Indeed the way in which all external expression is regarded by the
Italian differs radically from the way in which it presents itself to
the Anglo-Saxon and the Teuton. Wagner declared that as soon as the
German is called on to be artistic he becomes a buffoon. We in
England, also, do not know how to express ourselves by means of
external symbols; but the Italian experiences no such difficulty. We
are not at home with them; he is. If we use them we exaggerate, he
gives them their true proportion and place. He can always be taught by
his senses, and he is not, as we are, deluded by them. We, in fine, do
not know what to do with the external, he does. His sense of humour is
active just where the Englishman's is quiescent; he is not capable,
for example, of laying store by this or that little bit of ceremony.
The evangelicalism of the Italian, therefore, which one hopes he may
some day achieve, will be unlike Anglo-Saxon Christianity--as the
catacombs are unlike a "Little Bethel"--he will always require
gracious surroundings, he will always ask for the arts to assist his
imagination, and prefer fine music, and even the perfume of incense,
to the bids for his soul made by the preacher. That is his reticence,
and as it differs from the Anglo-Saxon's the latter does not
understand it. The Italian will always best respond to a service
conceived in the spirit of the mass, with its mystical renewal enacted
before his eyes, at once exterior and interior, public and intimate;
but with no individualistic note, no dependence on the personal
element.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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