If the inventors of
our modern industrial machinery are to be considered benefactors of
humanity to-day, Berlioz deserves to be considered as the true saviour
of the musical world; for, thanks to him, musicians can produce
surprising effects in music by the varied use of simple mechanical
means.... Berlioz lies hopelessly buried beneath the ruins of his own
contrivances" (_Oper und Drama_, 1851).]
[Footnote 71: Letter from Berlioz to Ferrand.]
[Footnote 72: "The chief characteristics of my music are passionate
expression, inward warmth, rhythmic in pulses, and unforeseen effects.
When I speak of passionate expression, I mean an expression that
desperately strives to reproduce the inward feeling of its subject, even
when the theme is contrary to passion, and deals with gentle emotions or
the deepest calm. It is this kind of expression that may be found in
_L'Enfance du Christ_, and, above all, in the scene of _Le Ciel_ in the
_Damnation de Faust_ and in the _Sanctus_ of the _Requiem_" (_Memoires_,
II, 361).]
Whatever one may think of this volcanic force, of this torrential stream
of youth and passion, it is impossible to deny them; one might as well
deny the sun.
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