670 MUSIC 



instrumental music, because the composer aimed, with an instinct of 

 genius never before shown in such a degree, at a style which was essen- 

 tially adapted to the conditions of the stage; with all the distractions 

 of the acting, the scenic display, and the interest of the drama. It 

 repelled, because the composer in the instinctive search after a new 

 ideal of style disregarded all the conventions which had grown up in 

 connection with the only branches of art which had hitherto been 

 really mastered. It disregarded the classical rules of resolution of 

 discords, progressions of chords, conventions of design and clearness 

 of tonality. Yet to the great mass of cultivated people his ideal of 

 style proved convincing. He at all events did not make the mistake 

 of supposing that his principles of procedure were applicable to 

 instrumental music of any kind. That mistake was left to his imita- 

 tors. 



The unsuitableness of the operatic style for instrumental music 

 is obvious to all people of taste and artistic intelligence; but in truth 

 the employment of the style which has been developed for pure instru- 

 mental music in operas is just as futile. In both cases it is the em- 

 ployment of resources which have been developed for one group of 

 conditions in conditions to which they are unsuited. And there is 

 no reason why operatic music should not be just as well provided with 

 beauty and interest of detail as instrumental music. Coarseness and 

 commonness of texture are not confined to operatic music, though 

 found there more frequently than in other branches of art. There 

 is plenty of flabby and conventional instrumental music, which the 

 world has gladly let drop and be forgotten. The difference of style 

 which is entailed by the bestowal of loving care on details or indif- 

 ference to them is more a question of disposition than a necessary 

 basis of contrast between operatic art and instrumental art. The 

 difference is illustrated in the widest sense by the broad distinctions 

 between the tastes of the southern and the northern races. The 

 southern races seem to delight in what is voluptuous, and in the ele- 

 ments of art which appeal to sense. They set no great store on 

 purity, and enjoy their art with indifferent promiscuity rather than 

 with love and reverence. The northern races treat their art with 

 more respect, and look for qualities of virginal purity upon which 

 they can dwell with constant loving contemplation. The southerns 

 delight in broad sweeping effects, in which details are of little conse- 

 quence. The northerns, without losing anything in general imposing 

 effect, love to make every part of their artistic work vital and inter- 

 esting, so that nowhere shall commonness and the insincerity of 

 indolence or convention be visible. The effect is shown in a very 

 interesting phase by the story of organ music in the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries. The Italians set the ball rolling in grand style 

 with the help of many noble composers, of whom Frescobaldi was 



