support, coming from a country of traditions, has thrown the partisans
of Classic tradition into confusion, and rallied Berlioz's friends.

[Footnote 2: _Mémoires_, II, 149.]

But here is a new danger. Though it is natural that Germany, more
musical than France, should recognise the grandeur and originality of
Berlioz's music before France, it is doubtful whether the German nature
could ever fully understand a soul so French in its essence. It is,
perhaps, what is exterior in Berlioz, his positive originality, that the
Germans appreciate. They prefer the _Requiem_ to _Roméo_. A Richard
Strauss would be attracted by an almost insignificant work like the
_Ouverture du roi Lear_; a Weingartner would single out for notice
works like the _Symphonic fantastique_ and _Harold_, and exaggerate
their importance. But they do not feel what is intimate in him. Wagner
said over the tomb of Weber, "England does you justice, France admires
you, but only Germany loves you; you are of her own being, a glorious
day of her life, a warm drop of her blood, a part of her heart...." One
might adapt his words to Berlioz; it is as difficult for a German really
to love Berlioz as it is for a Frenchman to love Wagner or Weber. One
must, therefore, be careful about accepting unreservedly the judgment of
Germany on Berlioz; for in that would lie the danger of a new
misunderstanding. You see how both the followers and opponents of
Berlioz hinder us from getting at the truth. Let us dismiss them.

Have we now come to the end of our difficulties? Not yet; for Berlioz is
the most illusive of men, and no one has helped more than he to mislead
people in their estimate of him. We know how much he has written about
music and about his own life, and what wit and understanding he shows in
his shrewd criticisms and charming _Mémoires_.[3]