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298 A CENTURY OF BALLADS
tions published is often galling to the young, but amusing to think of in after life. ' She is far from the land,' which I composed very many years ago, is a case in point. Looking through reviews of part songs one day, I caught sight of the words ' an indifferent setting of Moore's somewhat lugubrious poem "She is far from the land."' This struck me at once as a title, and I proceeded forthwith to purchase a very cheap edition of Moore's poems, having composed the first half-phrase before reaching the shop; the second came on reading the rest of the line, and the rest of the melody as quickly as I could put it on paper. Considering what success the ballad has won, it is almost incredible to think what numbers of years it took to be accepted. I offered it literally to every publisher in London and New York, not once, but several times, and it was only on the strength of Hayden Coffin's fine singing of another of my songs and his desire to sing this one that Chappell's decided to publish it."
Surprises of this kind are not unknown in the history of music-publishing ; and Lambert relates another of his own experiences in this respect.
" The same firm (how they laughed when I took it to them ! for no one ever thought I could write a valse, not even myself) published ' Caressante ' just to please me. It looked as though their merriment had been justified when the thing had |
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