Withorne Emerson. Hototogisu /The cuckoo for the pianoforte op14 no1

New York: G. Schirmer, 1916. — 6 p.Emerson Whithorne (1884–1958) was born in Cleveland, USA. He had piano tuition from Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna in 1904-6, and from 1907-9 was married to another of his pupils, Ethel Leginska. He spent time in London before returning to the USA in 1914. Whithorne wrote orchestral, chamber and piano works. This interesting piece, published in 1916, seems like what MacDowell might have written if he had been born 30 years later. It is dedicated to another American Leschetizky pupil, Arthur Shattuck (1881–1951).
Whithorne seems to have taken his text from Clara Walsh's book 'The Master-Singers of Japan', a collection of translations of Japanese verse published in London in 1914. It is by the 12th c poet Sanesada ( 徳大寺実定) and the portion that prefaces the piece is:
“I hear the cuckoo calling,
Calling, while the dawn's cold dews are falling,
A lonely lullaby.
Yet when my eyes would seek her,
Nought can my gaze descry
But grey mists fainter growing,
But white moon ghostly showing
Pale in the morning sky!”