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For Every Music Lover - A Series of Practical Essays on Music by Aubertine Woodward Moore
page 41 of 142 (28%)
insight into a great musical composition until its musical ideas, the
very grade and texture of its style, are absolutely appropriated.

In his "Death in the Desert," Robert Browning tells of the three souls
that make up the soul of man: the soul which Does; the soul which Knows,
feels, thinks and wills, and the soul which Is and which constitutes
man's real self. Appreciation of music requires the utmost activity of
all three souls. The more we are, the broader our culture, the more we
think, feel and know, the more we will find in music. Dr. Hiram Corson,
commenting on Browning's words, says the rectification, or adjustment of
what Is, that which constitutes our true being, should transcend all
other aims of education. If this fact were more generally accepted and
enforced it could soon no longer be said that few persons reach maturity
without the petrifaction of some faculty of mind and heart.

Every faculty we possess needs to be keenly alive for the interpretation
of the best in music. One who is accustomed to earnest thinking, quick
observation and sympathetic penetration will see, hear and feel much
that utterly escapes those whose best faculties have been permitted to
lie dormant, or become petrified. The interpreter of music must have
vital knowledge of the inner, spiritual element of every work of art he
attempts to reproduce. His imagination must be kindled by it, and
musical imagination is infinitely more precious than musical mechanism.

It is by no means intended to underrate technical proficiency. No one
can be a satisfactory exponent of music whose technique is deficient,
however profound may be his musicianly understanding and feeling. At the
same time, with every tone, every measure, mechanically correct, a
performance may fail to move the listener, because it lacks warmth and
glow. Only they can make others feel who feel themselves, but sentiment
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