e
knowledge of the world to understand: "The Spaniards are not a musical
people," and remaining quite satisfied with his own dictum. Yet Albert
Soubies, in his _Histoire de la Musique_, says, in the volume devoted to
Spain: "Spain is the country where, in modern times, musical art has
been cultivated with the greatest distinction and originality. In
particular, the school of religious music in Spain, thanks to Morales,
Guerrero, and Victoria, will bear comparison with all that has been
produced elsewhere of the highest and most cultivated description. The
national genius has also shown itself in another direction, in works
which, like the ancient _eglogas_--the contemporary _zarzuelas_ of Lope
de Vega and Calderon--and the _torradillas_ of the last century shine
brilliantly by the verve, the gaiety, the strength, and delicacy of
their comic sentiment.... The works of this class are happily inspired
by popular art, which in this country abounds in characteristic
elements. One notes how much the rhythm and melody display native
colour, charm, and energy. In many cases, along with vestiges of Basque
or of Celtic origin, they show something of an Oriental character, due
to the long sojourn of the Moors in this country."

As regards this pre-eminence, it is enough to remember that Spain was
anciently one of the regions most thoroughly penetrated by Roman
civilisation. It is not too much to say that this art has never sunk
into decadence in Spain. During the sixteenth century the archives of
the Pontifical chapel show the important place occupied by Spanish
composers in the musical history of the Vatican, and among the artists
who gained celebrity away from their own country were Escoledo, Morales,
Galvey, Tapia, and many others. To the end of the seventeenth century a
galaxy of brilliant names carried on the national history of Spanish
music, both on religious and secular lines; and though in the eighteenth
and part of the nineteenth centuries there was a passing invasion of
French and Italian fashion, the true and characteristic native music
has never died out, and at the present time there is a notable musical
renaissance in touch with the spirit and natural genius of the people.

A Royal Academy of Music has, within recent times, been added to the
other institutions of a like kind, and native talent is being developed
on native lines, not in imitations from countries wholly differing from
them in national characteristics