MUSICAL SENSATIONS. 227 



to explain the characteristic features of its action. We must consider, 

 first, that this language, like its twin sister the language of ideas, has 

 suffered a progressive evolution, and has with us reached a great per- 

 fection, and consequently a great complexity in its laws and proc- 

 esses. Among primitive peoples of few ideas, whose feelings show 

 few variations of shade in expression, music is almost wholly con- 

 fined to a few modulations expressive of the principal divisions of 

 feelino- love, joy, sorrow, and warlike ardor. Civilization, with its 

 refinements, has produced a music that has grown constantly richer in 

 shades and means of expression, to the point which has been reached 

 by the great masters of our age. 



Neither language is intelligible to all, in its fullest degree of de- 

 velopment. As we must have the power of comprehending abstract 

 ideas in order to understand philosophers, so we must be more or less 

 accustomed to musical sensations to appreciate the great musicians ; 

 and it is interesting to observe how we learn by study to enjoy works 

 which at first fall cold upon us. 



The application of such a word as comprehend, or understand, to 

 music, is a source of numerous misconceptions ; music does not under- 

 stand, it feels. It addresses itself only to that part of us which is 

 susceptible of emotion ; and we frequently lose all its charm by our 

 trying to undei'stand it, or to find in it ideas which it can not express. 

 We might exj^ect the same kind of a failure if we should try to find 

 sources of emotion in the working out of an equation. 



It is true that persons exist who have no sense for music, and to 

 whom its language is a blank ; but they are rarely found, and prove 

 nothing. Opposed to them are much more frequent instances of ex- 

 cessively sensitive natures, on whom even simple single musical inter- 

 vals produce wonderful effects. Who has not made music without 

 suspecting it ? In certain states of feeling we are sometimes surprised 

 to find ourselves composing simple melodies that are never finished, 

 and are major or minor according as we are gay or sad, while we may 

 be totally ignorant of the existence of those modes. Some natures 

 seem obliged thus to express themselves in song. This is because 

 speech is really an imperfect means of expressing the feelings. It is 

 just as necessary to address the feelings, to make an emotion known, 

 as it is to address the intellect, to communicate an idea. Hence the 

 charm of the opera, in which the words describe the situation, while 

 the music enables us to see into the hearts of the persons who are 

 implicated in it. A certain school of operatic composers, indeed, are 

 not concerned about depicting the passions set forth in their dramas, 

 but are satisfied if they can introduce a few agreeable melodies good 

 to sing anywhere and to any words, and which will become favorites ; 

 but this is not the case with real dramatic music as illustrated in the 

 works of Gluck, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Verdi in his second style, 

 and Wagner. 



