He shows a
type of mind rare among artists and, above all, among musicians. The two
principles that he enunciates and himself follows out are: "Keep free
from all exaggeration" and "Preserve the soundness of your mind's
health."[127] They are certainly not the principles of a Beethoven or a
Wagner, and it would be rather difficult to find a noted musician of the
last century who had applied them. They tell us, without need of
comment, what is distinctive about M. Saint-Saens, and what is defective
in him. He is not troubled by any sort of passion. Nothing disturbs the
clearness of his reason. "He has no prejudices; he takes no
side"[128]--one might add, not even his own, since he is not afraid to
change his views--"he does not pose as a reformer of anything"; he is
altogether independent, perhaps almost too much so. He seems sometimes
as if he did not know what to do with his liberty. Goethe would have
said, I think, that he needed a little more of the devil in him.
[Footnote 127: _Harmonie et Melodie_.]
[Footnote 128: Charles Gounod, _Memoires d'un Artiste_.]
His most characteristic mental trait seems to be a languid melancholy,
which has its source in a rather bitter feeling of the futility of
life;[129] and this is accompanied by fits of weariness which are not
altogether healthy, followed by capricious moods and nervous gaiety, and
a freakish liking for burlesque and mimicry.
Pages:
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152