In the meantime the Oberon opening chorus in F, which I heard a Boulogne municipal band do yesterday, more or less well, is simple and naïve eternal. They never will make that old-hat. On the whole it is the form of the opera libretto that is outdated. Since Meyerbeer we always use the same libretto. It’s irritating, you want something else. On the other hand, a musical conversation that goes on during four acts, the sort of thing they’re rooting for nowadays, results in desperate monotony. You have three characters; each one has a characteristic motif – March! With three motifs developed symphonically you have to write your work. That’s what they want. I don’t care, I can do it. In this way a work certainly gains in unity, it is an entity, but it is detrimental to variety, and which we do without so benevolently. << less