Berlioz's confidence & George Bernard Shaw on style

Here are two tiny excerpts from texts included in the Norton Critical edition of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique (ed. Edward Cone), p. 282:

From Mendelssohn (a letter to his mothr dated March 15, 1831:
"And when you see the composer himself, that friendly, quiet, meditative person, calmly and assuredly going his way, never for a moment in doubt of his vocation, unable to listen to any outside voice, since he wishes to follow only his inner inspiration, when you see how keenly and correctly he evaluates and recognizes everything, yet is in complete darkness about himself--it is unspeakably dreadful, and I cannot express how deeply the sight of him depresses me. I have not been able to work for two days."

Aaron Copland (from "Berlioz Today," in
Copland on Music, 1960--the article 1st appeared in 1960.) The passage in question appears on p. 298 of the Norton Critical Edition:

"Berlioz was undoubtedly influenced by Beethoven's evocation of nature, but his special genius led to the introduction of what amounted to a new genre--the theatric-symphonic--and there was nothing tentative about the introduction."

Now compare a famous definition of style given by George Bernard Shaw. I have found a web reference to it but have not yet tracked down the original published source:

http://mynptv.org/musicFeat/composer/cmhandel.html#top

HANDEL'S CREATIVE PERSONALITY

The nature of Handel's music is confident, deft in drama and characterization, and directly expressive. In terms of Baroque style, which focuses on establishing a single affects per movement of a work, Handel's genius is unquestioned, although by later standards his works are sometimes seem lengthy through repetitive insistence on basic musical ideas.

Although it was written in the bad old days when only a few of Handel's works were known, words by George Bernard Shaw remain one of the greatest tributes to Handel's genius and insightful penetrations of the essence of Handel's style:

It was from Handel that I learned that style consists in force of assertion. If you can say a thing with one stroke unanswerably you have style; if not, you are at best a marchand de plaisir; a decorative litterateur, or a musical confectioner, or a painter of fans with cupids and cocottes. Handel has this power. When he sets the words "Fixed in his everlasting seat," the atheist is struck dumb; God is there, fixed in his everlasting seat by Handel, even if you live in an Avenue Paul Bert and despise such superstitions. You may despise what you like, but you cannot contradict Handel. All the sermons of Bossuet could not convince Grimm that God existed. The four bars in which Handel finally affirms "the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," would have struck Grimm into the gutter, as by a thunderbolt. When he tells you that when the Israelites went out of Egypt, "there was not one feeble person in all their tribes," it is utterly useless for you to plead that there must have been at least one case of influenza. Handel will not have it: "There was not one, not one feeble person in all their tribes," and the orchestra repeats it in curt, smashing chords that leave you speechless