It is only by sounding a
note in exact unison with that to which the string is attuned that we
get the full force of the sympathetic vibration, which is more or less
distinct according as we approach or depart from the keynote, till we
reach the semitone above or below, when it ceases altogether. Even so do
our emotions increase in exact proportion as the exciting cause
approaches perfection--according as the beauty heard or seen or felt
approaches the heavenly keynote. A simple ballad awakens a quiet
pleasure, while the magnificent symphonies of Beethoven or Mozart fill
the soul with a rapture with which the former feeling is no more to be
compared than the brooklet with the ocean; for the latter is
inexpressibly nearer to its heavenly model.
Carry out the theory to its legitimate result, and we shall see that if
it were possible to produce, here on earth, music equal to that which
rings through the celestial arches--if it were possible here to create
beauty in any form, which should fully equal that which shall greet the
freed spirit on its entrance into that better world, then indeed would
our emotions reach their highest possible climax; then indeed should we
hear and see and feel, not with the bodily senses, but with the senses
of the soul; then would there be no vagueness, no sadness in the feeling
as now, but clear and well defined would be our knowledge, comprehending
all spiritual things. Then would our heaven be here on earth, and we
should desire no other.
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