can it be otherwise, when the composers represented are mere names to
them? Why should the general public appreciate a Bach fugue, an
intricate symphony or a piece of chamber-music? Do we professional
musicians appreciate the technique of a wonderful piece of sculpture, of
an equally wonderful feat of engineering or even of a miraculous
surgical operation? It may be argued that an analogy between sculpture,
engineering, surgery and music is absurd, because the three former do
not appeal to the masses in the same manner as music does. Precisely: it
is because of this universal appeal on the part of music that the public
should be educated to _listen_ to _good_ music; that they should be
given, in a general way, a chance to acquaint themselves with the laws
underlying the "Beautiful in Music" and should be shown the demands
which a right appreciation of the Art makes upon the Intellect and the
Emotions.

And, surely, such a "desideratum" may best be effected by a careful
perusal of the manuals to be included in the present series. It is
incontestable that the reader of the following pages--apart from a
knowledge of the various musical forms, of orchestration, etc.--all of
which will be duly treated in successive volumes--will be in a better
position to appreciate the works of the several composers to which he
may be privileged to listen. The last essay, especially, will be read
with interest to-day, when we may hope to look forward to a cessation of
race-hatred and distrust, and to what a writer in the _Musical Times_
(September, 1914) has called, "a new sense of the emotional solidarity
of mankind. From that sense alone," he adds, "can the real music of the
future be born."

CLAUDE LANDI.