ls. The
lasting understanding of such, or even of a part of the public, is
worth more than all the storm of applause that is given to so many.

All the applause in the world cannot repay me for the sacrifices I
have made for art, and no applause in the world is able to beguile me
from the dissatisfaction I feel over the failure of a single tone or
attempted expression.

What seems to me bad, because I demand the greatest things of myself,
is, to be sure, good enough for many others. I am, however, not of
their opinion. In any matter relating to art, only the best is good
enough for any public. If the public is uncultivated, one must make it
know the best, must educate it, must teach it to understand the best.
A naive understanding is often most strongly exhibited by the
uncultivated--that is, the unspoiled--public, and often is worth more
than any cultivation. The cultivated public should be willing to
accept only the best; it should ruthlessly condemn the bad and the
mediocre.

It is the artist's task, through offering his best and most carefully
prepared achievements, to educate the public, to ennoble it; and he
should carry out his mission without being influenced by bad standards
of taste.

The public, on the other hand, should consider art, not as a matter of
fashion, or as an opportunity to display its clothes, but should feel
it as a true and profound enjoyment, and do everything to second the
artist's efforts.

Arriving late at the opera or in the concert hall is a kind of bad
manners which cannot be sufficiently censured. In the same way, going
out before the end, at unfitting times, and the use of fans in such a
way as to disturb artists and those sitting near, should be avoided by
cultivated people. Artists who are concentrating their whole nature
upon realizing an ideal, which they wish to interpret with the most
perfect expression, should not be disturbed or disquieted.

On the other hand, operatic performances, and concerts especially,
should be limited in duration and in the number of pieces presented.
It is better to offer the public a single symphony or a short list of
songs or pianoforte pieces, which it can listen to with attention and
really absorb, than to provide two or three hours of difficult music
that neither the public can listen to with sufficient attention nor
the artist perform with sufficient concentration.

SECTION XXXVIII

INTERPRETATION

Let us return to the subject