The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-04-06
4 Talk with Eorro,i.

A correspondent OF the Whitehall Re
Uielo has been visiting the great composer
| He says:
| NJ. Gounod was busy furnishing his new
and splendid hotel, situated al No. 90 Place
MaleSherbes, and had 10 pass under ladders
and jump over pals and hammers before
reaching the muSic-room where the great
master awaited me. The music-room is
splCndidly panelled with oak, furnished
with classical severity and most perfect taste.
| At one end Is placed an immense organ-the
most perfect vehicle Of aesthetic expression
The musician has yet discovered. The macs
tro received me most cordially, ard on my
explaining TO him the object OF ny visit he
| plunged at once in medidS res.
"Io my mind the intellectual tendency
al the art OF music Is greater than the SEN
| tlmental to-day, but the great fault Of music
now is that 1t is complex and not simple.
/ Masters are too apt to study the effect OF a
| hautbOv, of violin, or OF a nute-ques-
tionS Of detail-and TO disregard the great
value OF the tout enSem6ie-tbe exprC ssion
! in It's completeness OF an idea. II was not
always so; RoSsini, for example, and Nc
zart, were both sublmely simple. All the
greatest things are always simple. ROssini
composed divncly from inspiration. Ii is
as il God bad ordered him 10 sing. and he
sang naturally, easily. and spontaneously.
1t was bis nature, and there was no effort.
The same is true Of MOzlrt."
"What is your opinion OF the condition
OF the art Of music now!" inquired.
"LiEe everything else, it is in 4 trau>itory
stage. IL i not wholly sentimental or
wholly practical. When the two are wed.
/ dcd together it will be sublime, aud the fact
! OF our being in this transitOry stage gives
me confidence. There is strength in weak
ness, and were there no opposition TO truth,
! truth would be the loser; we gain strength
aud experience by cOmbat anu failure: and
il is always after transitory and hesitain.r
stage like the present that the grandest
epoch comes, when idealty and reality
60 hand in hand, when faith and rea-
son are ore. This time will come,
rely upon it, although perhaps neither
| YOU nor | VIII see It. 1t is the na-
tural evolution of all things, and the
history Of human thought is as the physical
history Of this planet. As years and centu-
ries roll on we shall see things clearer, until
at length faith and reason will be as one,
and things which we nOw consider super
natural will be natural. Music is only one
phase OF thought, and In considering its pre-
sent condition and It's future, cannot sepa-
rate it from other forms OF thought. They
I'll have the same history, and VIII eyentu-
! ally meet with the same full completeness
and perfect power"
"But what will be the result OF this pre-
sent complex condition OF the theory Of mt
sic in Europe?"
"Why. naturally, from this compleXity
will spring simplicity. TIE next 81 leat
master will be as simple as Mozart OF Ros-
sini. He will come a. giant and break all,
/ but with the fragments OF what be has bro
/ ken be will erect splendid temple-pOWer;
powerful because it is Truth, and simple
| because it is true and powerful. As it is
with the history Of any art, 80 1t is with the
! history OF nations. Germany has been for
years The head. the reason. the intelligence A.;
and France the heart, the sentiment. The
day will come when they will understand
each other and be as one"
How long did it take you to write
Faust 2" asked.
about two years and half but then
was interrupted. l wrote lie -Hedlcin
! Mdlgre lui in the middle OF Faust. Before
produced Faust, people did not under
stand Thar style Of muSic-the simple. |
expressed the Faust and Marguerite OF
Goethe rs | understood 1.-THE village
maiden, pure and chaste, even when she
| has fallen. Marguerite" is never im-
pure. Some years ago, after ! had led the
performance CT Faust before the late King
Of Hanover, his Majesty sent for rae and
said l have your opera performed every
Sunday evening, and it is TO me as con-
tinuation Of the divine service have at
tended in the day. Your Marguerite is
as pure when the curtain falls as when
! first Faust meets her,
After pause N. Gounod broke out:
IL envy men who have time TO express
their thoughts by oratory or by writing.
These men are the real apostles. | am no.
thing but poor musician. aud the theatre
absOrbs all my time. / envy men who can
directly appeal to the thoughts OF their fel-
iow-men by their pen or by their voice."
"But surely music is an expression OF
thought?"
"Yes, OF course; but not so direct. do
not complain. for everything has Its use,
but envy men who are free, and who have
time TO use their faculties as they please
Had my life over again, should not be
q musician; should devote my faculties to
literature and philosophy"