a Mass, and
before I had heard or read a note of it, I felt certain that, as
regards the style and general moulding, the master had taken old Joseph
Haydn as his model. Yet I found I was wrong, as regards the manner in
which he had apprehended the text of the Mass. His genius generally
prefers to employ the levers of awe and terror; so, thought I, the
vision of the super-earthly will have filled his soul with awe, and
this is what he will speak out in his music. On the contrary, the whole
work expresses a mind filled with childlike clearness and happiness,
which, building on its purity, confides in faith on the grace of God,
and prays to Him as to a father who wills the best for his children,
and hears their petitions. From this point of view, the general
character of the composition, its inner structure, and intelligent
instrumentation, are quite worthy of the master's genius, when
considered as a composition meant to be employed in the service of the
Church."

"Still," urged Cyprian, "that point of view is, in my opinion, a wrong
one altogether, capable of leading to desecration of the highest
things. Let me explain my views about church music, and you will see
that I am, at all events, clear on the subject in my own mind.
What I think is, that no art proceeds so thoroughly out of the
spiritualization of mankind, and demands such pure and spiritual modes
and means of expression, as music. The sense of the existence of what
is highest and holiest, of that spiritual power which kindles the life
of all nature, utters itself audibly in music, which--(at all events
vocal music)--is the expression of the highest fulness of existence,
_i.e._, the praise of the Creator. Wherefore, as regards its special
inner life, music is an act of religious service, and its fountain-head
is to be sought, and to be found, only in religion in the Church.
Passing thence onwards into life, ever richer and mightier, music
poured forth its inexhaustible treasures over mankind, so that even the
secular (or, as it is sometimes styled, the 'profane') might, in
childlike delight, adorn itself in that splendour wherewith music
illuminated life, through and through, even in all its little, petty,
mundane relations. But, when thus adorned, even the secular appeared to
be longing for the heavenly, higher realm, and striving to enter in
amidst its phenomena. Just by reason of this, its special peculiarity
of nature, music could not be the property of t