estimates that the modern French school is very much alive,
that it has to its credit numerous distinct achievements and
that it contains the promise of still further growth. The French
nature, which is highly emotional and yet, at its best, always
controlled[304] by a regard for fitness and clarity of thought, is
particularly suited to express itself worthily in music, for in no
other form of artistic endeavor is this balance more requisite.
Music without emotion is, to be sure, like “sounding brass and
a tinkling cymbal” and dies in short order. On the other hand,
music which is a mere display of crude emotion soon palls. The
works of modern French composers deserve enthusiastic study
for their charm, their finish and their refined emotional power.
[Footnote 304: Witness the wonderful manifestation of these
qualities by the French in the recent war.]