| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: in a century--not oftener, there arises a Homer of music, to whom God
grants the gift of being ahead of his age; men who can compact
melodies full of accomplished facts, pregnant with mighty poetry.
Think of this; remember it. The thought, repeated by you, will prove
fruitful; it is melody, not harmony, that can survive the shocks of
time.
"The music of this oratorio contains a whole world of great and sacred
things. A work which begins with that introduction and ends with that
prayer is immortal--as immortal as the Easter hymn, /O filii et
filioe/, as the /Dies iroe/ of the dead, as all the songs which in
every land have outlived its splendor, its happiness, and its ruined
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ann Veronica by H. G. Wells: High School, and had done much to send her mind exploring beyond
the limits of the available literature at home. It was a
cheerful, irresponsible, shamelessly hard-up family in the key of
faded green and flattened purple, and the girls went on from the
High School to the Fadden Art School and a bright, eventful life
of art student dances, Socialist meetings, theatre galleries,
talking about work, and even, at intervals, work; and ever and
again they drew Ann Veronica from her sound persistent industry
into the circle of these experiences. They had asked her to come
to the first of the two great annual Fadden Dances, the October
one, and Ann Veronica had accepted with enthusiasm. And now her
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: remarked Betsy, getting off Hank's back and
standing beside him. "And it would be a pretty
cheap King who killed a visitor while she was
hungry. If you'll give me something to eat, I'll
talk this killing business over with you
afterward; only, I warn you now that I don't
approve of it, and never will."
Her coolness and lack of fear impressed the Nome
King, although he bore an intense hatred toward
all mortals.
"What do you wish to eat?" he asked gruffly.
Tik-Tok of Oz |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Ion by Plato: the spectators?
ION: Only too well; for I look down upon them from the stage, and behold
the various emotions of pity, wonder, sternness, stamped upon their
countenances when I am speaking: and I am obliged to give my very best
attention to them; for if I make them cry I myself shall laugh, and if I
make them laugh I myself shall cry when the time of payment arrives.
SOCRATES: Do you know that the spectator is the last of the rings which,
as I am saying, receive the power of the original magnet from one another?
The rhapsode like yourself and the actor are intermediate links, and the
poet himself is the first of them. Through all these the God sways the
souls of men in any direction which he pleases, and makes one man hang down
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