Page:The Spirit of French Music.djvu/87

 Schumann by heart, but he didn't know who composed "Sad preparations." This little story is typical of a long period which the war and the victory of France will have brought to an end. The great thing is that our hero realised and admitted that it was fine. As to that I will make no further comment than to quote the remark of a friend of mine who has deep feeling for music, and knew nothing finer than, "I have lost my Eurydice." I gave him the opportunity of hearing "Sad preparations." He sought for words to express his exact sentiment,—"That," said he, "is on a higher plane."

Let that be understood as the expression of a comparison between these two pieces, and not of a general comparison between Rameau and Glück. We will not set the author of Castor before the author of Armide. These two great men are peers. And there are not wanting parallels where the second wins. To my thinking, the air in Castor at the beginning of Act 4, "Abode of eternal peace," is far from equalling the song of Orpheus greeting this same sojourn in the Elysian Fields, or the song of Renaud contemplating the gardens of Armida. On the other handone may wonder whether Glück could have rendered with the same mixture of broad musical poetry and subtle touches Pollux's struggle of conscience at the beginning of Act II. "Nature, and Love, ye sharers of my heart, which of you twain shall be the conqueror?"

Having now treated of the recitatives and airs, we have next to consider the scenes and acts in their development. We know how important in dramatic art are the balance and good handling of these units. In musical dramatic art they require a special simplicity of treatment. In this respect Castor is a very