ABSTRACT
Beethoven was “algebra in music.” He also praises Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the organ sonatas, music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and other works, even though he believes his oeuvre is “unequal.” He indicates that Schumann’s criticism of Meybeer’s Les Huguenots is not very authoritative, since his own attempt at opera (Genoveva) was unsuccessful. He finally addresses Wagner’s music, stating among other things that female virtue is found not in Helen, but in Penelope, and clarity is not Wagner, but Mozart. Saint-Saëns also believes that while the use of gods and goddesses, heroes, foreign lands, and myth are useful in opera, Charpentier has proven with Louise that these things are not indispensable. He closes by stating that “in its essence, art does not change. Only men change their opinions on its means and on its limits.”
