ke arrows, and twist
themselves in freakish arabesques. In the adagio depicting night, there
is, though in very bad taste, much seriousness and reverie and stirring
emotion. The fugue at the end is of astonishing sprightliness; and is a
mixture of colossal jesting and heroic pastoral poetry worthy of
Beethoven, whose style it recalls in the breadth of its development. The
final apotheosis is filled with life; its joy makes the heart beat. The
most extravagant harmonic effects and the most abominable discords are
softened and almost disappear in the wonderful combination of _timbres_.
It is the work of a strong and sensual artist, the true heir of the
Wagner of the _Meistersinger_.

* * * * *

Upon the whole, these works make one see that, in spite of their
apparent audacity, Strauss and Mahler are beginning to make a
surreptitious retreat from their early standpoint, and are abandoning
the symphony with a programme. Strauss's last work will lose nothing by
calling itself quite simply _Sinfonia Domestica_, without adding any
further information. It is a true symphony; and the same may be said of
Mahler's composition. But Strauss and Mahler are already reforming
themselves, and are coming back to the model of the classic symphony.

But there are more important conclusions to be drawn from a hearing of
this kind. The first is that Strauss's talent is becoming more and more
exceptional in the music of his country. With all his faults, which are
considerable, Strauss stands alone in his warmth of imagination, in his
unquenchable spontaneity and perpetual youth. And his knowledge and his
art are growing every day in the midst of other German art which is
growing old. German music in general is showing some grave symptoms. I
will not dwell on its neurasthenia, for it is passing through a crisis
which will teach it wisdom; but I fear, nevertheless, that this
excessive nervous excitement will be followed by torpor. What is really
disquieting is that, in spite of all the talent that still abounds,
Germany is fast losing her chief musical endowments. Her melodic charm
has nearly disappeared. One could search the music of Strauss, Mahler,
or Hugo Wolf, without finding a melody of any real value, or of any true
originality, outside its application to a text, or a literary idea, and
its harmonic development. And besides that, German music is daily losing
its intimate spirit; there are still traces of