melodies coming from an imagination saturated with the
folk-song spirit.[108] For this reason they seem like wild flowers in
their perennial freshness and charm. (2) The precision and clarity
with which his ideas are presented. These qualities were due to his
well-balanced and logical intellect that impressed everyone with whom
he came in contact. His style, moreover, was the result of
indefatigable labor, for he was largely self-taught. If the balance of
his phrases and the general symmetry of his style seem to our modern
taste a bit excessive, we must remember that he was a pioneer and
could run no risks in the way of non-acceptance of his message through
puzzling complexities. Everything must be so clear that the ordinary
mind could at once accept it. Nor is the "sing-song," "square-toed"
element so prevalent in Haydn as is commonly supposed. In his melody a
distinct feature--no doubt of racial origin--is his fondness for odd
rhythms of three, five and seven measures, of which examples abound in
the Quartets. In his Minuets and Finales there is a rollicking effect
of high spirits which could never have been attained by mere labored
pedantry. In his mature works we find a pervading spontaneity which is
one of the outstanding examples in all literature of "art concealing
art." Never do these works smell of the lamp, and let us remember it
is far easier to criticize them than to create them.[109]

[Footnote 107: See for example the _Salomon Symphony in E-flat_, every
movement of which is founded on a Croatian folk-song.]

[Footnote 108: For a comprehensive account of this whole subject
consult the _Oxford History of Music_, Vol. V, Chapter VIII, and
Mason's _Beethoven and His Forerunners_, essay on Haydn.]

[Footnote 109: Witness for example, the attitude taken by Wallace in
his _Threshold of Music_, pp. 148-153.]

(3) The skillful and eloquent manner in which Haydn adapted his ideas
to his favorite media of expression: the orchestra and the
string-quartet. Although he wrote a number of pianoforte sonatas,
these works, on the whole, do not represent his best thought. For they
were composed in the transitional period between the waning influence
of the harpsichord and the advent of the pianoforte, not yet come to
its own. But as for the orchestra, Haydn established[110] the grouping
of the three so-called choirs of strings, wood-wind and brass; to
which were gradually added the instruments of percussion. In his works