United States or Tokelau ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Gradually the two lines of development were brought together, and the resulting union the adaptation of classical art-forms to Christian uses was marked by an unparalleled outburst of artistic energy. From that period of exuberant art-expression in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, our present-day love of beautiful things has come down in unbroken succession.
There could be no truce between those who believed that everything must be fashioned after old models, that Procrustes must settle the height and depth, the length and breadth of art-forms, and those who, inspired with the new wine of liberty and free creative thought, held that the rule of form should always be the mere expression of the vital, flexible thought.
What a fantastic mode of life it seems, how farcical, grotesque, in its dull routine, for a genius who was at work steadily building up new art-forms. Haydn, we are told, rose every morning at six, carefully shaved and dressed, drank a cup of black coffee, and worked till noon. Then he ate, and in the afternoon he worked again, and ate and worked until it was time to go to bed.
He recognized the mass as one of the great art-forms, equal to the oratorio or the opera. From Bach's time on, it may indeed be said to have been regarded in this light.
It was therefore worth while for a man who had chosen to be a dramatic poet, and whose income depended upon his popularity, to forego further experimentation with unfamiliar art-forms and set about supplying that which would interest average human nature. Work began in the spring of 1803 and proceeded very steadily during the ensuing months.
Moreover, social tradition treasures the memory of these revelations, and, blending them with the contributions of humbler folk for all of us dream our dreams provides in myth and legend and tale, as well as in manifold other art-forms, a stimulus to the inspiration of future generations.
Their truth must be the deepest and most significant, their voices clear and strong, definite and coherent. Half-truths and partial-truths will not do, nor will thin piping voices and quavering lays. There must be the cosmic quality in what they sing. They must seize upon and press into enduring art-forms the vital facts of our existence.
Word Of The Day