four (two in E flat, three in B); and, in addition, military
drums.]

But it is especially in Strauss's subjects that caprice and a disordered
imagination, the enemy of all reason, seem to reign. We have seen that
these poems try to express in turn, or even simultaneously, literary
texts, pictures, anecdotes, philosophical ideas, and the personal
sentiments of the composer. What unity is there in the adventures of Don
Quixote or Till Eulenspiegel? And yet unity is there, not in the
subjects, but in the mind that deals with them. And these descriptive
symphonies with their very diffuse literary life are vindicated by their
musical life, which is much more logical and concentrated. The caprices
of the poet are held in rein by the musician. The whimsical Till
disports himself "after the old form of rondeau," and the folly of Don
Quixote is told in "ten variations on a chivalrous theme, with an
introduction and finale." In this way, Strauss's art, one of the most
literary and descriptive in existence, is strongly distinguished from
others of the same kind by the solidarity of its musical fabric, in
which one feels the true musician--a musician brought up on the great
masters, and a classic in spite of everything.

And so throughout that music a strong unity is felt among the unruly and
often incongruous elements. It is the reflection, so it seems to me, of
the soul of the composer. Its unity is not a matter of what he feels,
but a matter of what he wishes. His emotion is much less interesting to
him than his will, and it is less intense, and often quite devoid of any
personal character. His restlessness seems to come from Schumann, his
religious feeling from Mendelssohn, his voluptuousness from Gounod or
the Italian masters, his passion from Wagner.[181] But his will is
heroic, dominating, eager, and powerful to a sublime degree. And that is
why Richard Strauss is noble and, at present, quite unique. One feels in
him a force that has dominion over men.

[Footnote 181: In _Guntram_ one could even believe that he had made up
his mind to use a phrase in _Tristan_, as if he could not find anything
better to express passionate desire.]

* * * * *

It is through this heroic side that he may be considered as an inheritor
of some of Beethoven's and Wagner's thought. It is this heroic side
which makes him a poet--one of the greatest perhaps in modern Germany,
who sees herself reflected in him and