“Not at all, but I find dolorous passages in this choral, as in all the Calvinist hymns.”
“It depends upon how they are sung.”
“They are certainly intended for the voices of the shopkeepers’ wives and washerwomen in your churches.”
“Every hymn, if it is only sincerely felt, will lend wings to the souls of the simple folk who sing it; and whatever ascends to Heaven from the inmost depths of the heart, can hardly displease the dear God, to whom it is addressed. And then—”
“Well?”
“If these notes are worth being preserved, it may happen that a matchless choir—”
“Will sing them to you, you think?”
“No, Fraulein; they have fulfilled their destination if they are once nobly rendered. I would fain not be absent, but that wish is far less earnest than the other.”
“How modest!”
“I think the best enjoyment in creating is had in anticipation.”