is apt to be confounded with sentimentality unless it is guided by a
scholarly mind. The more feeling is spiritualized with thought the
nobler it will be. Heart and head need to operate in company with
well-controlled physical forces, in order that a fine interpretation of
music may be attained. Faultless technique, in the service of a lofty
ideal, indeed ceases to be mechanical and becomes artistic.

A musical work of art originates in the deep well of the fertile
imagination of genius, and can only be drawn forth when the composer is
in that highly exalted frame of mind we call inspiration. The theme, or
musical subject, is a vital spark of the divine fire, and has flashed
unbidden into his consciousness, demanding undivided attention for its
logical development. With infinite care he molds and groups the musical
factors which are his working forces, and of which he has both an
intuitive and a practical knowledge. The manifold forms he fashions all
combine for one purpose, and lead persistently to one grand climax, from
which they may return to the repose whence they came. Unity in diversity
is the goal he sets before himself. All aglow though he is with the joy
of artistic production, he dare not permit his mind to waver from the
task in hand.

Music is not to be played with, and the labor of composition is no
trifling matter. It demands the keenest mental activity, the most
profound mental concentration. It demands consecration. The composer
thinks and works in tones, in an ideal realm, far removed from the
realities of the external world. His business is to bring his theme to
its most magnificent unfolding, treating it with absolute definiteness,
that his intention may be perfectly clear.

It is the business of the interpreter of music to be so thoroughly