'
Of Mozart's work as a whole, it is impossible to speak save in terms
which seem exaggerated. His influence upon subsequent composers cannot
be over-estimated. Without him, Rossini and modern Italian opera, Weber
and modern German, Gounod and modern French, would have been impossible.
It may be conceded that the form of his operas, with the alternation of
airs, concerted pieces and _recitativo secco_, may conceivably strike
the ears of the uneducated as old-fashioned, but the feelings of
musicians may best be summed up in the word of Gounod: 'O Mozart, divin
Mozart! Qu'il faut peu te comprendre pour ne pas t'adorer! Toi, la
verite constante! Toi, la beaute parfaite! Toi, le charme inepuisable!
Toi, toujours profond et toujours limpide! Toi, l'humanite complete et
la simplicite de l'enfant! Toi, qui as tout ressenti, et tout exprime
dans une langue musicale qu'on n'a jamais surpassee et qu'on ne
surpassera jamais.'
CHAPTER V
THE CLOSE OF THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
MEHUL--CHERUBINI--SPONTINI--BEETHOVEN--BOIELDIEU
Mozart and Gluck, each in his respective sphere, carried opera to a
point which seemed scarcely to admit of further development. But before
the advent of Weber and the romantic revolution there was a vast amount
of good work done by a lesser order of musicians, who worked on the
lines laid down by their great predecessors, and did much to familiarise
the world with the new beauties of their masters' work.
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