She wanted to cry
at her wedding, and as she had no natural inclination to do so, she
counted on the organ to bring tears to her eyes.
But this case was unique. Ordinarily, they were afraid of my
severity--although this severity was tempered.
One day one of the parish vicars undertook to instruct me on this point.
He told me that the Madeleine audiences were composed in the main of
wealthy people who attended the Opera-Comique frequently, and formed
musical tastes which ought to be respected.
"Monsieur l'abbe," I replied, "when I hear from the pulpit the language
of opera-comique, I will play music appropriate to it, and not before!"
CHAPTER XI
JOSEPH HAYDN AND THE "SEVEN WORDS"
Joseph Haydn, that great musician, the father of the symphony and of all
modern music, has been neglected. We are too prone to forget that
concerts are, in a sense, museums in which the older schools of music
should be represented. Music is something besides a source of sensuous
pleasure and keen emotion, and this resource, precious as it is, is only
a chance corner in the wide realm of musical art. He who does not get
absolute pleasure from a simple series of well-constructed chords,
beautiful only in their arrangement, is not really fond of music.
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