e is very limited. For France formerly, like the France
of to-day, had very few musicians who had any understanding of a great
popular art. Berlioz came nearest to understanding the meaning of it;
and he is not yet public property, so his airs cannot be used. It is
curious, and rather sad, that out of eighty pieces chosen by M. Buchor
only nine of them are French; and this is reckoning the Italians, Lully
and Cherubini, as Frenchmen. M. Buchor has had to go to German classical
musicians almost entirely, and, generally speaking, his choice has been
a happy one. With a sure instinct he has given the preference to popular
geniuses like Haendel and Beethoven. We may ask why he did not keep their
words; but we must remember that at any rate they had to be translated;
and though it may seem rash to change the subject of a musical
masterpiece, it is certain that M. Buchor's clever adaptations have
resulted in driving the fine thoughts of Haendel and Schubert and Mozart
and Beethoven into the memories of the French people, and making them
part of their lives. Had they heard the same music at a concert they
would probably not have been very much moved. And that makes M. Buchor
in the right. Let the French people enrich themselves with the musical
treasures of Germany until the time comes when they are able to create a
music of their own! This is a kind of peaceful conquest to which our art
is accustomed. "Now then, Frenchmen," as Du Bellay used to say, "walk
boldly up to that fine old Roman city, and decorate (as you have done
more than once) your temples and altars with its spoils." Besides, let
us remember that the German masters of the eighteenth century, whose
words M. Buchor has plagiarised, did not hesitate to plagiarise
themselves; and in turning the Berceuse of the _Oratorio de Noel_ into a
_Sainte famille humaine_, M. Buchor has respected the musical ideas of
Bach much more than Bach himself did when he turned it into a _Dialogue
between Hercules and Pleasure_.]

And at last he composed and grouped together twenty-four poems in his
_Poeme de la Vie humaine_[247]--fine odes and songs, written for classic
airs and choruses, a vast repertory of the people's joys and sorrows,
fitting the momentous hours of family or public life. With a people that
has ancient musical traditions, as Germany has, music is the vehicle for
the words and impresses them in the heart; but in France's case it is
truer to say that the words have brou