68 Professor C. Hubert H. Parry on Evolution in Music. [Feb. 28, 



The planets were evolved first, and are destined for a life of ages ; 

 the smaller things which are evolved after they have settled into their 

 courses, are in great part short-lived and constantly changing their 

 aspects. The greatest achievements of art come early in an art 

 history, when there is room for composers or artists to move in unex- 

 hausted fields, and to create things which are great and broad and 

 simple. When there are no new lands left to conquer or explore, 

 men must make the best of their home gardens, and find something 

 worth doing on a smaller and less permanent scale ; and the best can 

 be no more than that which expresses well and truly the best and 

 truest thinors which lie in the emotions and mind of man. There still 

 are martyrs who sacrifice their lives to ideals, and look for neither 

 popularity nor pay ; and it is still possible in music to write what 

 the present generation on the whole will take no notice of, but the 

 next will cherish. And if the average of what is heard is mere jour- 

 nalism, and the majority of what is produced is condemned by 

 inexorable law to be ephemeral, the world still possesses the permanent 

 great works of art ; and those who have any instinct for what is noble 

 and great in art can always learn to appreciate these products of great 

 eras whose value is not impaired by the flight of time. And the store 

 is so rich and abundant, that there is no fear of our musical hungers 

 finding nothing to feed upon. If we set our minds to it early 

 and late, and determine to appreciate and love the best, the fact that 

 the laws of evolution make it apparently impossible for us to meet 

 any more Homers, or iEschyluses, or Shakespoares, or any more 

 Palestrinas, and Bachs, and Beethovens in the flesh, it is not so much 

 to be regretted as long as we are in possession of their works. 



[C. H. H. P.] 



