But you must not accuse me of contradicting myself if in another work,
which will appear at the same time as this one,[203] I indulge in some
sarcasm over the failings and absurdities of French music to-day. I
think that for the last ten years French musicians have rather
imprudently and prematurely proclaimed their victory, and that, in a
general way, their works--apart from three or four--are not worth as
much as their endeavours. But their endeavours are heroic; and I know
nothing finer in the whole history of France. May they continue! But
that is only possible by practising a virtue--modesty. The completion of
a part is not the completion of the whole.
[Footnote 203: _Jean-Christophe a Paris_, 1904.]
PARIS AND MUSIC
The nature of Paris is so complex and unstable that one feels it is
presumptuous to try to define it. It is a city so highly-strung, so
ingrained with fickleness, and so changeable in its tastes, that a book
that truly describes it at the moment it is written is no longer
accurate by the time it is published. And then, there is not only one
Paris; there are two or three Parises--fashionable Paris, middle-class
Paris, intellectual Paris, vulgar Paris--all living side by side, but
intermingling very little.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324