words. Harmony is
a frightful den for the small composer to get into--it leads him into
frightful nonsense. Too often the accompaniment of a song becomes a
piano fantasie with no resemblance to the melody. Colour and harmony
under such conditions mislead the composer; he uses it instead of the
line which he at the moment is setting, and obscures the central
point, the words, by richness of tissue and overdressing; and all
modern music is labouring under that. He does not seem to pause to
think that music was not made merely for pleasure, but to say things.

"Language and music have nothing in common. In one way, that which is
melodious in verse becomes doggerel in music, and meter is hardly of
value. Sonnets in music become abominable. I have made many
experiments for finding the affinity of language and music. The two
things are diametrically opposed, unless music is free to distort
syllables. A poem may be of only four words, and yet those four words
may contain enough suggestion for four pages of music; but to found a
song on those four words would be impossible. For this reason the
paramount value of the poem is that of its suggestion in the field of
instrumental music, where a single line may be elaborated upon....
To me, in this respect, the poem holds its highest value of
suggestion.... A short poem would take a lifetime to express; to do
it in as many bars of music is impossible. The words clash with the
music, they fail to carry the full suggestion of the poem ...

"Many poems contain syllables ending with _e_ or other letters not
good to sing. Some exceptionally beautiful poems possess this
shortcoming, and, again, words that prove insurmountable obstacles. I
have in mind one by Aldrich in which the word 'nostrils' occurs in the
very first verse, and one cannot do anything with it. Much of the
finest poetry--for instance, the wonderful writings of Whitman--proves
unsuitable, yet it has been undertaken....

"A song, if at all dramatic, should have climax, form, and plot, as
does a play. Words to me seem so paramount and, as it were, apart in
value from the musical setting, that, while I cannot recall the
melodies of many of the songs that I have written, the words of them
are so indelibly impressed upon my mind that they are very easy of
recall.... Music and poetry cannot be accurately stated unless one has
written both."

It is clear that these are the views of a composer who placed
veracious declamation