The time was incredible:
the scherzo had no life in it; the adagio was taken in hot haste without
leaving a moment for dreams; and there were pauses in the finale which
destroyed the development of the theme and broke the thread of its
thought. The different parts of the orchestra fell over one another, and
the whole was uncertain and lacking in balance. I once severely
criticised the neo-classic stiffness of Weingartner; but I should have
appreciated his healthy equilibrium and his effort to be exact after
hearing this neurasthenic rendering of Beethoven. No; we can no longer
hear Beethoven and Mozart in Germany to-day, we can only hear Mahler and
Strauss. Well, let it be so. We will resign ourselves. The past is past.
Let us leave Beethoven and Mozart, and speak of Mahler and Strauss.
* * * * *
Gustav Mahler is forty-six years old.[193] He is a kind of legendary
type of German musician, rather like Schubert, and half-way between a
school-master and a clergyman. He has a long, clean-shaven face, a
pointed skull covered with untidy hair, a bald forehead, a prominent
nose, eyes that blink behind his glasses, a large mouth and thin lips,
hollow cheeks, a rather tired and sarcastic expression, and a general
air of asceticism.
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