of Berlioz
until the appearance of the young school of Cesar Franck--though Franck
himself is as yet little known in Germany. M. Saint-Saens possesses,
indeed, some of the best qualities of a French artist, and among them
the most important quality of all--perfect clearness of conception. It
is remarkable how little this learned artist is bothered by his
learning, and how free he is from all pedantry. Pedantry is the plague
of German art, and the greatest men have not escaped it. I am not
speaking of Brahms, who was ravaged with it, but of delightful geniuses
like Schumann, or of powerful ones like Bach. "This unnatural art
wearies one like the sanctimonious salon of some little provincial town;
it stifles one, it is enough to kill one."[117] "Saint-Saens is not a
pedant," wrote Gounod; "he has remained too much of a child and become
too clever for that." Besides, he has always been too much of a
Frenchman.

[Footnote 117: Quoted from Saint-Saens by Edmond Hippeau in _Henry VIII
et L'Opera francais_, 1883. M. Saint-Saens speaks elsewhere of "these
works, well written, but heavy and unattractive, and reflecting in a
tiresome way the narrow and pedantic spirit of certain little towns in
Germany" (_Harmonie et Melodie_).]

Sometimes Saint-Saens reminds me of one of our eighteenth-century
writers. Not a writer of the _Encyclopedie_, nor one of Rousseau's camp,
but rather of Voltaire's school. He has a clearness of thought, an
elegance and precision of expression, and a quality of mind that make
his music "not only noble, but very noble, as coming of a fine race and
distinguished family."[118]

He has also excellent discernment, of an unemotional kind; and he is
"calm in spirit, restrained in imagination, and keeps his self-control
even in the midst of the most disturbing emotions."[119] This
discernment is the enemy of anything approaching obscurity of thought or
mysticism; and its outcome was that curious book, _Problemes et
Mysteres_--a misleading title, for the spirit of reason reigns there and
makes an appeal to young people to protect "the light of a menaced
world" against "the mists of the North, Scandinavian gods, Indian
divinities, Catholic miracles, Lourdes, spiritualism, occultism, and
obscurantism."[120]

His love and need of liberty is also of the eighteenth century. One may
say that liberty is his only passion. "I am passionately fond of
liberty," he wrote.[121]

[Footnote 118: Charles Gounod, _"Ascanio"