The subject of these musings, "Hine e Hine", is a simple but tender lullaby written in New Zealand by Fanny Rose Howie, 1868-1916. Renaming herself Princess Te Rangi Pai after her Maori mother, she enjoyed a successful singing career in England for several years until, with failing health, she returned to New Zealand.

Her family life having disintegrated, she spent her last years living in isolation writing songs, the most famous of which is "Hine e Hine". As accompanist to my soprano wife,...