phical, psychological, musical and para-musical—of Proust's obsession with, and use made of, this particular structural device in his novel has been explored by the authors with an almost Teutonic thoroughness not always found in French books on aesthetics. They even find a parallel between 'A la Recherche du temps perdu' and Dante's 'Divine Comedy5. Thus: Comme Virgilc qui, apparaissant des le premier chant de L'Enfer, guidera Alighieri dans le sejour infernal, Swann assume, des le debut du romaa proustien, le role d'un pere spiritucl, d'un modele. Les deux personnages font l'objet d'une sortc de venera- tion de la part de leurs disciples, mais frappet d'interdit en raison d'une memc faute

originelle, la croyance aux idoles. (Virgile a adore les dieux du paganisme comme Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ml/article/LIV/4/462/1124374 by guest on 27 September 2021 Swann croit a l'amour et a la mondanitii.) Ils ne pourront penitrer dans la Terrc Promise. Dante ct Marcel devront-ils poursuivrc seuls leur route? Non, car le destin qui scmble les protegcr, les fait btniSder a nouveau d'une aide miraculeuie: il est impossible d'acceder sans guide a un sommet vertigineux: e'est grace a Beatrice, l'amie ithcree de Dante, que celui-ci connaitra les licux paradisiaques; e'est un personnage plus spirituel encore qui fera penetrer le Narrateur dans le monde enchant^ de la creation: ce personnage que le heros de La Rediercht pourra mecon- nattre ou oublier, mais qui ne l'abandonnera jamais, e'est la petite phrase de Vinteuil. And with this quotation, chosen not at random, but to justify my descrip- tion of this book at the beginning of my review as 'extraordinary', it is time to come to a full stop, leaving any reader who might be so tempted to penetrate further of his own accord into this strange and perplexing critical labyrinth which I have been endeavouring, probably unsuccess- fully, to describe. R. H. M.

Fowl. By J.-Michel Nectoux. pp. 189. (fiditions du Seuil, Paris, 1972.) M. Nectoux's book is a timely reminder of a composer the fiftieth anniversary of whose death will occur next year, and whose example is already overdue for revival (after a quarter-century of comparative neglect) to the greater glory of musical art in our own day. It states several important truths about Faur6, placing him in particular among those musicians for whom "sensuousness is the first stage of emotion" (p. 36), and observing that as organist he attached more consideration to harmony than to effects of tone-colour (p. 28). It makes the capital point that "languishing rubato" is "contrary to the Faurdan tradition" (p. 44)— though here M. Nectoux is not quite consistent in his expression, since he agrees with Faure's son Philippe that what has long passed for tradition in the performance of his works is in fact a betrayal of the composer's intentions (p. 172), and it might have been better to qualify those deplor- able performing habits as simply unsuitable to Fauri's as to nearly all the best music. Perhaps some of M. Nectoux's commentaries on particular works are rather too close to the programme-note manner of technical descriptions mixed with generalities of sentiment, especially when there are no musical examples to illustrate them; and here it would appear that the number of examples which he does quote has been reduced by his publisher (from motives of economy?), since he frequently refers in his text to the themes of a work under a succession of guide-letters not all of which have anything corresponding to them in the examples printed—e.g. in a group indexed from A to I, only A, G, H and I are actually given in music-type (p. 152). But there are many interesting details concerning Fauri's compositions— e.g. that he had a habit of writing his middle movements first, and that 'Mi-a-ou' in 'Dolly* does not refer to a cat but to Dolly's imperfect way of saying the name of 'Monsieur Raoul', her brother (p. 82)—and various crucial points of biography: was Faur6 really in love with Emma Bardac

462 at the time of writing 'La Bonne chanson', which she was the first to sing? (pp. 72-3), and was Marguerite Hasselmans in fact the inspiring Egeria, as well as the companion, of his later years ?—his daughter-in-law, Mme. Blanche Fauri-Fremiet, denies this vigorously. I find some of M. Nectoux's judgments curious: e.g. that 'Automne' shows "die influence of the German Lied" and 'Les Berceaux' "an outdated sensibility" (p. 42); that the Epithalamium from 'Shylock' is Wagnerian (p. 60; I should have said it was one of the highest peaks of the French manner which Faure transformed and glorified from Gounod and Saint-Saens); and that Faurd's 'Spleen' ('II pleure dans mon cceur') is better than Debussy's (p. 53). But diere are some stimulating reflections, Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ml/article/LIV/4/462/1124374 by guest on 27 September 2021 as for example diat the soprano parts of the 'Requiem', including the 'Pie Jesu', should be sung by children's voices (p. 50), and some welcome conclusions of a more general kind. M. Nectoux need have no hesitation in proclaiming that "surprising though it may be to say it, Faurd's third phase has the concentration and the human value of Beethoven's" (p. 105)—I deplore die suggestion of surprise, having made die same com- parison myself in 1945, but it is anodier indication of the fact that Faure's quality needs to be reaffirmed. And M. Nectoux's final verdict—diat Fauri was "almost alone in his time to open out confidently a road other than that of post-Wagnerism" (p. 171)—is overstated, but far from untrue, •widi regard to die composer whose piano music is as good as Chopin's and his chamber works as good as Brahms's, and whose songs widi piano are the best in die repertory for diat combination. There are a few minor errors: 'Prima verda' (for 'verba') as die tide of die second number of'La Chanson d'Eve' (p. 125: diis no doubt due to the printer); die attribution of 'Egmont* to Schiller instead of Goedie (p. 34); and die statement diat Faur6 was received at Buckingham Palace in 1908 by Queen Victoria (p. 120)—it must of course have been Queen Alexandra. N. S.

Die franzdsische Kompositionslehre in der ersten Hdlfte des 17. Jakrhunderts. By Herbert Schneider, pp. 304. 'Mainzer Studien zur Musikwissen- schaft', Bd. 3. (Schneider, Tutzing, 1972, DM.70.00.) The history of music dieory should be studied more actively by all of us, and for a number of reasons. Whatever stand we take about die way music ought to be analysed—and I take it diat die main point of analysis is to explain as precisely as possible how a piece of music works—we ought at least to be aware of the technical vocabulary diat die composers themselves and tiieir contemporaries would have used, for understanding their processes of diought may help us to hear die way diey did. In so far as dieorists discuss philosophies of music and die role of music in perceiving and understanding die laws of die universe, treatises constitute an invaluable series of documents diat can help us to incorporate music into die intellectual history of a period. And not least of all, dieoretical treatises furnish a healdiy antidote to our sometimes too pat divisions of music lustory into neat segments: understanding how ideas are preserved over the centuries, and how diey change, reminds us that life is a continuum, and diat concepts like 'die Renaissance', 'die Baroque era', and 'die Classical period' are artificial inventions, helpful and even necessary as we try to discern common elements in vast repertories of music, but mislead- ing when they encourage facile generalizations. But in spite of die increasing number of editions and translations of individual treatises and die growing bibliography of specialized studies.tiie history of dieory remains a relatively neglected field. Hugo Riemann's

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