and the first rule to follow, if you wish to possess yourself of a
child's will, is, Master your own.

December 17th, 1856.--This evening was the second quartet concert. It
stirred me much more than the first; the music chosen was loftier and
stronger. It was the quartette in D minor of Mozart, and the quartette
in C major of Beethoven, separated by a Spohr concerto.

The work of Mozart, penetrated as it is with mind and thought,
represents a solved problem, a balance struck between aspiration and
executive capacity, the sovereignty of a grace which is always mistress
of itself, marvelous harmony and perfect unity. His quartette describes
a day in one of those Attic souls who prefigure on earth the serenity
of Elysium.

In Beethoven's, on the other hand, a spirit of tragic irony paints for
you the mad tumult of existence, as it dances forever above the
threatening abyss of the infinite. No more unity, no more satisfaction,
no more serenity! We are spectators of the eternal duel between the two
great forces, that of the abyss which absorbs all finite things, and
that of life which defends and asserts itself, expands, and enjoys.

The soul of Beethoven was a tormented soul. The passion and the awe of
the infinite seemed to toss it to and fro from heaven to hell. Hence its
vastness. Which is the greater, Mozart or Beethoven? Idle question! The
one is more perfect, the other more colossal. The first gives you the
peace of perfect art, beauty at first sight. The second gives you
sublimity, terror, pity, a beauty of second impression. The one gives
that for which the other rouses a desire. Mozart has the classic purity
of light and the blue ocean. Beethoven the romantic grandeur
which belongs

(Continued in Volume II)

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