Its destiny was linked, for the future, with that of the
human soul, of which it was one of the special, the most distinctive
ornaments. Perhaps it is not-being that is the true state, and all our
dream of life is without existence; but, if so, we feel that it must be
that these phrases of music, these conceptions which exist in relation to
our dream, are nothing either. We shall perish, but we have for our
hostages these divine captives who shall follow and share our fate. And
death in their company is something less bitter, less inglorious, perhaps
even less certain.
So Swann was not mistaken in believing that the phrase of the sonata did,
really, exist. Human as it was from this point of view, it belonged, none
the less, to an order of supernatural creatures whom we have never seen,
but whom, in spite of that, we recognise and acclaim with rapture when
some explorer of the unseen contrives to coax one forth, to bring it down
from that divine world to which he has access to shine for a brief moment
in the firmament of ours. This was what Vinteuil had done for the little
phrase. Swann felt that the composer had been content (with the musical
instruments at his disposal) to draw aside its veil, to make it visible,
following and respecting its outlines with a hand so loving, so prudent,
so delicate and so sure, that the sound altered at every moment, blunting
itself to indicate a shadow, springing back into life when it must follow
the curve of some more bold projection.
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