The Sort of Life We Lead 35 



that the very persons who are now decrying every- 

 thing but Wagner will soon be hailing the advent 

 of some new light more abstruse and bizarre than 

 the Bayreuth master perhaps Ching-Chang, with 

 his orchestra playing in half-a-dozen keys at once. 

 I know that this is a common impression among 

 unmusical people. But I see around me so many 

 persons who are perfectly sincere in the pre-eminent 

 position which they gave to this music of the future, 

 so-called for many years, and now so much the 

 music of the present, that I have long ceased to 

 have any misgivings about the matter. The time 

 was when, with the neophyte's ardor, I was ready 

 to ascribe all opposition to Wagner either to igno- 

 rance or dishonesty. Since then, I have met per- 

 sons who know something of music, and yet prefer 

 Mozart, Beethoven, or Brahms to Wagner, and of 

 their honesty I am as well convinced as of their 

 knowledge and good taste. Nevertheless such per- 

 sons are very few, and whereas among musically 

 educated men and women the preference for Wag- 

 ner's music above all other is overwhelming, the 

 chief opposition is really due to simple ignorance. 

 As for argument upon the question, it is very much 

 like arguing as to religion; we have no scientific 

 data to start from. I may insist that the Meister- 



