this spirit in Wolf,
thanks to his exceptionally unhappy life; but there is very little of it
in Mahler, in spite of all his efforts to concentrate his mind on
himself; and there is hardly any at all in Strauss, although he is the
most interesting of the three composers. German musicians have no longer
any depth.

I have said that I attribute this fact to the detestable influence of
the theatre, to which nearly all these artists are attached as
_Kapellmeister_, or directors of opera. To this they owe the
melodramatic character of their music, even though it is on the surface
only--music written for show, and aiming chiefly at effect.

More baneful even than the influence of the theatre is the influence of
success. These musicians have nowadays too many facilities for having
their music played. A work is played almost before it is finished, and
the musician has no time to live with his work in solitude and silence.
Besides this, the works of the chief German musicians are supported by
tremendous booming of some kind or another: by their _Musikfeste_, by
their critics, their press, and their "Musical Guides" (_Musikfuehrer_),
which are apologetic explanations of their works, scattered abroad in
millions to set the fashion for the sheep-like public. And with all this
a musician grows soon contented with himself, and comes to believe any
favourable opinion about his work. What a difference from Beethoven,
who, all his life, was hammering out the same subjects, and putting his
melodies on the anvil twenty times before they reached their final form.
That is where Mahler is so lacking. His subjects are a rather vulgarised
edition of some of Beethoven's ideas in their unfinished state. But
Mahler gets no further than the rough sketch.

And, lastly, I want to speak of the greatest danger of all that menaces
music in Germany; _there is too much music in Germany_. This is not a
paradox. There is no worse misfortune for art than a super-abundance of
it. The music is drowning the musicians. Festival succeeds festival: the
day after the Strasburg festival there was to be a Bach festival at
Eisenach; and then, at the end of the week, a Beethoven festival at
Bonn. Such a plethora of concerts, theatres, choral societies, and
chamber-music societies, absorbs the whole life of the musician. When
has he time to be alone to listen to the music that sings within him?
This senseless flood of music invades the sanctuaries of his soul,
weake