Indeed, so repeatedly have temperaments of this
character appeared in France, not only in her music, but also in her
letters and other arts, from the time of the Pleiade, to that of Charles
Louis Philippe and Andre Gide and Henri de Regnier, that it is difficult
not to hold theirs the centrally, essentially French tradition, and not
to see in men like Rabelais only the Frank, and in men like Berlioz only
the atavism to Gallo-Roman times.

But it is not only the spirit of French classicism that Ravel and
Debussy inherit. In one respect their art is the continuation of the
music that came to a climax in the works of Haydn and Mozart. It is
subtle and intimate, and restores to the auditor the great creative role
assigned to him by so much of the music before Beethoven. The music of
Haydn and Mozart defers to its hearer. It seeks deliberately to enlist
his activity. It relies for its significance largely upon his
contribution. The music itself carries only a portion of the composer's
intention. It carries only enough to ignite and set functioning the
auditor's imagination. To that person is reserved the pleasure of
fathoming the intention, of completing the idea adumbrated by the
composer. For Haydn and Mozart did not desire that the listener assume a
completely passive attitude. They had too great a love and respect of
their fellows. They were eager to secure their collaboration, had
confidence that they could comprehend all that the music intimated,
regarded them as equals in the business of creation. But the music
written since their time has forced upon the hearer a more and more
passive role. The composers arrogated to themselves, to varying extents,
the greater part of the activity; insisted upon giving all, of doing the
larger share of the labor. The old intimacy was lost; with Wagner the
intellectual game of the _leit-motif_ system was substituted for the
creative exercise. The art of Ravel and Debussy returns to the earlier
strategy. It makes the largest effort to excite the creative
imagination, that force which William Blake identified with the Saviour
Himself. It strives continually to lure it into the most energetic
participation. And because Ravel and Debussy have this incitement
steadily in view, their music is a music of few strokes, comparable
indeed to the pictural art of Japan which it so often recalls. It is the
music of suggestion, of sudden kindlings, brief starts and lines, small
forms. It never insis