German, which I am, as you yourself are, I seek to express the general meaning of the words, and I avoid the utterance of isolated words when it does not come about in a natural manner. … I prefer to adhere to routine, which is wise. The crescendo gradation of musical recitative seems to me a true imitation of a man speaking, who raises his voice in speaking."
He admits, not without difficulty, that he went astray in counting the syllables of the French verse, and he has this curious excuse:
"French actors recite their poetry as if it were prose, without exactly counting the syllables."[1]
We have not Telemann's reply: but a letter from Graun, of the 15th of May, 1756, shows us that fours years later they were still discussing Rameau's recitative, and that neither of them had surrendered his opinion.
This æsthetic duel between two of the most famous German musicians of the eighteenth century bears witness in both of them to a painstaking acquaintance with French music and the French language. Telemann reveals himself—as he was all his life—the champion of French art in Germany. The phrase which he employs to characterise "French music, that subtle imitator of nature," is also a fitting term to describe his own music. He did much to introduce the French qualities of intelligence and exact expression into German music, which, without these elements, would have been in danger, with
- ↑ Graun's observations referred to the school of Baron, who broke the rhythm of verse until one could no longer distinguish whether it were verse or prose—and even more to Dumesnil, then famous, who recited poetical tirades with a volubility that scandalised the purists.
