I seem to have been inclined, from those early days, to associate confining and regimenting factors with German territory; circumstances somehow led me to this association of ideas. The mental discomfort I felt in the lovely and so characteristically Lorraine town of Metz, when I played there under a German municipal Musikdirektor around 1910, was indefinable but persistent. The German garrison just did not seem to belong; the typical red architecture of the post office or railroad station or high school – the so-called “Wilhelm II” style – was a jarring note in the town, as were the stance of the monocle officers and the attitude of their wives. Although the music we played bridged the gulf between Lorrainers and Prussians – as good music will always and everywhere – the set-up of the concert association did not seem to stem from the soil of the place, but gave one the uneasy feeling of being grafted on; one had the vague and suspicious thought that music was being used for purposes of “peaceful penetration.” << less