compositions of 12 American com- 
posers which had the greatest number of performances in the United 
States during the 7 years following World War I. Jacobi’s “String 
Quartet on Indian Themes” was selected to represent American music 
at the International Festival of Contemporary Music at Zurich in 
1926. Elliott Carter’s ballet “Pocahontas,” presented in New York in 
1939 (and later developed into a suite for orchestra) received the 
Juilliard Publication Award the following year. Cadman, who went 
to the Omaha Reservation in 1909 with Francis LaF lesche, an Indian 
anthropologist, wrote one of his most famous songs that year, “From 
the Land of the Sky Blue Water.” It vied with “The Rosary” in 
popularity. He likewise wrote two operas on Indian themes. “By 
the Waters of Minnetonka” (1921), composed by Thurlow Lieurance, 
who had visited the western reservations as early as 1905, has had a 
phenomenal success. At midcentury it appears in the Victor Album 
“Twelve Beloved American Songs” along with “The Rosary” and “A 
Perfect Day.” Nor should commercialized popular songs of a lower 
order—some Indian in name only—be forgotten. Among those com- 
posed early in this century were “Navajo” (1903), “Tammany” (1905), 
“Red Wing” (1907), and “Hiawatha’s Melody of Love” (1920), to say 
nothing of “The Indian Love Call” (1924), and “Ramona,” a hit of 
1927. 
In the early years of this century, some American poets, like the 
musicians, sought out the Indians, and those of the Southwest became a 
focal point of interest. These were the same people that Edna Procter 
had written about. They had been the subject, too, of a novel, “The 
Delight Makers” (1890), by A. F. Bandelier, said by Alfred L. Kroe- 
2 Charles S. Skilton, American Indian music, Int. Cycl. Music and Musicians, p. 48. New 
York. 1939. 
