Music is a hundred
times more expressive and exact than speech; and it is not only her
right to express particular emotions and subjects, it is her duty. If
that duty is not fulfilled, the result is not music--it is nothing at
all.
Berlioz is thus the true inheritor of Beethoven's thought. The
difference between a work like _Romeo_ and one of Beethoven's symphonies
is that the former, it would seem, endeavours to express objective
emotions and subjects in music. I do not see why music should not follow
poetry in getting away from introspection and trying to paint the drama
of the universe. Shakespeare is as good as Dante. Besides, one may add,
it is always Berlioz himself that is discovered in his music: it is his
soul starving for love and mocked at by shadows which is revealed
through all the scenes of _Romeo_.
I will not prolong a discussion where so many things must be left
unsaid. But I would suggest that, once and for all, we get rid of these
absurd endeavours to fence in art. Do not let us say: Music can....
Music cannot express such-and-such a thing. Let us say rather, If genius
pleases, everything is possible; and if music so wishes, she may be
painting and poetry to-morrow.
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