"Sometimes," he says, "an idea will come to me spontaneously, but when
this is not the case I try for something, generally at the piano. If I
succeed, I dot it down on music paper, but do not feel satisfied that
it will be of any worth until I try it again the following day, because
I have not infrequently found that an idea, which I considered good at
the time, after the lapse of a day or more will appear to me insipid
and not worth working out. I prefer the evening for composition, but
not too late. For working out my ideas, putting them on paper, and for
orchestration, I like the morning. Of my own compositions I consider
'The Building of the Ship,' written for the Leeds Festival, the best
work I have yet done."
[Illustration]
As many of Mr. Barnett's compositions have been written "to order," he
not unnaturally believes in this method of composition. In fact, he
feels all the better for having some strong reason for commencing a
composition, but can easily understand that it would act detrimentally,
especially if it involved the hurrying of the work.
"To a great extent," he continues, "I believe that composition can be
acquired and cultivated providing there is some groundwork of talent to
go upon. Without cultivation it would be impossible to work out ideas
satisfactorily; at the same time, I do not believe that any amount of
cultivation will give original ideas unless they belong to the composer
by nature."
I here give my readers a few remarks of Mr. Barnett's, on whether or no
we are a musical nation. At the close of this article I hope to give
his opinion on this somewhat oft-repeated question at greater length.
For the present, then, he says: "I think that the English are generally
fond of music, but the quality of music they are fond of is, in many
cases, bordering on the commonplace. That there are a multitude of
admirers of the classical in music amongst the English is, fortunately,
quite true, but I am inclined to believe that there are too many who
are quite content with perhaps dance music, and who would rather not
hear such a thing as a Beethoven Sonata. The reason for the want of
good taste amongst a certain portion of our people may be traced to
the class of music given by some teachers to their young pupils." The
portion of music is taken from Mr. Barnett's last cantata, "The Wishing
Bell," produced at the Gloucester Festival.