This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. Excerpt: …spirit of Shakespeare.
When sui: nmer’s hourly mellowing change May breathe with many roses sweet, Upon the thousand waves of wheat That ripple round the lovely grunge. And this–with peculiar propriety: — Fair ship, that from the Italian shore Sailest the placid ocean.plains Vith my lost Arthur’s loved remains, Spread thy full wings and waft him o'er. All night no nider air perplex Thy sliding keel till Phosphor, bright As our pure love, through early light Shall glimmer on thy dcwy decks. Sphere all your lights around, above, Sleep, gentle heavens, before the prow; Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now, My friend, the brother of my love. (Note especially the truly seraphic ineffability of the passage in G flat). It is such music as might have accompanied Him who made the storm his mere mantle, and the raging sea the mere pathway of power; of Him who had the right of all men to say–out of whose mouth the word sounded fullest–Peace! BEETHOVEN might well write an Heroic Symphony, for the very soul of his symphonies is heroism. He named one heroic, but he rurole many, including the sonatas, which are unfortunately limited to the piano, whose powers they utterly transcend. Heroism is the soul, and antagonism the substance, through which heroism ultimately fights its way. Beethoven is the Hercules of music (Hercules was in some sort also the Pagan Christ), undertaking labours for men’s emancipation and help; beating Hydros down; conquering all sorts of opposition—-unconquerable except by love; and, like the antique hero, alas! with an end as tragic. Such comparisons we are obliged to have recourse to, to explain Beethoven’s mnsic–its might and significance. What, …