Foreign contemporary music only
occupied a very limited place. Wagner's name only appears once, in a
transcription of the _Venusberg_ for the pianoforte; and Richard
Strauss's name figures only against his Quartette. Grieg had his hour of
popularity there about 1887, as well as the Russians--Moussorgski,
Borodine, Rimsky-Korsakow, Liadow, and Glazounow--whom M. Debussy has
perhaps helped to make known to us. At the present moment the Society
seems more exclusively French than ever; and the influence of M. Vincent
d'Indy and the school of Franck is predominant. That is only natural;
the _Societe Nationale_ most truly earned its title to glory by
discerning Cesar Franck's genius; for the Society was a little sanctuary
where the great artist was honoured at a time when he was ignored or
laughed at by the rest of the world. This character of a sanctuary was
kept even after victory. In its general programme of 1903-1904, the
Society reminded us with pride that it had remained faithful to the
promises made in 1871; and it added that if, in order to permit its
members to keep abreast of the general progress of art, it had little by
little allowed classical masterpieces and modern foreign works of
interest on its programmes, it had, however, always kept its
guest-chamber open, and shaped many a future reputation there.
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