o warrant the application of this opprobrious term.
In the pianoforte _Scherzos_ and in the _Rondo Capriccioso in E major_
there is without doubt a vitality and a play of fancy easier to
criticize than to create. The prevalent mood in Mendelssohn's music is
one of sunny-hearted lightness and emotional satisfaction; and if this
be a one-sided presentation of life, it is no more so, as Pratt well
says in his _History of Music_, than the picture of gloom and sorrow
which certain other composers continually emphasize. The fact that his
descriptive Overtures, just mentioned, have been surpassed--owing to
the recent expansion in orchestral possibilities of tone-color--must
not blind us to the beauty of their content, or make us forget the
impetus they have given to modern composers. No one could possibly
find in the _Hebrides_ Overture that subtle descriptive fancy or that
wealth of orchestral coloring which exists in Debussy's marvellous
_Sea Pieces_; and yet the Mendelssohn composition is a genuine
reflection of nature in terms of music and can still be heard with
sustained attention. Wagner[206] praises highly its orchestral
effects; and a modern scholar, Cecil Forsyth,[207] considers the
tone-painting quite irresistible. A sincere tribute of admiration
should also be paid to Mendelssohn's _Concerto for Violin and
Orchestra_. Written in the most idiomatic style for the solo
instrument and containing real _violin melodies_ it is still one of
the few great works in its class. Any final critical estimate of
Mendelssohn--no matter how earnest the effort to be absolutely
fair--is inevitably involved with personal prejudices. If his music
appeals to any one, it is liked extremely and no one need be ashamed
of enjoying it, for it is sincerely felt and beautifully expressed.
Mendelssohn, himself, doubtless knew perfectly well that he was not
Bach, Beethoven or Schubert. For those whose natures crave a more
robust message, more fire and a deeper passion, there are the works of
those other composers to which they may turn.

[Footnote 205: Several of these were constantly played by both
Paderewski and De Pachman, two of the greatest virtuosi of our day:
surely a convincing tribute!]

[Footnote 206: See the _Oxford History of Music_, Vol. VI, pp. 80-84.
Anyone who cares to see what Wagner owed to Mendelssohn may compare
the opening theme, and its treatment, of the _Fair Melusine_ Overture
with the music of the Rhine Maidens in the _