e 256: _The Passion according to St. Matthew_ was given first of
all by two little choirs, consisting of from twelve to sixteen students,
including the soloists.]

Let us hope on and persevere. The main thing is that a start has been
made; the thing that remains is to have patience and--persistence.

THE PRESENT CONDITION OF FRENCH MUSIC

We have seen how the musical education of France is going on in
theatres, in concerts, in schools, by lectures and by books; and the
Parisian's rather restless desire for knowledge seems to be satisfied
for the moment. The mind of Paris has made a journey--a hasty journey,
it is true through the music of other countries and other times,[257]
and is now becoming introspective. After a mad enthusiasm over
discoveries in strange lands, music and musical criticism have regained
their self-possession and their jealous love of independence. A very
decided reaction against foreign music has been shown since the time of
the Universal Exhibition of 1900. This movement is not unconnected,
consciously or unconsciously, with the nationalist train of thought,
which was stirred up in France, and especially in Paris, somewhere about
the same time. But it is also a natural development in the evolution of
music. French music felt new vigour springing up within her, and was
astonished at it; her days of preparation were over, and she aspired to
fly alone; and, in accordance with the eternal rule of history, the
first use she made of her newly-acquired strength was to defy her
teachers. And this revolt against foreign influences was directed--one
had expected it--against the strongest of the influences--the influence
of German music as personified by Wagner. Two discussions in magazines,
in 1903 and 1904, brought this state of mind curiously to light: one was
an enquiry held by M. Jacques Morland in the _Mercure de France_
(January, 1903) as to _The Influence of German Music in France_; and the
other was that of M. Paul Landormy in the _Revue Bleue_ (March and
April, 1904) as to _The Present Condition of French Music_. The first
was like a shout of deliverance, and was not without exaggeration and a
good deal of ingratitude; for it represented French musicians and
critics throwing off Wagner's influence because it had had its day; the
second set forth the theories of the new French school, and declared the
independence of that school.

[Footnote 257: It is hardly necessary to mention the curious att