| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: running if they peristed in supporting that "fool of a Birotteau." The
baron had detained Monsieur de Bourbonne as the old gentleman was
taking his hat and cane after the usual rubber of whist. The clear-
sightedness of that sly old fox seemed indispensable for an
understanding of the reefs among which the Listomere family suddenly
found themselves; and perhaps the action of taking his hat and cane
was only a ruse to have it whispered in his ear: "Stay after the
others; we want to talk to you."
The baron's sudden return, his apparent satisfaction, which was quite
out of keeping with a harrassed look that occasionally crossed his
face, informed Monsieur de Bourbonne vaguely that the lieutenant had
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: In that state there was no room for jealousy. The same faces,
and among them HE and my wife, I saw in a different light. This
music transported me into an unknown world, where there was no
room for jealousy. Jealousy and the feelings that provoke it
seemed to me trivialities, nor worth thinking of.
"After the presto followed the andante, not very new, with
commonplace variations, and the feeble finale. Then they played
more, at the request of the guests,--first an elegy by Ernst, and
then various other pieces. They were all very well, but did not
produce upon me a tenth part of the impression that the opening
piece did. I felt light and gay throughout the evening. As for
The Kreutzer Sonata |
