ally knowing if
it were possible to play them. "I was so ignorant," he says, "of the
mechanism of certain instruments, that after having written the solo in
D flat for the trombone in the Introduction of _Les Francs-Juges_, I
feared it would be terribly difficult to play. So I went, very anxious,
to one of the trombonists of the Opera orchestra. He looked at the
passage and reassured me. 'The key of D flat is,' he said, 'one of the
pleasantest for that instrument; and you can count on a splendid effect
for that passage'" _(Memoires_, I, 63).]

[Footnote 69: _Memoires_, I, 64.]

That he was an originator in this direction no one doubts. And no one
disputes, as a rule, "his devilish cleverness," as Wagner scornfully
called it, or remains insensible to his skill and mastery in the
mechanism of expression, and his power over sonorous matter, which make
him, apart from his creative power, a sort of magician of music, a king
of tone and rhythm. This gift is recognised even by his enemies--by
Wagner, who seeks with some unfairness to restrict his genius within
narrow limits, and to reduce it to "a structure with wheels of infinite
ingenuity and extreme cunning ... a marvel of mechanism."[70]

But though there is hardly anyone that Berlioz does not irritate or
attract, he always strikes people by his impetuous ardour, his glowing
romance, and his seething imagination, all of which makes and will
continue to make his work one of the most picturesque mirrors of his
age. His frenzied force of ecstasy and despair, his fulness of love and
hatred, his perpetual thirst for life, which "in the heart of the
deepest sorrow lights the Catherine wheels and crackers of the wildest
joy"[71]--these are the qualities that stir up the crowds in _Benvenuto_
and the armies in the _Damnation_, that shake earth, heaven, and hell,
and are never quenched, but remain devouring and "passionate even when
the subject is far removed from passion, and yet also express sweet and
tender sentiments and the deepest calm."[72]

[Footnote 70: "Berlioz displayed, in calculating the properties of
mechanism, a really astounding scientific knowledge. If the inventors of
our modern industrial machinery are to be considered benefactors of
humanity to-day, Berlioz deserves to be considered as the true saviour
of the musical world; for, thanks to him, musicians can produce
surprising effects in music by the varied use of simple mechanical
means.... Berlioz lies hope