SWINBURNE AND MUSIC.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Thero is a single point in the full and valuable notice which you have given to The Life of Swinburne that demands a word of explanation, if you will be so kind as to grant me leave to supply it. On the score of some words of enthusiasm expressed to his eldest sister, herself a musician, you have, very naturally, con- ceived that the general opinion is wrong, and that Swinburne loved and understood music. But this was not the case. He was remarkably devoid of " ear "—that is to say, he lacked all capacity to appreciate and distinguish musical compositions by hearing them. Such expressions of stimulus from music as may be found in his family letters are the result of imaginative sympathy. Incapable of willingly deceiving, Swinburne was yet singularly liable to self-deception. It has been my duty to read several hundreds of his letters, addressed to a great variety of persons, and the discrepancies of superficial character in them are amazing. With regard to music, if told the nature of the piece and tide history of the composer, he could genuinely believe himself to enjoy—and in a non-musical sense he did enjoy—a brief perform- ance. But a deaf man could have done almost as much.—I am,
Previous page
