THE GREEK SPIRIT AND MUSIC.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SpEcTsmon."3 SIR,—It seems to me that the statement in one of your notes in the Spectator of October 14th, in which you assert that all the arts are fed and quickened by contact with the Greek spirit, is too sweeping. Have you not, in common with most intellectual Englishmen, entirely left music out of account P It would, I think, be hard to trace any influence of Hellas upon that consummation of the intellect of Bach and the emotion of Mozart, which resulted in Beethoven,—the perfect flower of music. We are often told that those qualities which constitute style in the highest sense—that is, lucidity of thought, perfect relation of expression to the ideas expressed, and the restraint that never lets the part obscure the whole-- are the outcome of the Greek mind. Yet I believe it would not be rash to assert that neither in literature nor in painting has there been any art superior to that of Beethoven, and per- haps no other man has equalled him in the perfection of his style. I think it may be safely asserted of him, that in none of his works of any importance can any part be pointed out that does not rise to the highest level of what is required. There are grey passages as well as purple ones ; but they are grey by design, never from lank of ideas, or from fault of workmanship. Of how few other men can this be said P If it is true that music, entirely without the help of Greece, has produced an artist of such perfection, I think we must admit of there being other fountains in the world of art than Hellas. Music seems to stand alone and to be quite independent of other intellectual forces; this is shown by the phenomenon so often remarked, that highly cultivated musicians are often without other intellectual culture or power. This, no doubt, makes the ordinary educated man think meanly of the musical faculty; but why should not the musician in return despise the intelligence of him who cannot understand the art of music P—I am, Sir, &c., H. STRACHEY. Sutton Court, Pensford, Bristol.
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