Page:Fugue by Ebenezer Prout.djvu/263

Chap. XIII.] does to poetry. The old Latin proverb, Poeta nascitur, non fit, applies equally to music. Just as a man may have a thorough knowledge of the grammar of a language, and yet not have an idea of poetry in his head, a musician may have perfectly mastered Harmony and Counterpoint, and yet be no composer. Anyone who, like the author, has ever acted as an examiner for musical degrees at one of our universities, will need no further proof of the correctness of this statement than the recollection of some of the candidates' exercises that have passed through his hands—quite correct, perhaps grammatically, but as dry as the bones in Ezekiel's vision, and without the faintest spark of musical life. As soon as the teacher approaches the higher branches of composition, his relations to his pupil become to some extent modified. From a pedagogue, whose word is "You must," or "You must not," he now becomes an adviser who can only generally indicate the direction which the student's work should take, by setting before him the best models, and showing him how to imitate them. It must not be forgotten that every great composer has begun by being an imitator. Even Bach was no exception to this; his earlier works were modelled after those of Froberger, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, and others of his predecessors. In order that the student may have a sufficiency of good models to guide him, we shall, as we have already incidentally mentioned, follow this volume by a companion work on 'Fugal Analysis,' which will contain a selection of the finest fugues by the great composers, in various styles, put into score and fully analyzed. From an examination of these, the student who has mastered the present volume will probably learn all that is possible to be learned from books.

450. One word in conclusion. Many of the rules laid down in this volume differ materially from those given in most other treatises on fugue. The reason of this is that this work, like all the others of the series, is founded, not upon any other theoretical works whatever, but solely upon the practice of the great masters themselves. Not one rule is given which is not enforced by the example of distinguished composers. Where theory and the practice of Bach, Handel, or Mozart come into collision, theory must give way; and the student who writes fugues according to the directions given in this book may at all events comfort himself that if he is wrong, he is in exceedingly good company.