at a very early period, as was the case with Mozart, Rafael, and many another.]
[Footnote 414: _Ganz vereinzelten Seite._ It is a little strange to find such an expression applied to the arts of violin-playing or singing. But the emphasis is not so much on the art as a whole as to the technical aspect of execution.]
[Footnote 415: _Anlage_, lit., a laying to, an impulse in a certain direction.]
[Footnote 416: This statement is rather surprising from a fellow countryman of Bach, Handel, Mozart, etc., down to Wagner and Strauss.
The explanation appears _first_ to be due to the distinction between a national impulse toward popular singing which the Italian no doubt possesses, and a deep-rooted emotional life which finally discovers its supreme mode of expression in the art of instrumental music as developed by the Teuton stock. _Secondly_, it is quite clear, I think, from Hegel's correspondence that he had no real sympathy for orchestral music though an enthusiastic admirer of opera, particularly Italian opera.]
[Footnote 417: The other two aspects were: (_a_) That genius is a spiritual activity and in its operation offers a contrast to talent, where the personal initiative is not so prominent, (_b_) It has a certain aspect which may be called innate.]
[Footnote 418: It is a little surprising to find Hegel tracing technical accomplishment to the native gift. At least all technical accomplishment has to be learned.]
[Footnote 419: This is the real point. Whatever ignoramuses may say of the "shackles" of verse poets know only too well that they supply a supreme stimulus to imaginative powers both in virtue of the atmosphere of music into which they are thus carried and the suggestiveness of the words themselves. What Hegel's analysis appears rather to fail in is his perception of the unconscious work in the greatest men when working in most inspired moments whether in painting or poetry--the extraordinary power of their intuition.]
[Footnote 420: No doubt Hegel does not use our word "inspiration" in quite the sense it is usually used, and I should have said even less so the German word. At the same time we do apply the word inspiration to the technical execution and most justly where it is used as a distinction.]
[Footnote 421: Meredith in a letter to a correspondent expresses the same conviction. He even adds that he thinks Schiller's compositions were by no means improved by artificial stimulants.]
[Footnote 422: The Germans say, a song which "rings straight from the throat," _der aus der Kehle dringt._] [Footnote 423: _Welche zum Begriff des Talente gehört._ Talent no doubt to some extent includes genius here, but mainly in its aspect of productive power.]
[Footnote 424: I do not know the composition and cannot make much of the quotations. For all I know _Tamboure-gesellen_ may be the drummer-boy himself.]
[Footnote 425: This translation may pass perhaps: "This little nosegay plucked by me A thousand times may it greet thee!
How many thousand times have I Bowed over it; how many times Pressed it to heart; how many times!"
[Footnote 426: Or, as Hegel puts it, "_that_ he is not."]
[Footnote 427: We should rather say a personal or individual manner perhaps.]
[Footnote 428: I have translated _Zufälligen_ here with the words "he shares with no one else." The suggestion is that there is no warrant or principle to support them.]
[Footnote 429: It is rather surprising to find Hegel including music here rather than sculpture or architecture, especially the latter, which seems peculiarly adapted to illustrate what I understand to be his general point of view. His own illustrations throw no light on the matter as they are borrowed from painting or poetry.]
[Footnote 430: I presume the difference here alluded to is such as we may see if we contrast the tone of a Correggio, for instance, with that of a Titian or a Rembrandt.]
[Footnote 431: _Er hat ihn sich angeeignet._ Lack of artistic power is the main factor in an artificial style. Though there are doubtless many examples of men forced to paint in a way much below their true powers to obtain a living. But it must be admitted Hegel does not express himself very clearly. Individuality of handling is essential to a great master. The real point is that it should not crystallize into a _mere_ habit, as in the Bologna school of painters.]
[Footnote 432: "Artificial" would perhaps come closer to the mark.]
[Footnote 433: _In sich selbst zu erweitern._ The phrase at once suggests by contrast that expression so frequently used by painters of "tightness," incapacity to enlarge, which is such a characteristic of artificial handling, and indeed of most academic work, and so frequently gives to the original sketch of an artist a greater artistic value than to the highly finished work.]
[Footnote 434: _In der subjektiven Begeistrung._] [Footnote 435: The chamber at Wetzlar.]
[Footnote 436: Elective Affinities.]
END OF VOL. I