I want gladly to
express my conviction that that symphony will fire men's courage
and will live as long as a nation bears the name of France."[104]
[Footnote 103: Letter to some young Hungarians, 14 February, 1861. See
the _Memoires_, II, 212, for the incredible emotion which the _Marche de
Rakoczy_ roused in the audience at Budapest, and, above all, for the
astonishing scene at the end:--
"I saw a man enter unexpectedly. He was miserably clad, but his
face shone with a strange rapture. When he saw me, he threw himself
upon me and embraced me with fervour; his eyes filled with tears,
and he was hardly able to get out the words, 'Ah, monsieur,
monsieur! moi Hongrois ... pauvre diable ... pas parler Francais
... un poco Italiano. Pardonnez mon extase.... Ah! ai compris votre
canon.... Oui, oui, la grande-bataille.... Allemands chiens!' And
then striking his breast violently: 'Dans le coeur, moi ... je vous
porte.... _Ah! Francais ... revolutionnaire ... savoir faire la
musique des revolutions_!'"]
[Footnote 104: Written 5 May, 1841.]
How do such works come to be neglected by our Republic? How is it they
have not a place in our public life? Why are they not part of our great
ceremonies? That is what one would wonderingly ask oneself if one had
not seen, for the last century, the indifference of the State to Art.
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