forty-six, Mendelssohn, thirty-eight, Chopin, forty. In the case
of all the composers we have hitherto studied, with the excep-
tion of Mozart, their masterpieces have been the result of long
years of patient, technical study and hence show that finish and
maturity of style which come only with time. But the precocity
of the Romanticists is astounding! Many of Schubert’s famous
pieces were composed in his earliest manhood; Mendelssohn’s
Midsummer Night’s DreamOverture dates from his sixteenth
year; Schumann’s best pianoforte works were composed before
he was thirty. The irresistible spontaneity and vigor of all these
works largely atone for any blemishes in treatment. We feel
somewhat the same in the case of Keats and Shelley in com-
parison with Milton, and are reminded of Wordsworth’s lines,
“Bliss was it in that hour to be alive, but to be young was very
Heaven."[176] Why expect senatorial wisdom and the fancy of
youth in any one person!
[Footnote 176: Compare also the definition of genius by Masters
in theSpoon River Anthology:
“In youth my wings were strong and tireless,
But I did not know the mountains.
In age I knew the mountains
But my weary wings could not follow my vision—
Genius is wisdom and youth.”]
A most important distinction between a classical and a romantic
composer is the knowledge and love of literature shown by the
latter. Although Haydn kept a note-book on his London tours,
and although we have a fair number of letters from Mozart, in
neither of these men do we find any appreciation of general cur-
rents of thought and life. In many of Beethoven’s works we have
seen how close was the connection between literature and musi-
cal expression. All the Romantic composers, with the exception
of Schubert, were broadly cultivated, and several could express
themselves artistically in words as well as in notes. They may
not have been on this account any better composers, as far as
sheer creative vitality is concerned, but it is evident that their
imaginations were nourished in quite a different way and hence
a novel product was to be expected. Romantic music has been
defined as a reflex of poetry expressed in musical terms, at times
fairly trembling on the verge of speech. Music can not, to be