Buchor's clever adaptations have
resulted in driving the fine thoughts of Haendel and Schubert and Mozart
and Beethoven into the memories of the French people, and making them
part of their lives. Had they heard the same music at a concert they
would probably not have been very much moved. And that makes M. Buchor
in the right. Let the French people enrich themselves with the musical
treasures of Germany until the time comes when they are able to create a
music of their own! This is a kind of peaceful conquest to which our art
is accustomed. "Now then, Frenchmen," as Du Bellay used to say, "walk
boldly up to that fine old Roman city, and decorate (as you have done
more than once) your temples and altars with its spoils." Besides, let
us remember that the German masters of the eighteenth century, whose
words M. Buchor has plagiarised, did not hesitate to plagiarise
themselves; and in turning the Berceuse of the _Oratorio de Noel_ into a
_Sainte famille humaine_, M. Buchor has respected the musical ideas of
Bach much more than Bach himself did when he turned it into a _Dialogue
between Hercules and Pleasure_.]
And at last he composed and grouped together twenty-four poems in his
_Poeme de la Vie humaine_[247]--fine odes and songs, written for classic
airs and choruses, a vast repertory of the people's joys and sorrows,
fitting the momentous hours of family or public life.
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