CHAPTER XVIII

THE MODERN FRENCH SCHOOL--D'INDY AND DEBUSSY

Not only as the most distinguished of Cesar Franck's pupils, but by
reason of his undoubted musicianship and marked versatility--his works
being in well nigh every form--Vincent d'Indy (1851-still living) is
rightly considered to be the most representative composer of his
branch of the modern French school.[284] Whether history will accord
to him the rank of an inspired genius it is as yet too early to
decide; but for the sincerity and nobility of his ideas, for his
finished workmanship and the influence he has exerted, through his
many-sided personality, in elevating public taste and in the education
of young musicians, he is worthy of our gratitude. D'Indy is a
patriotic Frenchman believing profoundly that French music has an
important _role_ to bear; who has incarnated this belief in a series
of works of such distinction that, if not unqualifiedly loved, they
at least compel recognition. If he swings a bit too far in his
insistence upon the exclusive glories of French genius, let us
remember that the modern Germans[285] have been just as one-sided from
their point of view--and with even less tangible proof of attainment.
For it seems incontestable that, since the era of Wagner and Brahms,
the modern French and Russian Schools have contributed to the
development of music more than all the other nations combined. It is
for us in America who, free from national prejudice, can stand off and
take an impartial view, to appreciate the good points in _all_
schools. A detailed account of d'Indy's life and works will not be
necessary, for the subject has been admirably and comprehensively
treated by D.G. Mason in his set of _Essays on Contemporary Composers_
and in the article by E.B. Hill in the _Art of Music_, Vol. 3.

[Footnote 284: This school may be said to contain two groups: one, the
pupils of Cesar Franck--d'Indy, Chausson, Duparc, Rousseau, Augusta
Holmes and Ropartz, the chief feature in whose style is a
modernization of classic practice; a second consisting of Debussy,
Ravel, Dukas and Florent Schmitt, whose works manifest more extreme
individualistic tendencies.]

[Footnote 285: The well-known German scholar and editor Max
Friedlaender, who visited this country in 1910, acknowledged--in a
conversation with the writer--that he had never even heard of
Chabrier!]

D'Indy's compositions, as in the case of Franck, are not numerous, but
finely