mmer Night's
Dream_ seem heavy." The main theme is fascinating in its daintiness
and sparkle, _e.g._

[Music]

Berlioz considered the _Love Scene_ his finest inspiration and there
are few pieces comparable with it for passionate utterance. The
orchestration is wonderful for richness and variety.[240]

[Footnote 236: For an extended analysis of the work and also for an
account of the alleged connection of the virtuoso Paganini with its
composition, see the essay in Niecks' _Program Music_. There are, in
addition, interesting comments in _Stories of Symphonic Music_ by
Lawrence Gilman.]

[Footnote 237: An early example of the modern principle of
transformation and transference by theme.]

[Footnote 238: A striking illustration of "association of ideas" may
be gained from a comparison of the end of this movement with the
closing measures of Strauss's _Thus Spake Zarathustra_; it seems
incredible that Strauss did not have Berlioz's effect in his mind.]

[Footnote 239: See the _Memoires_ for a rhapsodic account of his state
of mind at this time--"basking in the warm rays of Shakespeare's
imagination and believing it in his power to arrive at the marvellous
island where rises the temple of pure Art."]

[Footnote 240: For extended comments and a long citation of the actual
music see the Sixth Volume of the _Oxford History of Music_.]

After a careful study of the foregoing examples the reader, we hope,
is in a position to make a fair estimate of Berlioz's power and to
realize his great significance. It should be understood that this
music is intensely subjective and so requires a sympathetic and
cultivated attitude on the part of the listener. To the writer at
least, there remains one vital lack in Berlioz's music,--that of the
_dissonant element_. It often seems as if his conceptions could not be
fully realized for want of sheer musical equipment, largely due to
insufficient early training. For what is music without dissonance?
Surely "flat, stale and unprofitable" even if, in Berlioz's case, this
deficiency is offset by great rhythmic vitality and gorgeous color.
Yet in his best works[241] there is such a strong note of
individuality, indeed such real character, that they are deserving of
sincere respect and admiration, although by everybody they may not be
deeply loved. We should, furthermore, always remember that, if
Berlioz's poverty of harmonic effect is sometimes annoying, he never
falls into the humdrum ruts