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National Music of the World. |
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by him in association with the soldier-poet of 'Lyre and Sword,' Theodor Korner.
I have no need to dwell on the heroic story of this noble young man. I have no need to recall how, for the service of what he deemed to be the great and good cause of his country, he broke away from the pleasure and promise of a literary career which was opening for him with every prospect of success and glory, and embraced the life of a soldier—-nor how, before he fell in battle, he had reconciled, so to say, his old with his new calling, by producing that spirited set of songs which will last as long as German poetry shall last.
By a happy accident, Korner's lyrics found a kindred spirit in Weber. In those set by him, the union of words and music amounts to inspiration. The best of the kind I know belonging to other countries—not forgetting the ' Marseillaise,' not forgetting our own military songs, to which I may hereafter advert, not forgetting the feeble yet flaring Garibaldi hymn, once so terrible to Austrian ears—are comparatively false, characterless, and spiritless, when matched with these.
There is the blood of a true heart in them, the fire of a righteous courage, the song of poetry in the |
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