MUSICAL COMPOSITION

COLOUR 109full (without being overloaded) to balance the superstructureand the substructure. The texture of themiddle part is the most troublesome to a beginner, andthe most frequent cause of failure in the early stages;its insufficiency will make a work sound all top andbottom, and its over-elaboration will fog the generaldesign. Due proportion will only be reached aftermany a failure, which will bring the drops of a miserableperspiration out of the brow of the composer as hewrithes under hearing it. But he can console himselfwith the knowledge that all his predecessors have gonethrough the same experience, and can read Berlioz'graphic account of his own sufferings on a like occ&­sion. The tendency of the present day to add to thewind-instruments in numbers and in quality, to writehorn parts which are merely a filling up of the harmonieswithout regard to their suitability to the instrument,and to subdivide the strings into a great numberof parts, is a matter of grave question. Its main resultis to produce in the listener the same feeling of monotonywhich he feels after listening to an organ recital exclusivelygiven upon the full swell, with the closing andopening of the shutters for its only means of gradation.The full swell is a fascinating sound, and so is therichness of a densely-populated modem orchestra.But if one or other is to get full value for its effect,it must be used as a contrast only, and a rare contrasttoo. Noone knew this better than Wagner did. Thefirst act of the WalkUre alone is sufficient to prove it.He used his horns with great chromatic freedom, butnever for padding, and never with disregard of theirtimbre. He subdivided his violins, but never allowedthe wind-instruments to take advantage of their