pular_ composer in
the best sense of the term. Many of his colossal works, to be sure,
are heard but seldom, for they require the most highly trained
executive ability. But if the average music-lover will become familiar
with the French and English Suites, with the Preludes and Fugues of
the _Well-tempered Clavichord_, with some of the Violin Sonatas, he
will find for his imagination and mental machinery a food which, once
enjoyed, becomes indispensable. For his music has that greatest of
qualities in art as in human relationships--it wears well and _lasts_.
We all know that books which reveal everything at a first reading are
soon thrown aside, and that people whose depth of character and
sweetness of disposition we discern but slowly, often become our
life-long friends. Music which is too easily heard is identical with
that which is immediately forgotten. The first impulse created by any
great work of art is our longing to know it better. Its next attribute
is its power to arouse and hold our steady affection. These
observations may be applied literally to Bach's music, which can be
heard for a lifetime, never losing its appeal but continually
unfolding new beauties. Furthermore, in Bach, we feel the force of a
great character even more than the artistic skill with which the
personality is revealed. In this respect Bach in music is quite on a
par with Shakespeare in literature and Michael Angelo in plastic art.
With many musicians, there is so disconcerting and inexplicable a
discrepancy between their deeds as men and the artistic thoughts for
which they seem to be the unconscious media, that it is inspiring to
come into touch with one who rings true as a man whatever demands are
made upon him; whose music is free from morbidity or carnal blemish,
as pure as the winter wind, as elemental as the ocean, as uplifting as
the stars. In Bach let us always remember the noble human traits; for
the universal regard in which his work is held could never have come
merely from profound skill in workmanship, but is due chiefly to the
manly sincerity and emotional depth which are found therein. The
revival of his works, for which the world owes to Mendelssohn such a
debt, has been the single strongest factor in the development of music
during the 19th century; and their influence[42] is by no means yet at
an end, as may be seen from the glowing tributes paid to him by such
modern composers as Franck, d'Indy and Debussy.[43]

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