great sensation," she added, turning to the Frenchman. "Your heart is
beating; in the depths of your imagination you have a splendid sunrise,
flooding with light a whole country that before was cold and dark. Now,
would you know the means by which the musician has worked, so as to
admire him to-morrow for the secrets of his craft after enjoying
the results to-night? What do you suppose produces this effect of
daylight--so sudden, so complicated, and so complete? It consists of a
simple chord of C, constantly reiterated, varied only by the chord of
4-6. This reveals the magic of his touch. To show you the glory of light
he has worked by the same means that he used to represent darkness and
sorrow.

"This dawn in imagery is, in fact, absolutely the same as the natural
dawn; for light is one and the same thing everywhere, always alike in
itself, the effects varying only with the objects it falls on. Is it not
so? Well, the musician has taken for the fundamental basis of his music,
for its sole _motif_, a simple chord in C. The sun first sheds its light
on the mountain-tops and then in the valleys. In the same way the chord
is first heard on the treble string of the violins with boreal mildness;
it spreads through the orchestra, it awakes the instruments one by one,
and flows among them. Just as light glides from one thing to the next,
giving them color, the music moves on, calling out each rill of harmony
till all flow together in the _tutti_.

"The violins, silent until now, give the signal with their tender
_tremolo_, softly _agitato_ like the first rays of morning. That light,
cheerful movement, which caresses the soul, is cleverly supported by
chords in the bass, and by a vague _fanfare_ on the trumpets, restricted
to their lowest notes, so as to give a vivid idea of the last cool
shadows that linger in the valleys while the first warm rays touch the
heights. Then all the wind is gradually added to strengthen the general
harmony. The voices come in with sighs of delight and surprise. At
last the brass breaks out, the trumpets sound. Light, the source of all
harmony, inundates all nature; every musical resource is produced with
a turbulence, a splendor, to compare with that of the Eastern sun. Even
the triangle, with its reiterated C, reminds us by its shrill accent and
playful rhythm of the song of early birds.

"Thus the same key, freshly treated by the master's hand, expresses the
joy of all nature, while it soothe