"[244] This
prediction has been almost completely realised, and M. Buchor's songs
are now the property of all the people of France.
[Footnote 244: Taken from the _Supplement a la Correspondance generale
de l'Instruction primaire_, 15 December, 1894.]
But M. Buchor did not remain content to be a poet of popular song.
During the last twelve years he has made, with untiring energy, a tour
of all the Ecoles Normales in France, returning several times to places
where he found signs of good vocal ability. In each school he made the
pupils sing his songs--in unison, or in two or three parts, sometimes
massing the boys' and girls' schools of one town together. His ambition
grew with his success; and to the folk-song melodies[245] he began
gradually to add pieces of classical music. And to impress the music
better on the singers he changed the existing words, and tried to find
others, which by their moral and poetic beauty more exactly translated
the musical feeling.[246]
[Footnote 245: Three series of these _Chants populaires pour les Ecoles_
have already been published.]
[Footnote 246: I reserve my opinion, from an artist's point of view, on
this plagiarising of the words of songs.
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