He
rises to towering heights in some passages, but in his daring
explorations through the tone-world he is often betrayed into a
vagueness of form, largely traceable perhaps to lack of early technical
discipline, as well as to lack of mental clarity. Ultra romanticism was
foreign to the nature and repulsive to the tastes of the refined,
elegant Mendelssohn, yet in spite of himself its influence crept gently
into his polished works. As a symphonist he displayed fertility in
picturesque sonorities, facility in tracing the outlines and filling in
the details of form, keen sense of balance of orchestral tone, thorough
scientific knowledge of his materials, and, as some one has said, became
all but a master in the highest sense. His overtures are unquestionably
romantic, and as their histrionic and scenic titles indicate, partake of
the nature of programme music.
This brings us to Hector Berlioz, the famous French symphonist, the
exponent par excellence of programme music, that is, music intended to
illustrate a special story.
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