he is gifted with the moral qualities of a teacher--the
vocation for teaching, first of all. He has a firm belief in the
absolute duty of giving instruction in art, and, what is rarer still, in
the efficacious virtue of that teaching. He readily shares Tolstoy's
scorn, which he sometimes quotes, of the foolishness of art for art's
sake.

"At the bottom of art is this essential condition--teaching. The
aim of art is neither gain nor glory; the true aim of art is to
teach, to elevate gradually the spirit of humanity; in a word, to
serve in the highest sense--'_dienen_' as Wagner says by the mouth
of the repentant Kundry, in the third act of Parsifal."[165]

There is in this a mixture of Christian humility and aristocratic pride.
M. d'Indy has a sincere desire for the welfare of humanity, and he loves
the people; but he treats them with an affectionate kindness, at once
protective and tolerant; he regards them as children that must be
led.[166]

[Footnote 165: _Cours de Composition_, and _Tribune de Saint-Gervais_.]

[Footnote 166: _Cours de Composition_.]

The popular art that he extols is not an art belonging to the people,
but that of an aristocracy interested in the people. He wishes to
enlighten them, to mould them, to direct them, by means of art. Art is
the source of life; it is the spirit of progress; it gives the most
precious of possessions to the soul--liberty. And no one enjoys this
liberty more than the artist. In a lecture to the _Schola_ he said:

"What makes the name of 'artist' so splendid is that the artist is
free--absolutely free. Look about you, and tell me if from this
point of view there is any career finer than that of an artist who
is conscious of his mission? The Army? The Law? The University?
Politics?"

And then follows a rather cold appreciation of these different careers.

"There is no need to mention the excessive bureaucracy and
officialism which is the crying evil of this country. We find
everywhere submission to rules and servitude to the State. But what
government, pope, emperor, or president could oblige an artist to
think and write against his will? Liberty--that is the true wealth
and the most precious inheritance of the artist, the liberty to
think, and the liberty that no one has the power to take away from
us--that of doing our work according to the dictates of our
conscience."