t in enlarging on the petty jealousies of
musicians. It will be learned in time that these foibles belong only to
petty musicians, and that no one knows better how to respect others as
himself than one who has enjoyed the privilege of the musical education
that educates.

IV

How to Interpret Music

Certain learned college professors were once heard discussing methods of
literary criticism and interpretation. They spoke of external and
technical forms, and how magnificently these were illustrated in the
world's acknowledged masterpieces of literature. Every work read or
studied, they decided, should be carefully weighed, measured and
analyzed, and should be judged solely by the maxims and laws deduced
from classical standards. The critical faculty must never be permitted
to slumber or to sleep. Above all, the literary student should beware of
trusting to impressions.

Not a word was uttered in regard to the contents of the masterpieces in
question, the special emotions, the overwhelming passions they revealed,
the mighty experiences of which they were the result. Nothing was said
about the source of a great book in the life of its author, or its value
as a record of what many minds and hearts of an entire epoch have
thought, felt and desired. The learned professors were so deeply
concerned with what they considered the demands of strict scholarship
that they lost sight of the spirit which animates every true work of
art. To them literature consisted of words, phrases, sentences, figures
of speech, classical allusions, and well-constructed forms. They
regarded it apparently as an artificial product, compounded according to
traditional and cautiously prescribed recipes.

An aged man of letters present, one who was characterized by his ripe
scholarship, his richly cultured personality, sat listening in silence
to the conversation. Suddenly he rose up, and, in vibrant tones,
exclaimed: "Where hath the soul of literature fled, its vital part? If
we are to trample upon our impressions the best that is within us will
be chilled. Of what avail is education if it does not lead to the
unfolding of our God-given intuitions? Friends, if the trend of modern
criticism be to divorce literature from life, the throb and thrill of
great art will soon cease to be felt."

The lesson conveyed by these words may with equal propriety be applied
to the field of music. Viewing certain current tendencies the cultured
musician is