Jadis il m'eut été difficile d'écrire un article sur lamusique, la poésie, la peinture sans “prendreposition”, c'est-à-dire sans me mêler de cettepolitique profonde qui bouge comme l'autre, maisselon des règies beaucoup plus délicates et plussauvages. Bref, j'eusse situé Markevitch par rapportaux autres musiciens et cherché le pourquoi de saforce et de sa fraîcheur. Aujourd'hui (on se lassedes détails à la longue), je regarde les choses deplus loin, pour ne pas dire de plus haut et,l'avouerai-je, les grands formats, les figuresviolentes, les artistes de haute taille m'émeuventplus que certaines originalités moins éclatantes etd'un ordre complexe. Au reste, l'étrange boucle queboucle 1950 m'amène à mettre au premier plan, àsituer comme un artiste de grand format et dont lapersonnalité s'impose avant même que notre esprit dejugement se mette en branle—un musicien difficile,dont chaque note semble écrite toute seule, entouréede vide, neuve au monde et fraîche en soi–même parla seule vertu de sa naissance.Icare n'est–il pas l'exemple typede l'oeuvre d'Igor Markevitch où cette mystérieuseméthode semble être à la base de l'oeuvre et commele mécanisme qui la met en marche, l'actionne at larestitue au silence. Oeuvre étonnante, muette,tapageuse, vierge, capable de tendre les nėrfs del'auditeur jusqu'au crime, jusqu'à cette gêneterrible qui nous isole dans une salle et nousannonce l'entree en scène de l'ange du nouveau.Icare se raconte mal. Je sais quele jeune Icare observe le vol des colombes, essayesa machine et que ses ailes le précipitent dans lamer. Je sais qu'un ballet (de danses) devait évoluersur cette musique et la traduire en gestes. Mais,moi, je m'en tiens jusqu'à nouvel ordre, à ce quemes oreilles enregistrent: la première oeuvre,depuis le Sacre, qui se pose commeun bloc de délices, qui tombe de la lune, quiapporte d'un monde inconnu des grâcestroublantes.

The work consists of two fugues (orricercari), II canons and asonata for flute, violin, ‘cello and clavichord.With the exception of the sonata and one perpetualcanon, the music of the original is not scored, andlooks rather theoretical and forbidding to the musiclover not initiated into the secrets ofcounterpoint. Bach indicates the form of the canonsonly by giving their principal line and the entriesand number of the voices; they must first be workedout before they can be read or played, andtechnically they are often extremely subtle. In oneinstance two voices move simultaneously in oppositedirections; in another one voice announces avariation of the theme, a second a differentvariation, which is also played by a third, but athalf the speed (per augmentationem)and in the exact inversion (per contrariomotu); or the canon strangely modulatesat the end of each repeat and passes step by stepthrough the keys of the tonal system, risingad infinitum, like Jacob'sladder. And over one canon Bach simply wrote “Seekand ye shall find,” without even telling us thenumber of voices! … I myself have found no fewerthan four solutions: two equally satisfactory andcorrect, and two rather modern in style.

In presenting this picture of the numerous activitiesof the Brussels Philharmonic Society, it is fittingto begin by placing the Society in its proper frame:the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.

It was during the 1914–18 war that the BelgianGovernment at Havre, bent on putting an end to thelong-standing dearth of concert halls and artgalleries in the capital, approved as part of itsrehabilitation scheme the construction in Brussels(a town of nearly a million inhabitants, in a smallcountry of eight million) of a building designed forall kinds of artistic activity. The Palais desBeaux-Arts is to be found in the very centre of thetown, that is, in the administrative and artisticquarter. Begun in 1922, this masterwork of BaronHorta was not completed until 1929. The scheme ofthe Palais comprises a very large collection ofhalls of different aspect, fitted out for concerts,exhibitions, plays, films, lectures, dancing, andfashion parades.

In Belgium, broadcasting is taken care of by anorganization under state control: the BelgianNational Broadcasting Service. Owing to the factthat Belgium is inhabited by two peoples ofdifferent language and culture, the broadcastingservice is managed from a cultural point of view bytwo literary and musical groups, one Flemish and theother French. In addition, some of the broadcasts tofrontier towns, and to the provinces of Lièege andLuxembourg, are in German.

“Do all of you here write such bad music?” PaulHindemith asked me one evening a few years ago. Wewere wandering through the streets of Brussels, andhe pointed to a poster which bore the name of aliving academic composer, some of whose work itseems he had chanced to hear. I must admit that themusic in question was not exactly calculated toconvey to foreigners a favourable impression of ourart. Let us say that it was perhaps better suitedfor home consumption, and so should not give rise toany general judgment: but the fact remains thatHindemith's question points to a state of affairsthat is very detrimental to us. Our music is eitherin discredit or else it is unknown. And our moderncomposers suffer more from this than the others,because they seldom or never, even in their owncountry, get the chance to show what they are andwhat they stand for. They ought therefore to begrateful to Tempo for theopportunity here afforded to call them by name andfocus attention on them. It goes without saying thatwe shall not give a complete panorama of Flemishmusic, since we are charged specifically to confineour attention to the moderns.

Since the 19th century more or less homogeneousnational schools have appeared in the majority ofEuropean countries, but in spite of this, one canscarcely yet speak of Belgian music. It would bewrong to seek the reason of this discrepancy in thelinguistic division of Belgium into Flanders and theWalloon country. Indeed, the language of music hasno need to respect the frontiers which separatespoken languages; besides, in spite of thenationalist attempts of Peter Benoit at the end ofthe 19th century, it is hard to believe in theexistence of Flemish music either.It would be still more fruitless to attempt todefine at all clearly the characteristics ofWalloon music. There are Walloonmusicians, but that is another matter, for they havetheir origins in diverse tendencies which may beconnected up with the great international movements.What matters, in the long run, is that among thesemusicians there are some artists of outstandingtalent, who have been able to reveal an originalpersonality transcending these movements.