I have written Two Perfect Songs

Basically, to show that a cold, unfecund critical intelligence can. But also to explain why I prefer the songs of Schumann and Brahms and Fauré and Weill (and, of course, Handel, Gluck and Alessandro Scarlatti and Vivaldi): Charm, I say. is that unifying essence. Yes, and Bach and Beethoven, being Teutons or something, don't have it--that grateful, not-easy, quintessentially Italian knack for writing things that are easy for human voices to sing.