The death of Maude Valerie White, writer and song composer, was briefly recorded a week ago. That venerable lady, who had reached her eighty-third year, was hardly so much as a name to the younger generation, but during a long productive period Miss White was one of the most widely-known of Britain's song-makers. As might be expected, it was her output on the more popular side which chiefly carried her fame to concert-goers in the Eng lish-speaking world. A song with an immense vogue was "Until"; there was also " The Devout Lover," still frequently heard; but it must he allowed that a Victorian atmosphere clings to such compositions as, for example, "When the Swallows Homeward Fly," a title to stir only elderly memories. " Absent. yet Present " is another work which we do not look to hear from vocalists nowadays.
But Miss White's gift was by no means restricted to popular ballads such as these. Her settings to Herrick, Shelley and Browning delighted the discriminating, and there were besides many songs to lyrics in foreign tongues: French, German, Italian and others.