Contemporary Music 141
In my own work of composition I find a long period of
conscious gestation, in general, necessary. During this in-
terval, I come gradually to see, and with growing precision,
the form and evolution which the subsequent work should
have as a whole. I may thus be occupied for years without
writing a single note of the work—after which the writing
goes relatively rapidly; but there is still much time to be
spent in eliminating everything that might be regarded as
superfluous, in order to realize as completely as possible
the longed-for final clarity. Then comes the time when new
conceptions have to be formulated for further composition,
but these cannot be forced artificially, for they come only
of their own free will, and often originate in some very
remote perception, without manifesting themselves until
long years after.
For the last fifteen or twenty years musicians and critics
alike have taken great interest in the two divergent tenden-
cies I have already mentioned: atonality and polytonality.
And in the impassioned discussions of partisans we have
often heard or read that atonality is a blind alley leading
nowhere, but I do not accept the validity of this opinion;
because, while as a system it may be so, it certainly cannot be
as an influence. In fact, the influence of Schonberg may
be overwhelming on his followers, but the significance of
his art is to be identified with influences of a more subtle
kind—not the system, but the æsthetie, of his art. I am quite
conscious of the fact that my Chansons Madecasses are
in no way Schonbergian, but I do not know whether I ever
should have been able to write them had Schonberg never
written. On the other hand, it has often been said that my
music has influenced many of my contemporaries. In par-
ticular it has been claimed with some insistence that the
earlier appearance of my Jeux d,eau possibly influenced