Other musicians, perhaps even some of the contemporary,
may exhibit a greater heroism, a greater staying power and
indefatigability. Nevertheless, in his sphere he is every inch as
perfect a workman as the greatest. Within his limits he was as pure a
craftsman as the great John Sebastian in his. The difference between the
two is the difference of their ages and races, not the difference of
their artistry. For few composers can match with their own Debussy's
perfection of taste, his fineness of sensibility, his poetic rapture
and profound awareness of beauty. Few have been more graciously rounded
and balanced than he, have been, like him, so fine that nothing which
they could do could be tasteless and insignificant and without grace.
Few musicians have been more nicely sensible of their gift, better
acquainted with themselves, surer of the character and limitations of
their genius. Few have been as perseverantly essential, have managed to
sustain their emotion and invention so steadily at a height. The music
of Debussy is full of purest, most delicate poesy. Perhaps only Bach and
Moussorgsky have as invariably found phrases as pithy and inclusive and
final as those with which "Pelleas" is strewn, phrases that with a few
simple notes epitomize profound and exquisite emotions, and are indeed
the word.
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