After this he is as free as the fish in the sea, and his only preoccupation is the music.

Then, to play freely with the colors on his vast palette, there is but one way--he must plunge boldly into improvisation.
Now improvisation is the particular glory of the French school, but it has been injured seriously of late by the influence of the German school.

Under the pretext that an improvisation is not so good as one of Sebastian Bach's or Mendelssohn's masterpieces, young organists have stopped improvising.
That point of view is harmful because it is absolutely false; it is simply the negation of eloquence.

Consider what the legislative hall, the lecture room and the court would be like if nothing but set pieces were delivered.

We are familiar with the fact that many an orator and lawyer, who is brilliant when he talks, becomes dry as dust when he tries to write.