Page:Rolland - A musical tour through the land of the past.djvu/117

Rh any harm, and those of to-day, whose culture (even in the case of the best educated) is so indifferent, would do well to consider these examples, which prove that a general education may very well be reconciled with musical knowledge and may even enrich it. Telemann, for his part, certainly owed to his literary cultivation one of the highest musical qualities—his modern feeling for poetry in music, whether interpreted by lyrical declamation or transposed into symphonic description.

During his stay at Leipzig Telemann found himself competing with Kuhnau, and although he professed—or so he tells us—the greatest respect for "the magnificent qualities" of "this extraordinary man," he caused him a great deal of mortification. Kuhnau, who was in the prime of life, was indignant that a little law-student should have been commissioned to write a fortnightly composition for St. Thomas's, of which church he was Cantor. It was indeed somewhat uncivil to him; and this fact shows how far the new style responded to the general taste, since at the mere sight of a single short composition the preference was given to an unqualified student over a celebrated master. And this was not all. In 1704 Telemann was selected as organist and Kappelmeister to the Neue Kirche (since then the Matthaïkirche) with the proviso "that he might at need conduct the choir of St. Thomas's Church also, and thus there would be available a capable person when a change was made." For this read "when Herr Kuhnau died;" for he was weakly and in indifferent health; the authorities were anticipating his death—which, however, he contrived to postpone until 1722. It will be understood that Kuhnau found the whole proceeding in bad