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The National Music of America. 107
" Beside her stood Laharpe, the ex-Academician, the well-known author of the ' Cours de Literature.' Holding his cap of liberty, he opened his address by denying the existence of a God; and then, blaspheming our divine Saviour, he dared Him to avenge the insult offered to Him in His temple. As no miracle took place in answer to this impious challenge, the crowd burst into loud laughter and shouts of joy. The nave of the church was then turned into a ball-room. The celebrated organist Se"jan was forced to play, on the great organ, base dance-music of the period, while whirling wretches danced the Carmagnole and howled the air of ' Ca Ira.'" x
Infinitely nobler, more patriotic, and more dignified is the " Marseillaise." There are some songs in the world's history, which, beginning as local numbers, finally outgrow their surroundings, extend beyond the borders of even the country which bore them, and eventually become the common property of all nations. " Auld Lang Syne" was but a simple Scottish folk-melody, built on an
1 Account by the composer Adolphe Adam, translated by Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer in LittelVs Living Age, Aug. 23, 1879. |
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