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Lubbock, Sir John, 1834-1913

"The Pleasures of Life"

It is the essence of order, and leads to all that
is good, just, and beautiful, of which it is the invisible, but
nevertheless dazzling, passionate, and eternal form." "Music," said
Luther, "is a fair and glorious gift from God. I would not for the world
renounce my humble share in music." "Music," said Halevy, "is an art that
God has given us, in which the voices of all nations may unite their
prayers in one harmonious rhythm." Or Carlyle, "Music is a kind of
inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the
infinite, and lets us for moments gaze into it."
Let me also quote Helmholtz, one of the profoundest exponents of modern
science. "Just as in the rolling ocean, this movement, rhythmically
repeated, and yet ever-varying, rivets our attention and hurries us along.
But whereas in the sea blind physical forces alone are at work, and hence
the final impression on the spectator's mind is nothing but solitude--in a
musical work of art the movement follows the outflow of the artist's own
emotions.


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