420 PICURIS CHILDREN'S STORIES (eth. ann. 43 



first measure of the second A phrase of No. 10 the final note is 

 sharper than in the corresponding measure of the first A phrase. 

 Here the grave accent over gi^ does not mean flatting so much as 

 that the note is so sharped that it is near enough to gi^ to be written 

 that way rather than as g'l, which occurs everywhere else in this 

 song. The peak of this curve between two/^'s is thus sharper than 

 that in the first measure of A. To obtain a true perspective it is 

 necessaiy to look to the other renditions, bearmg in mind that in 

 the transposed scale of No. 10 in the table the notes under discussion 

 are the flatted /# and the raised a. In No. 31 (p. 443) the tendency 

 to sharp in the second measure, away from the direction of the 

 melodic trend, is noticeable. The sharping of the first note of the 

 song may mean merely that the whole level was started at this pitch 

 and the singer could not keep up to it, but it is equally possible 

 that the sharp attack is comparable to the sharpened curves. The 

 raised notes of the second measure reveal an accentuated curve. In 

 the first measure of the second score, however, the flatted e is prob- 

 ably influenced by the curve of the melody — one of the few mstances 

 in these four songs of the process of smoothhig a curve. The influ- 

 ence here is specially strong since the leading tone by its very nature 

 emphasizes the position of the tonic and draws the melody toward it. 

 But the sharped a's again m the first measure of the A' phrase and 

 the two first notes of the second measure are certainly evidence of 

 the second process — that of acuating or sharpening a curve. The 

 octave from the lower to the upper dominant is one of the easiest 

 to produce under ordinary circumstances. In fact, the tendency to 

 accentuate curves is very marked ua aU the renditions of this song, 

 where only one good case of the opposite tendency is foimd, and is 

 the more strildng because the melody itself is one of the most easUy 

 singable on true pitches of any which are presented. Acuated 

 downward curves are exemplified by the consistent flatting of the 

 lower dominant as the lowest and last tone in the final measures of 

 both phrases of No. 32; by the stiU greater drop at the corresponding 

 points in the other two renditions, Nos. 33 and 34; by the deepcnmg 

 of the curve in the next to the last measures of both A phrases of 

 No. 34 as compared with other renditions; and possibly by the flat 

 e at this same point in the first A of No. 31. At the close of songs 

 such curves seem to lend finality as they do emphasis in the body 

 of a song and there the acuated upward curves are possibly associated 

 with the same function. If one made any estimate as to the condi- 

 tions under which the five renditions of this song (Nos. 10, 31, 32, 

 33, 34) were taken, which betray to such a degree a handling of 

 melodic curves so opposite from that which characterizes the rest of 

 his songs, one might suspect some sort of irritation in the singer. 

 At least this much is known about the conditions under which the 



