If people wish to institute a joust between French and German art, let
it be a fair one, I repeat; let Wagner be matched with Berlioz, and
Strauss with Debussy, and Mahler with Dukas or Magnard.
* * * * *
Such were the conditions of the combat; and they were, whether
intentionally or not, unfavourable to France. And yet to the eyes of an
impartial observer the result was full of hope and encouragement for us.
I have never bothered myself in art with questions of nationality. I
have not even concealed my preference for German music; and I consider,
even to-day, that Richard Strauss is the foremost musical composer in
Europe. Having said this, I am freer to speak of the strange impression
that I had at the Strasburg festival--an impression of the change that
is coming over music, and the way that French art is silently setting
about taking the place of German art.
"_Waelschen Dunst und waelschen Tand_...." How that reproachful speech
seems to be misplaced when one is listening to the honest thought
expressed in Cesar Franck's music. In _Les Beatitudes_, nothing, or next
to nothing, was done for art's sake.
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