Who has not
felt the secret tragedies that some of his musical passages
enfold--those short, characteristically abrupt phrases which seem to
rise in supplication to God, and often fall back in sadness and in
tears? It is not all light in that soul; but the light that is there
does not affect us less because it shines from afar,
"Dans un ecartement de nuages, qui laisse
Voir au-dessus des mers la celeste allegresse...."[157]
[Footnote 156: I speak of the passages where he expresses himself
freely, and is not interpreting a dramatic situation necessary to his
subject, as in that fine symphonic part of the _Redemption_, where he
describes the triumph of Christ. But even there we find traces of
sadness and suffering.]
[Footnote 157: Through a break in the clouds, revealing Celestial joy
shining above the deeps.]
And so Franck seems to me to differ from M. d'Indy in that he has not
the latter's urgent desire for clearness.
* * * * *
Clearness is the distinguishing quality of M. d'Indy's mind. There are
no shadows about him. His ideas and his art are as clear as the look
that gives so much youth to his face.
Pages:
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175