Page:Rolland - A musical tour through the land of the past.djvu/27

Rh orations, one in celebration and the other in condemnation of music. It is not astonishing to hear music worthily praised by a great musician, but it is remarkable to find him making accusations which strike home and give evidence of a penetrating purview of his age.—"Music," he says, "diverts us from serious studies; it deprives the country of many minds which have might been busied in its service. It is not without reason that the politicians favour music; they do so for reasons of State. It diverts the people's thoughts; it prevents them from examining the government's cards. Italy is an example of this: her princes and ministers have allowed her to become infected by quacks and musicians so that they may carry on their business without being disturbed." —And the example of Italy is assuredly well chosen; for if it is true that by music she prolonged her glory and extended her influence over Europe, it was also by music and in music that she finally destroyed her moral and political abilities. Of the Italy of the eighteenth century we might say, with a little modification, what Ammienus Marcellinus said as long ago as the period of the great invasions: "It is a pleasure resort. One hears there nothing but music, and in every corner is the tinkling of strings. Instead of thinkers one meets only singers, and virtue has made way for the virtuosi."

As to what an Italian virtuoso might be about the year 1700, and the mental vacuity of which he was capable, Caraffa provides us with a striking example, even though a trifle exaggerated. Nothing interests him apart from music, and all that interests him in music is virtuosity. He is not acquainted with