One could search the music of Strauss, Mahler,
or Hugo Wolf, without finding a melody of any real value, or of any true
originality, outside its application to a text, or a literary idea, and
its harmonic development. And besides that, German music is daily losing
its intimate spirit; there are still traces of this spirit in Wolf,
thanks to his exceptionally unhappy life; but there is very little of it
in Mahler, in spite of all his efforts to concentrate his mind on
himself; and there is hardly any at all in Strauss, although he is the
most interesting of the three composers. German musicians have no longer
any depth.
I have said that I attribute this fact to the detestable influence of
the theatre, to which nearly all these artists are attached as
_Kapellmeister_, or directors of opera. To this they owe the
melodramatic character of their music, even though it is on the surface
only--music written for show, and aiming chiefly at effect.
More baneful even than the influence of the theatre is the influence of
success. These musicians have nowadays too many facilities for having
their music played. A work is played almost before it is finished, and
the musician has no time to live with his work in solitude and silence.
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