"This unnatural art
wearies one like the sanctimonious salon of some little provincial town;
it stifles one, it is enough to kill one."[117] "Saint-Saens is not a
pedant," wrote Gounod; "he has remained too much of a child and become
too clever for that." Besides, he has always been too much of a
Frenchman.
[Footnote 117: Quoted from Saint-Saens by Edmond Hippeau in _Henry VIII
et L'Opera francais_, 1883. M. Saint-Saens speaks elsewhere of "these
works, well written, but heavy and unattractive, and reflecting in a
tiresome way the narrow and pedantic spirit of certain little towns in
Germany" (_Harmonie et Melodie_).]
Sometimes Saint-Saens reminds me of one of our eighteenth-century
writers. Not a writer of the _Encyclopedie_, nor one of Rousseau's camp,
but rather of Voltaire's school. He has a clearness of thought, an
elegance and precision of expression, and a quality of mind that make
his music "not only noble, but very noble, as coming of a fine race and
distinguished family."[118]
He has also excellent discernment, of an unemotional kind; and he is
"calm in spirit, restrained in imagination, and keeps his self-control
even in the midst of the most disturbing emotions.
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