I, at least, would not like to have been a member of that deputation in case Turner and Hogarth were present. Yet this is not an unfair illustration of what English musicians have submitted to.
Let us see what Mendelssohn thought on the subject.
In a letter to Edward Devrient, dated Milan, July 13, 1831, he writes:
"You can have no conception of an Italian chorus. As I was supposed to be in the land of music, I thought I would try and recognise one good voice among it, but they are all vile and roar like quacks at a fair.... No German can have an idea of what it is here—that is to say, no real German; for such a one as I met here is as much a real German as cheese and beer.
"Fancy, Devrient, the fellow's expenses are paid for two years by the Ministry, in order that he may study Italian music, and on his return teach the Italian method of singing....
"Alas, you have no conception of these horrors.... The great fault is seeking to Italianise themselves, whilst what our northern nature has given them is the best and only good they have."
Enough of the subject.
Let us simply recall again the words of Sir Edward Elgar, spoken at Birmingham: "To draw their inspiration from their own country, their own literature and their own climate.
Only by doing so could they arrive at an English art."