In soothing answer falls the caressing song of the high reed in the
phrase of the heroic strain, lightly, quickly and, it seems, mockingly
aimed. In gently railing triumph returns the pretty song of the wheel,
with a new buoyant spring. Drums and martial brass yield to the laughing
flutes, the cooing horns and the soft rippling harp with murmuring
strings, to return like captives in the train at the height of the
gaiety.




CHAPTER VII

CÉSAR FRANCK


The new French school of symphony that broke upon the world in the
latter part of the nineteenth century had its pioneer and true leader in
César Franck.[A] It was he who gave it a stamp and a tradition.

[Footnote A: If language and association, as against the place of birth,
may define nationality, we have in César Franck another worthy
expression of French art in the symphony. He was born at Liège in 1822;
he died in 1890.]

The novelty of his style, together with the lateness of his acclaim (of
which it was the probable cause), have marked him as more modern than
others who were born long after him.

The works of Franck, in other lines of oratorio and chamber music, show