Chapter 1

XX. THE VARIED

TENDENCIES OF

MODERN MUSIC 326

Music is the universal language of mankind.

—LONGFELLOW.

Music can noble hints impart, Engender fury,

kindle love; With unsuspected eloquence can move

And manage all the man with secret art.

—ADDISON.

Music is the sound of the circulation in nature’s

veins. It is the flux which melts nature. Men dance

to it, glasses ring and vibrate, and the fields seem to

undulate. The healthy ear always hears it, nearer or

more remote.

—THOREAU.

To strike all this life dead, Run mercury into a

mold like lead, And henceforth have the plain result

to show— How we Feel hard and fast, and what we

Know— This were the prize, and is the puzzle!—

which Music essays to solve.