Note 227 — Chapter XV

It is understood that this is merely a personal opinion of the writer and might well have been prefaced by the Socratic "it seems to me." Too much criticism reminds us of wine-tasting—Mr. So-and-So likes port, Mr. So-and-So sherry. The object of fair-minded appreciation is to understand clearly just what each composer set out to do, i.e., what was the natural tendency of his individual genius; then the only question is: did or did he not do this well? It is futile to blame him because he was not someone else or did not achieve what he never set out to do.