Theme

Many composers are legitimately suspicious of musicologists, who for their part sometimes think they know the works better than the composers themselves. As I happen to carry out both activities, it is understandable that I am doubly suspicious of myself. As a musicologist, I can probably never be impartial; as a composer, I have reason to fear the paralysing weight of theoretical speculation. But for centuries other composers have also felt the need to alternate singing and speaking or writing notes and letters. Rameau, Berlioz, Schumann, Wagner, Debussy and others have not found it so difficult to exercise a double talent as essayists and musicians. I shall place this attempt under their authority.