The intoxicating sweetness of his melody and harmony
never sinks to a Rossinian flippancy. Of Gounod's
reverence for the Church and for its art ideals, there can
be ^o question. A man's views of the proper tone of
church music will be controlled largely by his tempera-
ment, and Gounod's temperament was as warm as an
Oriental's. He offered to the Church his best, and as
the Magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to a
babe born among cattle in a stable, so Gounod, with a
consecration equally sincere, clothed his prayers in
straitis so ecstatic that compared with them the most
impassioned accents of *^ Faust " and ^^ Romeo and
Juliet" are tame. He was a profound student of
Palestrina, Mozart, and Cherubini, and strong traces
of the styles of these masters are apparent in his
works.
