Part I. of this work consists of ‘Practical Rules,’ &c., which are

clearly delivered and satisfactorily illustrated. Part II. is a continuation of the first, therefore it was hardly necessary to separate it. This includes a few good examples, and a very useful table, calculated on divisions into tenths, eighths, sixths, &c. of the fourth open string, and showing in notes, the harmonics resulting from the string when touched at any of those points of division.

* * * * *

No. 2 is chiefly made up of materials furnished by the author of No. 1. The latter, however, finding that what he supplied had been published in an incorrect, incomplete manner, determined on printing his own system, or that which we have above noticed.

* * * * *

The titles of Nos. 3 and 4 fully describe the nature of the two publications, which, we will add, display great industry and no little ingenuity.

ANCIENT CONCERTS.

SEVENTH CONCERT,

_Under the Direction of the Duke of Cumberland, Wednesday,_

_May 1, 1833._

~Act I.~

Introduction. Chorus. ‘O come, let us sing.’ ~Handel.~ (_Anthem._)

Air, ‘O come, let us worship.’ Mr. Vaughan. Chorus, ~Handel.~ ‘Glory and worship.’

Frost Scene, ‘What ho!’ (_King Arthur._) ~Purcell.~

Concerto 5th. (_Grand._) ~Handel.~

Cantata, ‘From silent shades.’ Miss Stephens ~Purcell.~

Madrigal, ‘Let me, careless.’ ~Linley.~

Song, ‘Sorprender mi vorresti.’ Mad. Cinti Damoreau. ~Hasse.~

Chorus, ‘When his loud voice.’ (_Jephtha._) ~Handel.~

~Act II.~

Overture. (_Samson._) ~Handel.~

Song, ‘How willing my paternal love.’ Mr. Parry. ~Handel.~ (_Samson._)

Glee, ‘O’er desert plains.’ ~H. Waelrent.~

Recit, ‘Ye sacred priests.’ Song, ‘Farewell, ye ~Handel.~ limpid.’ Mrs. Knyvett. (_Jephtha._)

Madrigal, ‘Now is the month of Maying.’ ~Morley.~

Recit. ‘My prayers are heard.’ Song, ‘Tears such ~Handel.~ as tender.’ Mr. Phillips. (_Deborah._)

Chorus, ‘Fall’n is the foe.’ (_Judas Macc._) ~Handel.~

Song, ‘Confusa, abbandonata.’ Mad. Cinti Damoreau ~Bach.~

Chorus, ‘The many rend.’ (_Alexander’s Feast._) ~Handel.~

Vain the search after the name of Haydn or Mozart in a concert selected by his Highness of Cumberland! And as to Beethoven’s, the mere sound of it in the royal director’s ear would be as the piercing, the threatening din of the revolutionary tocsin. The illustrious Duke is perhaps quite right--we, possibly, quite wrong; but it seems to us that a discreet mixture of modern music (not by _living_ composers) with that of older date, would be highly to the advantage of both, particularly in a programme consisting of from eighteen to twenty pieces--a number which almost unavoidably must be felt oppressive, unless that variety, which can only be found in composers of widely-distant periods, is as much an object of attention as contrast in the species, sentiment, and keys of the pieces brought together.

But though there was a want of a due admixture of schools in the present concert, the music was the choicest of its kind. The Anthem composed for the Duke of Chandos (Pope’s Timon) is one of Handel’s best, the only weak part being the overture. The lovely air, ‘O come, let us worship,’ is rather beyond Mr. Vaughan’s voice, as it now is: with a note or two more in compass, and a small increase of strength, he would have rendered it more effective. We felt some regret that the melodious fugue, ‘Tell it out among the heathen,’ and the gentle, the charming air, ‘O magnify the Lord,’ so well adapted to Mrs. Knyvett’s powers, were not included. The vocal parts of the Frost scene were taken rather too slow: and a little more point, more emphasis, in the chiding air, ‘Thou doating fool!’ would much have improved it, otherwise this fine specimen of the great English master’s dramatic music was very successfully performed. The Concerto was executed in a manner peculiar to the Ancient Concert band, the conductor and leader of which, and a few others among its members, possess the true tradition of the author’s times and style. We would not exchange one bar of the largo in ~B~ minor, as played by F. Cramer, for all the _Friars’ Chants_ and _Witches’ Dances_ that adroit charlatanerie can produce, or good-humoured credulity applaud. _Mad Bess_ pleased us much, both as part of the present concert and by exciting agreeable recollections: we admire Miss Stephens as she is and remember, with unalloyed satisfaction, what she was. The piano-forte accompaniment, too, deserves honourable mention,--so modest, so judicious! The Madrigal is a _chef d’œuvre_; it was sung by Mrs. Knyvett, Messrs. Terrail, Vaughan, Phillips, and Sale, in the chastest and most perfect manner. Warm as we are in our admiration of the madrigalists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we still must acknowledge that this lovely work of the elder Linley, by surpassing all that preceded it, proves the advance of the art; though, unfortunately, the kind of composition not having been encouraged, little has been gained by the exertion of his genius.

Hasse’s fine Bravura was sung with a neatness of execution which none ever yet exceeded. The most difficult passages proved mere playwork to Mad. Cinti, and she added to them others of her own,--very appropriate ones though,--to show how much more than equal she is to the task assigned to her. Her strength is not great, but the flexibility of her voice is surprising; and her knowledge, not merely of her own part, but of the whole of the score, is apparent in whatever she performs.

The Chorus from _Jephtha_ wanted more support from the trebles. We advise the conductor in future to break through the trammels of custom, and accompany the point of the fugue, ‘They now contract,’ with the diapasons and principals only; that is, to spare us the mixture stops, which scream most abominably when only covered by a few sopranos.

Mr. Parry’s song from _Samson_ was quietly and delicately sung. The glee, ‘O’er desert plains,’ could not have had more justice done it, but this really is little better than a psalm-tune. What a pity that the beautiful verses of Shenstone have never yet been wedded to more congenial music! The Recitative, ‘Ye sacred priests,’ was delivered with great judgment, and the following air, ‘Farewell!’ could not have been more delicately sung: it were, however, to be wished that the shakes, transmitted from one singer to another, could be lessened in number as they pass. And the cadence, another incumbrance, had better be at once repudiated; it is an ancient abomination, which now the English alone practise. Morley’s Madrigal is, both in melody and harmony, free as air--all hilarity, and not a glimpse of pedantry. The chorus should have repeated _each_ stanza, and not, as on the present occasion, have been employed only in the last. Mr. Phillips, in the song from _Deborah_, was very nearly perfect. Bartleman in this was perfection itself; and so will our excellent living singer be, when he has acquired the deep pathos, the experience of his predecessor. In voice he has a manifest advantage; and this is not his only superiority. The aria, a bravura of _John Christian_ Bach, (the Christian names should have been added,) has all the prettiness, and not a little of the weakness, of the composer, who, of the many sons of John Sebastian Bach, is least worthy of the name. It was executed with the utmost neatness, but not sung _con amore_. In fact, it has nothing in it to excite any ardour in a singer possessing Mad. Cinti’s knowledge and taste.

EIGHTH CONCERT,

_Under the Direction of the Earl Fortescue, Wednesday,_

_May 8, 1833._

~Act I.~

Overture. (_Esther._) ~Handel.~

Madrigal, ‘The silver swan.’ ~Gibbons.~

Recit., ‘Be comforted.’ Song, ‘The Lord.’ (_Judas ~Handel.~ Maccabeus._)

Concerto 2nd. ~Corelli.~

Recit., ‘If I give thee.’ Song, ‘Let me wander.’ ~Handel.~ Chorus, ‘And young and old.’ (_L’Allegro._)

Quartet, ‘Sing unto God.’ Chorus, ‘Cry aloud.’ ~Croft and Greatorex.~

Glee, ‘As now the shades.’ ~Dr. Cooke.~

Double Chorus, ‘Immortal Lord.’ (_Deborah._) ~Handel.~

~Act II.~

Chaconne and Requiem ~Jomelli.~

Recit., ‘No more in Sion.’ Song, ‘Wise men, ~Handel.~ flatt’ring.’ (_Judas Maccabeus._)

Madrigal. ‘Dissi all’ amata mia.’ ~Luca Marenzio.~

Chorus, ‘Let none despair.’ (_Hercules._) ~Handel.~

Concerto in ~G~. Avison.

Quartet and Chorus, ‘Then round about the starry ~Handel.~ throne.’ (_Samson._)

Recit., ‘Justly these evils.’ Song, ‘Why does the ~Handel.~ God.’ (_Samson._)

Chorus, ‘Sing unto God.’ (_Judas Maccabeus._) ~Handel.~

The overture to _Esther_ and Corelli’s concerto belong to a school which has always been protected and exhibited to the best advantage in these concerts; both were now performed in their true spirit. The _immortal_ chorus from _Deborah_ is a composition which can only receive justice in this orchestra: the great number of vocal performers collected at our grand provincial meetings certainly give more force to it, but are unable to perform it with that precision, that nicety, on which its effect so mainly depends. We never hear the passage where the voices take up the point, ‘to swift perdition,’ accurately executed but at the Ancient Concerts. The song from _Judas Maccabeus_ is generally considered to be one of Handel’s happiest thoughts; but it rolls and rumbles so much, and the base instruments are so continually in unison with the voice--a defect not peculiar to this composer, but to the period in which he wrote--that the only pleasure which it affords us is entirely attributable to the singer, provided that singer be Phillips. Dr. Cooke’s lovely and most masterly glee was a decided failure: it is not at all suited to Mrs. Bishop; her school is of a totally different kind. To Mrs. W. Knyvett this should have been assigned.

The ‘Requiem’ and ‘Agnus Dei’ of Jomelli did not find the choral performers quite at home in their parts, although their occasional want of confidence was only discernible to very experienced and close observers. How ingenious, how effective, and yet how simple, the whole of the base accompaniment to the first movement, the Requiem! Not less admirable, but in another style, is the ‘Agnus Dei,’ and full of original melody, which is still new, because, fortunately, never yet imitated. The fugue, too, at ‘Lux æterna,’ is of that kind which, while its musical learning is as indisputable as great, possesses the superior merit of being pleasing. Mrs. Bishop is not yet familiar with Handel; her ‘Wise men, flatt’ring’ was not what it doubtless will be when she is become more accustomed to this music--though it was far from displeasing. It is much to be wished that the singer would have the courage to get rid of about two-thirds of the shakes which the composer himself, we admit, has written. We are certainly bound by the author’s text, which is permanent, but not by his embellishments, which belonged only to the age that produced them. A singer in the present day who should venture to introduce the _double relish_ and the _back-fall_ of the seventeenth century,--both of which, as well as other ‘graceless graces,’ are constantly found in the old writers,--would be laughed at for his scrupulous adherence to the original. The madrigal of Luca Marenzio is still fresh, and exceedingly elegant; its only fault is want of modulation. The performance of this did great credit to the singers. The fine chorus from _Hercules_ was executed in a most perfect manner. So was the charming quartet from _Samson_. Here science is turned to the best account: none but a great musician could have worked out such effects, yet the whole is free from every thing that smells of the lamp. It is the true offspring of genius highly cultivated. We are old-fashioned enough in our taste to be pleased with Avison’s concerto, the _soli_ parts in which were nicely played by Mori, (in the absence of F. Cramer,) who was ably seconded by the band, and most judiciously supported by the organ, which Mr. W. Knyvett always manages with taste and discretion. The song from _Samson_ is beyond Mr. Horncastle’s physical powers, and only fit for such a voice and such energy as Braham possesses. Indeed, we so little like its incessant divisions, and especially the puerile attempt to give expression to the word ‘thunder,’ that we should not repine were we never to hear it again.

NINTH CONCERT,

_Under the Direction of Lord Burghersh, for the Archbishop of York,_

_Wednesday, May 15, 1833._

~Act I.~

Anthem, ‘O sing unto the Lord.’ (_Sixth._) ~Handel.~

Recit., ‘When he is in his wrath.’ Song, ‘When ~Handel.~ storms the proud.’ Chorus, ‘O Judah, boast.’ (_Athalia._)

Quartetto, ‘Come! ohimè!’ (_Nina._) ~Paisiello.~

Concerto 4th. (_Oboe._) ~Handel.~

Recit., ‘Tranquillo io son.’ Song, ‘Ombra adorata.’ ~Zingarelli.~ (_Romeo e Giul._)

Ode, ‘Hence, all ye vain delights.’ ~Webbe.~

Duetto, ‘Son io desto.’ (_Nina._) ~Paisiello.~

Chorus, ‘Kyrie eleison.’ ~Beethoven.~

~Act II.~

Overture. (_Idomeneo._) ~Mozart.~

Recit., ‘Crudele!’ Song, ‘Ho perduto.’ ~Paisiello.~

Glee, ‘Bird of the wilderness.’ ~Clarke and Greatorex.~

Recit., ‘’Tis done!’ Song, ‘Heart, the seat.’ (_Acis ~Handel.~ and Galatea._)

Magnificat. ~Mozart.~

Song, ‘Amor se nume,’ ~Scarlatti.~

Double Chorus, ‘From the censer.’ ~Handel.~

This was a very fine concert, for the music was well chosen, both as regards diversity of school and contrast in style. An infusion of Mozart and Beethoven as moderns, of Paisiello and Zingarelli who may be said to belong to the middle age, and of Handel and Scarlatti as of the ancient class, produced a mixture that suited every taste, and presented a fair prospect of great amelioration in the system by which these concerts are regulated.

The selection from Handel’s anthem made an excellent beginning; we should have been glad to hear the whole of it, for it is one of his best. The scene from _Athalia_ is a good specimen of that fine but comparatively little known oratorio, the magnificent air in which, ‘When storms the proud,’ is exactly suited to Mr. Phillips, who sang it admirably. Paisiello’s delicate quartet was not very thoroughly understood by all the parties engaged in it, nevertheless it proved very satisfactory to the audience. Madame Pasta, who made her first appearance here this season, was as great as usual in the calmly impressive scena from _Romeo_; and in the air, ‘Ho perduto,’ gave every advantage to the work of a composer who ought again to be brought forward. The song, as it is called, of _Alessandro_ Scarlatti produced quite a surprise. Who ever supposed that an air of so much beauty could have remained thus long unknown in a concert established for the preservation of ancient music? Who ever imagined that a composition upwards of a century old could exhibit so many of the best features of the modern school, that it might be mistaken for the work of Haydn or Mozart? To Signor Rubini we are, it is said, indebted for the introduction of this antique gem, and he placed it in a highly favourable light by his manner of performing it, which, for him, was remarkably chaste.

The _Ode_ (a much better term for it than _glee_) to Melancholy is one of Webbe’s _chefs-d’œuvre_, and shows how well that great composer understood the words. It was most perfectly sung by Miss Stephens, Mrs. Knyvett, Messrs. Terrail, Vaughan, Elliot, and Sale. Miss Stephens, in the song from _Acis and Galatea_, pleased as usual by her captivating simplicity. The Magnificat of Mozart was well performed, and a very grand work it is. The concerto of Handel, every part of which abounds in beautiful melody, and not less masterly, though not extraneous harmony, was most ably executed. The two fugues in this prove how possible it is to unite the learned and the agreeable. The andante of it is delicious, and here the oboe is rendered almost vocal; as is the bassoon in the last movement. The _Kyrie_ of Beethoven wanted rather more rehearsing; and the overture to _Idomeneo_ required the immense power of the Philharmonic band; nevertheless it produced considerable effect. But the stupendous chorus from _Solomon_ was perfect, though wasted as a finale.

TENTH CONCERT,

_Under the Direction of the Earl of Cawdor, Wednesday,_ _May 22, 1833._

~Act I.~

Overture. (_Ariadne._) ~Handel.~

Recit., ‘Brethren and friends.’ Recit., acc. ‘O thou ~Handel.~ bright orb.’ Chorus, ‘Behold the listening.’ (_Joshua._)

Song, ‘Tyrants would.’ Chorus, ‘Tyrants, ye in vain.’ ~Handel.~ (_Athalia._)

Recit., ‘Now strike.’ Chorus, ‘Break his bands.’ ~Handel.~ Recit., ‘Hark! hark!’ Song, ‘Revenge! revenge!’ (_Alex. Feast._)

Concerto 11th. ~Handel.~

Song, ‘Di quel sublime.’ ~Gluck.~

Glee, ‘See the chariot.’ ~Horsley.~

Recit, ‘Chi per pietà.’ Song, ‘Deh! parlate.’ ~Cimarosa.~

Chorus, ‘Gird on thy sword.’ (_Saul._) ~Handel.~

~Act II.~

Symphony. (_Jupiter._) ~Mozart.~

Recit., ‘Ecco il punto.’ Song, ‘Non più di fiori.’ ~Mozart.~ (_La Clemenza di Tito._)

Glee, ‘Chi mai d’ iniqua stella.’ ~Bononcini.~

Movement from the Lessons. ~Handel.~

Recit., ‘’Tis greater far.’ Song, ‘Pluck root and ~Handel.~ branch.’ Recit., ‘Our souls.’ Chorus, ‘Shall we the God.’ (_Esther._)

Song and Quartet, ‘Fairest isle.’ ~Purcell.~

Anthem, ‘My heart is inditing.’ ~Handel.~

The overture to _Ariadne_ owes its chief attraction to the graceful minuet with which it concludes, and this we cannot but think is commonly played too slow at the Ancient Concert. _Andante_ in Handel’s time was a term indicating greater quickness than it is now understood to imply. The recitative, ‘O, thou bright orb!’ contains that risible attempt to describe the arrest of the sun’s course by a long holding note. The chorus, however, is a masterly work, but the voices were not now very firm in it. Mrs. Bishop succeeded well in the air from _Athalia_. The accompanied recitative, ‘Hark! the horrid sound!’ was delivered in Mr. Braham’s energetic manner; and the following song, one of the most striking proofs of the composer’s genius, is foremost among Mr. Phillips’s triumphs. The air of Gluck was a novelty, and of no ordinary merit. Set to the same words that afterwards exercised the genius of Mozart,--in _La Clemenza di Tito_--it not only bears a comparison with an admired air of the latter, but in our opinion was superior to it. Mr. Braham, at whose recommendation we believe it was introduced, entered thoroughly into the composer’s design, and gave the true effect to this. But, having an unquenchable antipathy to concerted cadences, we would willingly have spared the two, between the voice and trumpet, added on this occasion. The glee, ‘See the chariot at hand,’ was sung with great correctness. Madame Malibran’s scena and aria of Cimarosa was a most unequal performance: some parts were beyond all praise; others proved the uncertainty of her judgment. Her semitonic passages, neither to be found in the author nor in any way in keeping with his style, were a most unhappy evidence of her occasional want of taste and discrimination; and the _broderies_ she introduced, though not so abundant as is common with her, were misplaced: but her recitative was admirable, and, with the exceptions we have mentioned, the aria was not less splendidly sung. We have heard ‘Gird on thy sword’ better executed: there was a want of shortness in the staccato passages; and in some others the whole band seemed deficient in confidence. The concerto of Handel--a composition which might furnish ample materials for half a dozen of modern growth--was the most perfect performance of the kind we ever heard. This is in fact a violin concerto, and Mori (who led for F. Cramer) played it in a manner that words cannot describe or do justice to. His two cadences, of modest length,--in one of which was an arpeggio, that Paganini, whose chief excellence is in _arpeggiando_, could not surpass--moved even this audience to a general expression of applause.

In the scena from Mozart’s _Tito_, Madame Malibran again exhibited her vast powers and unrestrained confidence in her own opinion. The declamatory part of this was superb, though a little hurried; and the immense compass of her voice gave an effect to the air, that, we are almost inclined to say, has never been equalled. But though the conductor took care that the latter opened in the exact time, the singer thought fit to change the movement, and most injudiciously to convert a _larghetto_ (as marked) into an _andante_. Mr. Knyvett should have shown his independence by checking this, and his respect for the author by insisting on maintaining the time in which he set out. Who, in the name of reason, metamorphosed the _round_ for three voices, ‘Chi mai d’ iniqua stella,’ into a _glee_ for four? This should, of course, be sung by equal voices, one coming in after the other, as the author intended, or else the original design is entirely defeated. The ‘Movement from the Lessons’ is a charming orchestral arrangement of Handel’s lovely air in ~E~, (vulgarly called _The Harmonious Blacksmith_,) made in excellent taste by the late Mr. Greatorex. The selection from _Esther_ was not interesting, and the remainder of the concert demands no further observation. The room was much fuller than it has hitherto been during the present season.

PHILHARMONIC CONCERTS.

FIFTH CONCERT, Monday, April 29, 1833.

~Act I.~

Sinfonia, No. 3 ~Spohr.~

Aria, ‘Per questa belle mano.’ (Mr. Parry, jun.) ~Mozart.~

Concerto Harp. (Mr. T. Wright.) ~Hummel.~

Duetto, ‘Che al mio bene.’ (Mrs. Wood and Mr. ~Mayer.~ Braham.)

Overture. (_Der Freischütz._) ~C. M. von Weber.~

~Act II.~

Sinfonia, No. 2. ~Beethoven.~

Scena, ‘Per pietà.’ (Mr. Braham.) ~Beethoven.~

Concerto Violoncello. (Herr Knoop.) ~Kummer.~

Scena, ‘Sì lo sento.’ (Mrs. Wood.) _Faust._ ~Spohr.~

Overture. (_Zaira._) ~Winter.~

Leader, Mr. Loder.--Conductor, Mr. T. Cooke.

Spohr’s symphony in ~E~ flat is richer in melody and more free from that complication which smells so much of the lamp--from that labour which fatigues the hearer as much as it did the composer, than any one of his instrumental works. His designs are here clearly expressed and readily understood, and we listen to the whole with pleasure, without feeling that any part of it has been too long. It was most accurately performed, as was also Beethoven’s, in ~D~, one of his clearest and most beautiful orchestral productions, sparkling with genius from beginning to end. The calmly grand opening induces us to hope for much, nevertheless the exquisite larghetto surpasses all that had been anticipated. Nor are the scherzo and trio less striking in another style. The overture to the _Freischütz_ went off admirably. The last, Winter’s, we did not hear.

Mr. Wright played Hummel’s celebrated piano-forte concerto in ~E~, arranged for the harp, and executed it in an able manner. Herr Knoop comes from the city of our queen, Meiningen, and was recommended to the notice of the society by his majesty. To do extraordinary things seems to be the object of his ambition, and that to which his labours have chiefly been directed; he therefore can run thirds and octaves with vast celerity and neatness, and play with his left hand close to the bridge, bringing out sounds too high for even a rational violinist to attempt. But this is to please, or at least to surprise, the mob of gentlemen who hear but cannot judge. His tone, the first consideration, is nasal in what we call the legitimate notes of the instrument, and hard in the highest. His taste is not bad, but he has very little of it; and in expression, the vivifying principle of music, he is quite deficient. In short, execution appears to be the god of his idolatry, at whose altar he has sacrificed--if we may judge from a single hearing--nearly all that we consider valuable in the art. The composition he played has been extolled: in our opinion it has very little merit, except of a negative kind. We, however, were very glad to hear him; so we believe were all present, for he was new; and moreover, he has not thrown our own Lindley into shade, but, on the contrary, taught us to value him more highly.

The vocal part of this concert did not prove very successful. Mr. Parry, jun. sang Mozart’s aria very well, but it did not excite much interest. The duet of Mayer has not strength enough for these concerts, and Mr. Braham was not in good voice, the influenza had just commenced an attack on him, by which he was afterwards confined. This state of health of course operated in the scena of Beethoven, much of which, we may also add, is hardly vocal, especially the cacophonous run of semitones. The company were so exhausted by the unreasonable length of _Herr_ Knoop’s concerto, that they left Mrs. Wood to sing the fine scena from _Faust_ to few more than the orchestra by which she was accompanied. Upon the whole, then, it must be confessed that the present performance was not of the most brilliant kind.

SIXTH CONCERT, Monday, May 13, 1833.

~Act I.~

Sinfonia, No. VII. ~Haydn.~

Aria, Signor Rubini, ‘O cara immagine.’ (_Il Flauto ~Mozart.~ Magico_)

Concerto, Piano-forte (in ~D~ minor), Mr. ~Mozart.~ Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Aria, Madame Cinti Damoreau, ‘Deh vieni, non ~Mozart.~ tardar,’ (_Le Nozze di Figaro_)

Overture, _Bibiana_ ~Pixis.~

~Act II.~

Sinfonia, MS., composed expressly for this Society, ~F. Mendelssohn and first time of performance Bartholdy.~

Duetto, Madame Cinti Damoreau and Signor Rubini, ~Rossini.~ ‘Ricciardo che veggo!’ (_Ricciardo e Zoraide_)

Concerto Violin, M. De Beriot ~De Beriot.~

Aria, Madame Cinti Damoreau, ‘En vain j’espère’ ~Meyerbeer.~ (_Robert le Diable_)

Jubilee Overture ~C. M. von Weber.~

Leader, Mr. Weichsel.--Conductor, Mr. Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

Whatever defects were apparent in the fifth Concert, were fully atoned for by the sixth, in which the most fastidious critic could find only one piece of a doubtful kind, and but one that was not performed in a perfect manner.

Haydn’s symphony, in ~D~, is too generally known and admired to need any remark. M. Mendelssohn’s, composed in pursuance of a resolution of this Society, by which he was requested to write a symphony, overture, and vocal piece, on liberal terms, is a composition that will endure for ages, if we may presume to judge such a work on a single performance. The first movement, an allegro vivace, in ~A~, without any slow opening, speaks at once the highly excited state of the author’s imagination, and the fine flow of his animal spirits, when he wrote it: so full of brilliant conceptions is this, and so rapid their succession, that it would be a hopeless attempt to analyse it without either having heard it several times, or having the score to refer to. We may say the same of the finale, which has this peculiarity--that it is in the minor of the key in which the symphony commences. The slow movement in ~D~ minor is not less distinguished by ingenuity of a very rare description, and beauty of the most discernible kind, than by its undisputed, unquestionable originality: this was loudly encored. The scherzo, in ~A~, and trio, in ~E~, shew genius of a high order in every bar. And, to be brief, the manner in which the whole work was received, by the most critical, the best qualified audience that London (now full of eminent foreign musicians) could assemble, bears us out in what we have said, and would justify us were we to add still more in praise of this masterly production.

The Overture by M. Pixis, now performed for the first time here, begins in a promising manner, with some good harmony, well distributed among the wind instruments; but as it proceeds, it falls off most lamentably, and the greater part of the composition is nothing but noise without design or order, and really seemed to us as if written for that fair which is annually held on the site of Smithfield market.

The performance of Mozart’s Concerto by M. Mendelssohn was perfect. The scrupulous exactness with which he gave the author’s text, without a single addition or _new reading_ of his own, the precision in his time, together with the extraordinary accuracy of his execution, excited the admiration of all present; and this was increased, almost to rapture, by his two extemporaneous cadences, in which he _adverted_ with great address to the subjects of the concerto, and wrought up his audience almost to the same pitch of enthusiasm which he himself had arrived at. The whole of this concerto he played from memory.

A not less admirable performance was M. De Beriot’s on the violin. As a composition, his concerto, in ~B~ minor, is entitled to high and unqualified praise; his subjects are new, pleasing, and skilfully treated, and his instrumentation, the orchestral parts of his work, prove him to be a most able musician: but his execution of this indeed ‘beggars description.’ Words cannot convey a just notion of the fulness and beauty of his tone, the certainty of his double, his triple, stops, the truth of his harmonics,--which, useless as they are, he introduced, we conclude, merely to show his power--the brilliancy of his execution, and the delicacy of his taste. We certainly never heard the violin so played, and the only fault we have to find with M. de Beriot is, that he condescended to introduce once, it not twice, certain _pizzicato_ notes, and thus seemed to sanction a piece of quackery which he must despise. The room rung with the plaudits he drew forth, and it is said to be the intention of the directors to engage M. de Beriot for the eighth concert, being the last.

Signor Rubini refrained, as much as with him is possible, from roulades in the aria of Mozart, and his alternations of fortissimo and pianissimo were more moderate; indeed, he pretty nearly equalized his tones; but this is the only commendation we can bestow on his performance of ‘O Cara Immagine.’ In his duet with Mad. Cinti, his passionate style told better; and here again he spared us those bursts by which he caricatures so much of what is assigned to him. Mad. Cinti was delightful in the aria from _Figaro_. A universal encore of this proved how completely she had charmed her audience. She was not less excellent in the air of Meyerbeer, though this did not tell so well as the other. In fact the concert was long, and many people were moving off to evening parties.

EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF A DILETTANTE.

[Resumed from page 109.]

_April 28th._ One of the greatest _prôneurs_ of Signor Paganini has been the editor of _La Revue Musicale_; but in his last number, speaking of this artist’s recent performance in Paris, he says, Paganini was not on the present occasion equal to what he has been, and it appeared to us that he was not quite satisfied with himself. Is it not more likely that the fit of enthusiasm, excited by novelty, or by a well got up exhibition, is giving way to dispassionate observation and cool criticism?

* * * * *

_May 6th._ England is about to possess one of the finest rooms, and the largest and most powerful organ in Europe. What the other qualities of the latter will be, remains to be proved. But the metropolis of the kingdom will not have to boast of these advantages, the credit of them will belong to a provincial town, to Birmingham, where a townhall is nearly finished, the interior of which is 140 feet long, 65 wide, and 65 high. In this is to be placed--chiefly for the use of the musical festivals there to be held for the benefit of the General Hospital--the organ alluded to, the following description of which accompanies a lithographic print of the gigantic instrument now building.

The organ case will be forty feet wide and forty-five feet high. The largest metal diapason pipe is to be five feet three inches in circumference, and thirty-five feet in height. The largest wood diapason pipe will measure in the interior upwards of two hundred cubic feet. In the full organ are to be ten open diapasons, and all the other parts must be in calculated proportion to this. There will be sixty draw-stops, and five sets of keys. To supply so stupendous an instrument with wind will require many sets of bellows, the whole superficial measure of which will exceed three hundred and eighty feet. And to give, if it can be fairly estimated, some further idea of the magnitude of this organ, it may be stated, that its weight will amount to upwards of forty tons.

It was intended to open this grand hall, and still grander organ, in the autumn of the present year; but to prevent any injurious haste in the completion of the building and of the instrument, the grand musical festival, which will prove to the county of Warwick that it possesses one of the most splendid rooms, and the most magnificent organ in the world, is deferred till October, 1834.

* * * * *

_8th._ In the bill of the Ancient Concert this evening is an odd junction,--‘The _Chaconne_ and _Requiem_ of ~Jomelli~.’ It should have been _Overture_ only, this including the Chaconne; and neither have any connection whatever with the _Requiem_, though they make a very good introduction to it. In future, let us hope that the name of a ballet-tune will not be coupled with the _Missa pro defunctis_; unless it be intended to have a musical as well as graphic _Dance of Death_.

* * * * *

_11th._ The Glee Club this day decreed their prize for the best cheerful glee to Mr. Hawes. Last week, Mr. Goss obtained the prize for a serious glee.

* * * * *

---- This day died a singer, not unknown to fame in her day, Mrs. Dickons, who, at nearly the close of the last century, held rather a prominent station as a performer, both on the stage and in the concert-room. This lady manifested a decided talent for music at a very early age, and at eleven years of age, her father, Mr. Poole, placed her under Rauzzini. At thirteen, the Court Journal tells us, she appeared at Vauxhall; but no notice is taken of this in the account given of her in the Dictionary of Musicians, the heads of which were probably furnished by her direction. Afterwards, but at what exact time I am not aware, she was placed under Mr. John Ashley, jun., who instructed her generally in music, and through the interest of his father she was allowed to sing at the Ancient Concerts.

In 1793, she appeared for the first time on the stage, in the character of _Ophelia_, and afterwards, progressively, had many principal vocal parts assigned to her; for though her style of singing was far from refined, it was correct; and though her voice wanted fulness, and was reedy, yet her intonation was perfect, her knowledge of music gave her a firmness that few possessed, and she could be relied on both for ability and punctuality.

Miss Poole married a Mr. Dickons in 1800, and retired from the stage, finally, as she supposed, but her union did not prove so happy as she had reason to expect, and she returned to her public employment, and was engaged at the King’s Theatre, where she performed as second to Madame Catalani, who, in 1816, engaged her at the Théâtre Italién in Paris, (then on lease to Madame C.) as prima donna, where I heard her in two or three characters. Her success was such as a second-rate singer has a right to expect from a polite audience; she was listened to with much attention, some applause, but not, after her debut, by very numerous auditors. I was present at her first performance, and immediately discovered Madame C.’s design in engaging an English vocalist who could never be her rival. Mrs. D. only made a very few attempts in Paris, then retired. She was subsequently engaged at Venice, also at one or two other cities in Italy; and on her return to England, was engaged by Mr. Harris, at Covent Garden Theatre, where she made her appearance as _Rosina_, in Rossini’s _Barber of Seville_, adapted to English words. In 1818, she finally abandoned all public employment, and shortly after was attacked by a cancerous disease, from which she never recovered, though paralysis was the immediate cause of her death. Mrs. Dickons was much respected by the public, for she maintained a most irreproachable character, and was not less beloved by her friends for all those qualities which contribute so largely to social happiness.

* * * * *

_14th._ The premium of twenty pounds annually given by the noblemen and gentlemen of the Catch-club, for the best glee, was this day awarded to Mr. Walmisley. The candidates were but few, and the prize was decided by a majority of one vote only; Mr. Walmisley’s composition having nineteen in its favour, and Mr. T. Cooke’s eighteen. None are allowed to become candidates for this prize but the professional members of the club, the competition therefore is confined in a narrow sphere; an evil, certainly, but unavoidable, for were there no limit, more glees would be sent in than could by any possibility be tried without an expense both of time and money that no club could support.

* * * * *

_20th._ The Directors of the Ancient Concert have announced their determination respecting those performances in future; or at least for next season. The plan and conditions are as follow:--

‘That there be Eight Concerts, to take place every alternate Wednesday from the commencement of the season, with the exception of the usual recess during Passion and Easter weeks.

‘That the Subscription be Six Guineas for Subscribers retaining the privilege of attending Rehearsals; Five Guineas for those who do not.

‘That the transfer of tickets between Father and Sons, and between Brothers, also between Mother and Daughters, and between Sisters, be allowed.

‘That the Subscribers retain the same privilege, as during the present season, of recommending for single tickets for the evening.

‘In order to carry on the Concerts on the same scale as heretofore, and with the same vocal and instrumental power and excellence, it is necessary that the number of Subscribers should not be less than 500. The Directors therefore give notice, that if, on the 1st of February, 1834, the Subscribers reported to Messrs. ~Lonsdale~ and ~Mills~, of 140, New Bond Street, do not amount to that number, the Concerts will be discontinued.’

Let us hope that what is here proposed will be successful in upholding an institution on which the preservation of good music in this country no much depends. To the study of the ancient masters the great modern composers confessedly owed their knowledge; these introduced a new style in instrumental music, undoubtedly, and extended the limits of modulation, but the foundation was prepared for them, and no one has established a permanent reputation who has not built on this. In the words, therefore, of Fra Paoli, I pray for its continuation and prosperity:--_Esto perpetua!_

FOREIGN MUSICAL REPORT.

VIENNA.

_Hofoperntheater._--The opera _Ferdinand Cortez_ has been reproduced, with M. Wild as _Telasco_, Madame Ernst as _Amazily_, and M. Breiting as _Cortez_; the minor characters were also well sustained. Donizetti’s _Anna Bolena_ has also been given, and with even greater success than at the _Josephstadttheater_.

At the _Hofburgtheater_ a new oratorio by the organist Assmayr has been performed; it displays great ability, and the music is eminently expressive of the words; it was well received.

At the first and second of the _Concerts Spirituels_ have been given a symphony of Mozart composed for the Concerts Spirituels in Paris in the year 1778, Vogler’s overture to _Castor and Pollux_, a mass by Cherubini, symphony in ~C~ minor by Beethoven, chorus from _Jephtha_ by Handel, a new _Te Deum_, a sterling composition, by Tomascheck, &c. &c. For the third and fourth concerts were announced Beethoven’s symphony in ~B~, the ninth psalm of Fesca, Weber’s Jubilee overture, the Abbé Vogler’s Litany, Mozart’s symphony in ~E~♭, chorus and fugue from the oratorio _Der Tod Jesu_ by Graun, Beethoven’s festival overture, and the _Gloria_ from the second mass of Cherubini.

The annual concert at the Conservatory of Music, to display the progress of the pupils, took place a short time since, when their performance of Mozart’s symphony in ~D~, and the meritorious efforts of the vocalists, gave great satisfaction.

A concert of a brilliant character was recently given by the horn virtuoso, M. Lewy; he was assisted by Demlle. Heinefetter, and MM. Thalberg, Titze, Hürt, and Sachner.

Romberg is at present sojourning here, and has played on the violoncello at a concert in the _Kärntnerthor Theater_. Age seems to have produced no effect upon his mighty powers; his reception was enthusiastic in the extreme.

BERLIN.

Spontini’s opera _Alcidor_, after an undisturbed repose of many years, was lately reproduced here. Its success was but indifferent, notwithstanding the laudable exertions of the singers and the splendour of the scenery and decorations. Dlle. Gerwer is about to leave us; her place, however, will be supplied, for a short time at least, by Dlle. Heinefetter.

A. M. Liebrecht, aged thirteen years, a pupil of M. C. M. Möser, has given a concert here, showing the degree of perfection to which such a child may attain by assiduous and persevering application; he exhibited an extraordinary mastery over his instrument--the violin. Shortly afterwards M. Wagans gave a concert, at which he played a concerto on the trumpet with a degree of taste and brilliancy calculated to sustain the fame which he has already acquired. Other concerts have been--that of the three brothers Gabrielski, in which two of them distinguished themselves as clever flute players, and the other as an accomplished pianist; and one at the theatre, at which Dlle. Fürst, from Dresden, sang; her voice is rather powerful than sweet, and tolerably flexible.

At the Singing Academy the Passion music of St. Matthew the Evangelist, by Seb. Bach, was performed; and on Good Friday the annual performance of the oratorio _Der Tod Jesu_ took place before a very crowded audience; it was subsequently given in the Garrison Church under the direction of M. Hansmann.

MUNICH.

The performances during the present year have comprised the operas _Johann von Paris_, _Zauberflöte_, _Figaro_, _Fra Diavolo_, _Der Maurer and der Schlosser_, (Le Maçon) _Die beyden Füchse_, _Freyschütz_, _Der Schnee_, &c. The management of Baron von Poissl terminated on the 28th February, when he was succeeded by M. Küstner.

STRASBURG.

During the last year it was our good fortune to have a German company, under the direction of M. Carl Bode, exclusively devoted to the opera; and their productions were therefore comparatively of so perfect a nature, that the direction of the French theatre was quite unable to compete with them. They performed during the season, _Fidelio_, _Die Schweizer Familie_, _Freyschütz_, _Die Weisse Dame_, _Preziosa_, _Die Stumme von Portici_, _Don Juan_, _Koskiusko_, _Der Dorf Barbier_, (The Village Barber,) _Tancred_, _Oberon_, _Das Donauweibchen_, (The Nymph of the Danube,) _Wiener in Berlin_, _Der Kleiner Wilddiebe_, (the Little Poacher,) _Sargin_, _Zauberflöte_, _Wilhelm Tell_, and _Robert der Teufel_. Among the company, consisting of about forty members, the most distinguished were Madame Brauer Düringer, whose principal characters were _Fidelio_, _Donna Anna_ in _Die Weisse Frau_, _Elvira_ in _Die Stumme_ and in _Don Juan_, _Sophie_ in _Sargin_, _Mathilde_ in _Wilhelm Tell_, _Isabelle_ in _Robert der Teufel_, and _Tancred_. She has a powerful, rich voice, which is of extraordinary effect in the concerted pieces, and she sings with much taste. Madame Mayer, too, was delightful as _Annchen_ in _Der Freyschütz_; in fact, in all the characters which she sustained. Demlle. Liszevsky also called forth great admiration as _Emmeline_, _Agathe_, &c; but particularly as _Jemmy_ in _Wilhelm Tell_, and _Alice_ in _Robert der Teufel_. M. Wagner, from the Würtzburg Theatre, as principal tenor, was successful in all his efforts; he sang with equal skill and excellence the high part of _Sargin_ and the low one of _Don Juan_; as _Robert_ and as _Arnold_, he has few equals. M. Heisel, as second tenor, was not without merit. The other singers were MM. Popp, Netz, Krieg, Fischer, Kaibel, &c. Great credit is due to M. Bode for having by his judicious management cultivated the taste for classical productions.

With regard to the French theatre, as matters were not going on very prosperously, the direction was taken out of the hands of M. Deville, and the company continued to perform to the end of the season on their own account. Under these circumstances, many new operas were not to be expected; one only was given, Auber’s _Liebestrank_ (Le Philtre). The company consisted of Mesdames Lamotte, prima donna, possessing a rich voice, but often out of tune; Langlade, an agreeable second singer and excellent actress, Demouchi and Després; M. Vernet, principal tenor, with a flexible but thin voice. The rest were scarcely above mediocrity, and the wretched apologies for choruses were below criticism.

LEIPZIG.

Under the management of M. Friedrich Seb. Ringelhardt, the _Stadttheater_ has lately enjoyed much of the public favour and patronage; the music director, too, M. Stegmeyer, is an active young man and a thorough musician, and the Regisseur, M. Hauser, who is also a clever musician, is a very good bass singer. M. Eichberger, the tenor, is excellent. Of the female singers of the establishment Madame Steinert ranked first; then came, after the departure of Dlle. Nina Sontag, whose place she supplied, Dlle. Livia Gerhardt. If want of novelty in the productions has been a fault to be imputed to the management, for new operas have been scarce, those which we have had have been given in such a manner as to compensate for what might otherwise have been a matter of regret. For instance while Madame Schroeder was here we had _Fidelio_, _Don Juan_, in which she performed _Donna Anna_, and _Otello_; she was great in them all and efficiently supported.

Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s overture to Shakspeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, was played for the first time in Leipzig, at a concert for the benefit of the poor, and received with great applause; on the same occasion Beethoven’s symphony in A major was given, and M. Poland played a violin concerto by Pechatschek with delicacy and spirit.

The Euterpe, the season of which is now closed, has given various symphonies, overtures, and concertos. In the last selection were a new symphony of M. F. Kähler, Beethoven’s overture to _Egmont_, Weber’s overture to _Der Beherrscher der Geister_, &c.; M. Sipp placed a violin concerto of Rode, and M. Faulmann a concerto of Hummel on the Oboe.

Dlle. Henr. Graban gave a concert on the 21st March to a brilliant audience. The selection was good; among the instrumental pieces was Marschner’s overture to _Hans Heiling_, which, it is said, will shortly be produced on our boards.

An interesting sacred performance lately took place in St. Peter’s church, conducted by the organist, C. F. Becker; the selection comprised a fugue by Handel, and fugues and choral subjects with variations by Sebastian Bach.

PRAGUE.

Gretry’s _Blaubart_ (Bluebeard) has been once more produced here for the benefit of M. Strataky, and experienced a favourable reception, notwithstanding the fact that the whole of the characters were not well sustained. Demlle. Lutzer however as _Maria_ was all that could be desired; her voice has acquired increased strength, and she may soon prove a dangerous rival to the gifted Madame Podhorsky. _Zampa_ has also been given again, and _Die Unbekannte_. The performance of the old opera, _Der Lustige Schuster_ (the Merry Cobbler), was attended with little success. Demlle. Lutzer has lately performed _Zerlina_ in _Fra Diavolo_, _Helena_ in _Das Fraulein am See_, _Desdemona_, _Semiramis_, _the Princess of Navarre_, and _Camilla_ in _Zampa_, in which latter opera she shone particularly.

There has been a concert given by the pianiste Dlle. Nina Trenkler; one by the pupils of the Conservatory of Music; and a third by M. J. B. Hüttner, the professor of that institution: they were all good and attractive.

FRANKFORT.

Aloys Schmidt’s opera, _Valeria_, was given here for the first time a few weeks ago. Although the opera displays some beautiful original ideas, it also abounds in reminiscences of Beethoven, Cherubini, Mozart, &c.; it was very successful.

CASSEL.

Motives of economy, and the state of affairs in the grand duchy of Hesse-Cassel, have occasioned the breaking up of the musical establishment of the chapel, and the closing of the court theatre. The consequence of this suppression is distressing to the artists, who were quite unprepared for such an event. Our celebrated composer, Spohr, is thus deprived of a very lucrative appointment. The greater part of the performers, instrumental and vocal, are dispersed, and endeavouring to find in the different German courts those resources which they are deprived of here. This is an unfortunate occurrence for the musical art, for the ducal chapel was one of the best-organised establishments in Germany.

WEIMAR.

The celebrated Hummel has just received the decoration of the order of the White Eagle from the hands of the Grand Duke. All Germany applauds this mark of distinction conferred on a great musician who is a living honour to his country. M. Hummel has just set out for London, where he is engaged to direct the German opera at the King’s Theatre. It is said that he is to receive a thousand pounds for his services, and his travelling expenses. [The Weimar editor is much misinformed on this subject.]

MEININGEN.

An opera in two acts by the Ducal music-director Nohr, under the title of _Die Wunderbaren Lichter_, founded upon a Thuringian tradition, was lately produced here. This is the second great effort of M. Nohr as a composer, and was received with well-merited applause; he was called forward at the conclusion.

BRUNSWICK.

M. Albert Methfessel has, since his appointment as Kapellmeister last year, strained every nerve to raise the opera to a degree of perfection to which we had hitherto been strangers. The prime donne of the grand opera are at present Mesdames Cornet and Franchetti, the former a most delightful and finished bravura singer. The principal tenor is M. Cornet, the idol of the frequenters of the opera, who is not less gifted and accomplished as an excellent dramatic singer than as a sterling good actor.

There is at present here a Dlle. Bertha Lewig, aged fifteen years, a pupil of M. Methfessel, who displays wonderful proficiency on the piano-forte.

BERNBURG.

A series of subscription concerts, which commenced here in December last, terminated on the 9th March; they were under the direction of M. Victor Klauss, a young and talented composer. The principal solo performers were MM. Probst and Fischer, on the violin; M. Wustenhagen, on the clarionet; M. Bosse, sen., on the oboe; M. Klotzsch, on the violoncello; and M. Bosse, jun., on the flute. M. Klauss, too, himself also delighted us with two very excellent performances on the piano-forte. Some overtures and symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven were not only faultless in their performance, but really presented a very rich source of musical enjoyment. The singers consisted of a few members of M. Atmer’s theatrical company, besides some dillettanti of great ability.

ATTENBURG.

The New Dessau Opera Company of M. Jul. Miller, commenced their performances here on the 10th March. The music director, M. Ed. Theile, a pupil of Fried. Schneider’s, is already known to the public as the author of some clever piano-forte composition.

THE DRAMA.

~King’s Theatre.~

After nearly a season has passed away, in which nothing but old, mostly feeble, operas, filled by second and third-rate performers, have been given to the subscribers--for the _public_ have been too wise to pay their money for nothing,--we all at once find the theatre so crowded with singers that they actually jostle each other in the lobby. When the house stood in need of attraction, when the best management, the utmost activity, would hardly have enabled the lessee to pay his expenses, he furnished neither opera nor singer, ballet nor dancer, that drew enough to meet the rent. When Easter was turned--when that season had arrived in which, if the doors are opened, the house is lighted, and a set of puppets are placed on the stage, multitudes will go to see them--at that season we find a double _troupe_, and fragments of different operas given on the same night, in order that the performers may have some employment, and not lose their voices for want of use!

On the 27th of April _La Cenerentola_, one of ~Rossini’s~ most insipid operas, was performed, Mad. ~Cinti~ as _Angelina_, whose musical and flexible though not strong voice, and refined taste, the result of a perfect knowledge of her art, imparted a charm to what was originally weak and has been hacked for years. ~Donzelli~ was _Ramiro_, ~Tamburini~ _Dandino_, and ~Zuchelli~ the _Magnifico_, all of whom sustained their parts well; but the two sisters very nearly spoiled the whole, by the contrast they formed with the rest, and ~Tamburini~ only reconciled us to his excessive flourishing by the beauty of his voice and intonation.

On Thursday the 2nd of May, Madame ~Pasta~ reappeared, after an absence of two seasons, in _Anna Bolena_, an opera indebted for its continued existence solely to her performance: in ordinary hands it could not have survived one night in London. This admirable performer is just what she was, in person, voice, and action; and we have only to refer our readers to the opinions we have formerly given on the subject, for those entertained by us now. She was received by a crowded house in the warm manner that her great and yet unabated talents gave her a right to expect.

_Tancredi_ was the second opera got up for Madame ~Pasta~, and in this she afforded even more pleasure to real connoisseurs than in the part of _Anna Bolena_, for the music is not only goad, but to be reckoned among ~Rossini’s~ best. Her _entrata_ was splendid; the recitative ‘Oh! Patria!’ and aria, ‘Tu che accendi,’ with its popular second movement, were perfect. Madame ~Cinti’s~ _Amenaide_ was, as regards singing, not less excellent; and her very different voice, so far from being a disadvantage on the present occasion, operated favourably, by giving a greater individuality to each character. ~Rubini’s~ _Argirio_ was a continued series of roulades, except when, by sudden bursts of his voice, he made those near him start, and by pianos alternating with these, he became inaudible to all but such as he had alarmed by his sforzatos. We have never entertained but one opinion of this singer, who has been so vaunted in the French journals, and find that an able contemporary agrees with us. The _Spectator_ says of this performer, that--

‘Of true feeling he has not a particle. _Per esempio_--when he visits his daughter in prison and in chains, and she asks--

‘Tu quì, o padre! a che vieni?’

his reply was delivered with as much indifference and flippancy as if the question had related to the weather, or the last new bonnet; and yet the words are these--

‘---- ad abbracciarti; A seguirti alla tomba. In sen di padre Si tenta in vano suffocar natura.’

The truth is, that with singers like Rubini, the art of dramatic singing is a mere effort of the _muscles_; with Pasta, one of the _mind_.’

~Zuchelli~ had but little to do, but did that well. Many changes were made in the opera; original pieces were left out, strange and not appropriate ones put in, just as the caprice of the singers dictated; and the choruses were wretched. _Il Pirata_, another old opera, is getting up, and this is certainly Bellini’s best work; indeed the only one of his known to this theatre that has the smallest merit.

Drury-Lane Theatre.

What properly is called the _English_ stage is at its last gasp. Covent Garden is closed except to foreign performers: its company has been obliged to seek refuge in a theatre which most of our provincial towns would scoff at. Mr. Arnold has prudently withdrawn from the Adelphi, and his performers are doing what they can for themselves; that is, just keeping that small house open three times a week. Mr. Morris feels the necessity of closing his doors when the two _national_ theatres, the _legitimate_, the patent theatres, are opened by foreigners, and nothing but German, or Italian, or French productions heard therein. A Sunday paper of the 5th ult. well observes, speaking of the banishment of the English drama from Covent Garden theatre,--‘This feared event has, at length come to pass. What Laporte means to do with Covent Garden we have not heard; but he is in treaty with Paganini, and we suppose that he will resort to some other foreign performances. It is a singular fact, and it can hardly fail to produce its effect, that ~OUR NATIONAL DRAMA~ was finally expelled from one of our great theatres, while “a native of France was its lessee.” What would have been said by the French, if an English actor had been director of the _Théâtre Francais_, and had adopted measures by which the plays of Corneille, Racine, and Moliere were driven to the Port St. Martin?’ And with what show of reason do certain writers in our journals exclaim against the salaries of English _stars_, as they are called, when they know, but are silent, that Madame Devrient receives nearly three times as much per night, and Madame Malibran more than seven times, what our first and best performers could ever obtain? Farren, Braham, and Liston, it is said, have, or had, twenty pounds a night: Madame Devrient has at least _fifty_; and Madame Malibran _one hundred and fifty_, though she does draw enough to pay her own salary!

* * * * *

On the 1st of May, the Italian opera of ~Bellini~, _La Sonnambula_, with English words adapted to it, was produced at this theatre, for the debut of Mad. ~Malibran~. The drama is well known to our readers; the music is of the most flimsy kind, and worthless in every sense of the word, whether as relates to art, or to the theatre. Our English operatic composers have not much distinguished themselves of late, and the undoubted superiority of the German and French schools has generated a taste among all classes in London for foreign music; but this is no reason why anything so feeble as the work now under notice should be patiently listened to, nay applauded. However, we will not waste our reader’s time by further notice of so inferior a production. The acting of Mad. ~Malibran~ as the somnambulist, is of a very mixed kind; sometimes she surprises by traits of extraordinary genius, and occasionally she exhibits extravagancies that prove a want of any real knowledge of the first principles of the histrionic art. As a singer, she certainly is much more perfect. Nature has bestowed on her a voice rarely equalled, and education has made her an excellent musician. Her natural taste we believe to be good, but, following the fashion of the day, it has become vitiated, and her ornaments are so redundant as often to be ridiculous. These however, are so nicely executed, that they seduce even the best critics, and lead them to applaud what in their sober senses they could not but disapprove.

Mad. ~Malibran~ has since appeared in the English opera _The Devil’s Bridge_, as _Count Belino_, and if her roulades, her admirably performed freaks, are absurd in Italian arias, how much more so in English songs! She entirely failed in this attempt, and though the opera was performed a second time, the public, prejudiced though they now are in favour of foreigners, whatever their pretensions, could not be brought to witness another such performance.

Beethoven’s _Fidelio_ has been produced here, Mad. ~Schrœder Devrient~ and M. ~Haitzinger~ in the characters they sustained so well last year at the King’s Theatre. The number of subscription and benefit concerts which we feel it a duty to attend, have prevented our yet being present at the performance of this opera at Drury Lane.

THE MUSIC OF THE PRESENT NUMBER.

Who the composer is of the trio, ‘Like a bright cherub,’ has long been a matter of dispute, and the point most likely will never now be settled by any decisive proof. The question, however, lies in a narrow compass, for it is agreed that to either Handel or John Christopher Smith[57] the work belongs. Prevailing opinion ascribes it to the former, and we believe correctly, judging from internal evidence as well as traditional testimony. _Gideon_, the oratorio of which it forms a part, was a pasticcio, a selection of music by various authors, adapted to a dramatic poem by Smith, but when and where performed the most diligent inquiry has not enabled us to ascertain; in fact, no record whatever of it seems to be in existence; it was never published, and we cannot learn that a copy of it remains. The trio now inserted is the only part of it that ever came under our view, and was printed some fifty years ego by Birchall, about the time when sung at the Ancient Concerts. The sweet melody of this, and its effective simplicity when the three parts come together, ought to recommend it to private musical parties.

* * * * *

The aria by Mozart is No. 20 of his thirty _Gesaenge_, or detached airs not appertaining to any of his operas, published by Breitkopf and Härtel, at Leipzig.

* * * * *

The two movements by Avison are from his fourth Concerto, Book IV.--a beautiful and clever composition, still performed at the Ancient Concerts, and always with applause. To these we may apply an observation which appears in Avison’s Preface to his Concertos,--‘If music be composed agreeably to principles founded in nature, the true judge of harmony always approves it, whatever name, style, or national character it bears.’

* * * * *

The _aria_, as he calls it, of Beethoven, is one of the most exquisite _morceaux_ of this great master. There is a calm dignity in it which excites a wish that it had been set to words--to poetry worthy of it. The two variations, selected from many, are not less striking proofs of the richness of his fancy.

* * * * *

The song by Labarre is from a recent number of _La Revue Musicale_. The originality of this recommended it to us, and will, we have no doubt, be apparent to all; though some may at first think it rather too elaborate for a _chanson_. It will, however, be more admired the more it is known.

[Sidenote: July, 1833.]

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF JOHN TRAVERS, WILLIAM HAYES, ~Mus.~ D., THOMAS SAUNDERS DUPUIS, ~Mus.~ D., ~and~ EDMUND AYRTON, ~Mus.~ D.

John Travers received his musical education in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and having gained the good will of Dr. Godolphin, Dean of St. Paul’s and Provost of Eton College, was by him put apprentice to Dr. Greene. About the year 1725 he succeeded Kelway as organist of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, and subsequently became organist of Fulham. On the decease of Jonathan Martin, in 1737, Travers was appointed organist of the Chapels Royal, when he relinquished his situation at Fulham. He died in 1758, and his successor in the King’s Chapel was Dr. Boyce.

‘Travers,’ says Sir John Hawkins, who knew him well, ‘was a sound musician; he commenced an early acquaintance with Dr. Pepusch, and received some assistance from him in the course of his studies, which by sedulous application he was very careful to improve. In the Chapel books are sundry anthems of his composition; but as composer he is best known to the world by eighteen Canzonets, being verses and songs taken from the posthumous works of Prior, which he set for two and three voices, in a style as elegant as it is original. Besides these he published the whole book of Psalms for one, two, three, four, and five voices, with a thorough-bass for the harpsichord[58].’

Dr. Burney, speaking of Travers, says, ‘His compositions, however pure the harmony, can only be ranked with pieces of mechanism, which labour alone may produce, without the assistance of genius[59]’. But this criticism is no less inconsiderate than severe. To his compositions for the church it may apply, but his canzonets--many of them at least--have stood the test of time, and, popular as they were when first brought forth, are still as much as ever admired for their genius, their originality, as well as their beauty and contrivance, by all impartial judges of English music; among whom Dr. Burney certainly cannot properly be reckoned, so strong were his prejudices in favour of the Italian school; though latterly the German composers, Haydn especially, had some share of his esteem.

In Arnold’s _Collection of Cathedral Music_, are a Morning Service, a Te Deum, and one Anthem, by Travers, which do not exhibit any creative powers: his best sacred composition is the anthem, ‘Ascribe unto the Lord,’ and this is still occasionally performed in the King’s Chapel.

* * * * *

~William Hayes~, Doctor in Music, was born at Gloucester, in 1707, and giving early proofs of a musical disposition, was admitted a chorister of the cathedral, under Mr. Hine, the organist, where as a boy he early distinguished himself as a solo singer, and soon arrived at a high degree of excellence as an organ-player. On quitting Gloucester, he was appointed organist of Shrewsbury, and shortly afterwards succeeded to the same situation in the Cathedral of Worcester. But after the lapse of a few years, a vacancy occurring in the office of organist and master of the choristers at Magdalen College, Oxford, he obtained that appointment, which having been the ultimate object of his ambition, he retained till his death. In 1735 he proceeded to a Bachelor’s degree in music, and some years after, on the death of Mr. Goodson, was elected Professor of Music to the University. On the opening of the Radcliffe Library, in 1749, he was honoured with a doctor’s degree, to which he was presented by Dr. Bradley, Savilian Professor of Astronomy, who, in an elegant Latin speech, represented him not only as a man eminent in his faculty, but as possessed of other estimable qualities, among which sweetness of temper was mentioned as not the least remarkable.

In 1753 Dr. Hayes published his ‘Remarks on Mr. Avison’s Essay on Musical Expression,’ which were drawn from him in consequence of what he considered a covert attack on Handel by the author of that well-known, and in many respects able, critical work; but he here manifested more knowledge of his subject than control of temper; and his observations,--though many of them are very just, while some are rather hypercritical,--lose much of their force from the asperity of language in which they were uttered, a fault only to be accounted for, in one of so mild a disposition, from his enthusiastic admiration of the illustrious composer whom he vindicated.

On the establishment of the Catch-Club, Dr. Hayes, in 1773, obtained three out of the six prizes given that year, one of his successful compositions being that exquisitely beautiful but brief piece of simple counterpoint, the Glee, ‘Melting airs soft joys inspire.’ This, and the lovely Round, ‘Wind, gentle evergreen,’ are enough to transmit his name to posterity, had he produced nothing else; but his _Cathedral Music in Score_, comprising a full service and upwards of twenty anthems, published after his decease by his son, Dr. Philip Hayes, will continue to be highly valued so long as this species of composition shall continue in use. His Canon, ‘Let’s drink, and let’s sing together,’ is mentioned by Dr. Burney (in Rees’ Cyclopædia) as ‘the most pleasant of those laboured compositions which go under the name of Canon.’

Dr. Hayes, after suffering three years from the effects of a paralytic stroke, died in 1777, and was succeeded in all his appointments at Oxford by his above-mentioned son[60].

* * * * *

~Thomas Saunders Dupuis~, Doctor in Music, was in 1733 born in this country, though his parents were natives of France. His father held some situation at court under George II., and this probably was the reason why his son was placed in the Chapel Royal. The first rudiments of his education were received from Mr. Gates. He afterwards became a pupil of Travers, at that time organist of the King’s Chapel, and for whom, in the early part of his life, he officiated as deputy.

‘On the death of Dr. Boyce, in 1779, Mr. Dupuis was appointed organist and composer to the Chapel Royal; and it is probable that the Bishop of London (Lowth) never exercised his taste and judgment more properly than by nominating so worthy a man to so respectable a situation.’ _Bingley’s Musical Biography_, ii. 215.

In 1784 he was named as one of the assistant-directors of the Commemoration of Handel; and in 1790 was admitted to the degree of Doctor in Music by the University of Oxford. He died in consequence of taking an excessive dose of opium, at his house in Park Lane, on the 17th of June, 1796. His successors were Mr. Knyvett, senior, as organist of the Royal Chapels, and Mr. Attwood as composer to his Majesty.

Dr. Dupuis published several compositions, among which his _Organ Pieces_ and two _Sets of Chants_ are the most valuable; but his reputation is more permanently based on his services and anthems, written for the use of the King’s Chapel, a selection of which was printed after his death, in two handsome volumes, by his pupil and friend, John Spencer, Esq., son-in-law and nephew to the late Duke of Marlborough. These consist of four Services, and fourteen Anthems in score; and in Page’s _Harmonia Sacra_ are two other of his Anthems, ‘The Lord, even the most mighty God,’ and ‘I cried unto the Lord,’ which were published during the life of the author.

Great knowledge and taste are more conspicuous in Dr. Dupuis’ compositions than any very great brilliancy of genius; but they are by no means deficient in invention, though this was curbed by his devotedness to the school of music in which he had been educated, and of which he was to the last a most uncompromising defender. His Services, particularly those in ~E~ flat and ~C~, are as beautiful in melody, as they are skilful, considered as specimens of writing in parts. Of his anthems, ‘The souls of the righteous,’ ‘Bow down thine ear,’ and ‘Be thou my judge,’ will long continue as records of his ability as a harmonist; and ‘The Lord is my shepherd,’ ‘Lord, what love have I unto thy law,’ together with ‘Teach me, O Lord,’ can never cease to please the admirers of graceful, flowing air. As a performer on the organ, he was excelled by no Englishman of his time; his extemporaneous fugues were the admiration of all lovers of this kind of music, and drew multitudes to hear him at the conclusion of the service at the Royal Chapel.

Dr. Dupuis was a most worthy and amiable man, successful in worldly matters, but unfortunate in his family. He followed his eldest son (a clergyman) to the grave, and bequeathed a handsome fortune to an only remaining one, who thoughtlessly dissipated the whole of it in his power, and died at an early age.

* * * * *

~Edmund Ayrton~, Doctor in Music,--who closes the list of Masters of the children of the Chapels Royal, to the end of the eighteenth century[61],--‘was born in 1734, at Ripon, of which borough his father was an active and upright magistrate, whose three immediate ancestors held, successively, the livings of Nidd and Stainley, within the liberty of that town. He was intended for the church, and received his education at the free grammar-school of his native place, where, during five years, he was a contemporary of Beilby Porteus, afterwards bishop of London. But his father, finding it prudent to indulge his son’s natural inclination for music, placed him under the instruction of Dr. Nares, then organist of the cathedral of York. At an early age he was elected organist, auditor, and _rector chori_ of the collegiate church of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire, where he married a lady of good family. He quitted that place in 1764, upon being appointed gentleman of the Chapel Royal; shortly after which he was installed a vicar-choral of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and subsequently became one of the lay-clerks of Westminster Abbey.

‘In 1780 he was promoted, by Bishop Lowth, to the office of master of the children of his Majesty’s Chapels, on the resignation of his friend Dr. Nares. In 1784 the University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of Doctor in Music; and some time after he was admitted _ad eundem_ by the University of Oxford. His exercise was a grand anthem, for a full orchestra, which merited and gained so much praise, that it was ordered to be performed, with a complete band, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, on the 29th of July, 1784, the day of the General Thanksgiving for the peace. This was afterwards published in score. In the same year he was chosen one of the assistant-directors of the Commemoration of Handel, in Westminster Abbey, which situation he filled at all the succeeding performances in that venerable building, and took a very active part in their management. In 1805 he relinquished the mastership of the children of the Chapel, and was succeeded by John Stafford Smith, Esq., having been allowed for many years previous to perform the duties of his other appointments by deputy. He died in 1808, and his remains were deposited in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, near those of his wife and several of his children.

‘Dr. Ayrton was an excellent musician, of which his compositions for the church bear indubitable evidence[62]. The performance of these has been chiefly confined to the Royal Chapel, but the publication of them, which has long been expected, would usefully augment the musical resources of our various choirs, and add greatly to the reputation of their author.’ (_Dictionary of Musicians._)

HARMONICS OF THE VIOLIN.

In the _Westminster Review_ for last January, is an article, under the above title, which, judging from its clearness and simplicity, we are inclined to believe must have proceeded from the very able pen of the critic who recently reviewed in that work the scientific and clever treatise on the Enharmonic Guitar[63].

The author, wishing to render the doctrine of harmonics comprehensible to persons of all capacities, has imitated, in a very felicitous manner, the style of a writer who, whatever opinion may be entertained of him in other respects, allowedly has the art of making himself understood by every one, however difficult or intricate the matter on which he treats; and in a letter written as if from Mr. Cobbett to his son, has given an intelligibility to the subject which it never before received, insomuch that we are tempted to exceed the limits of a quotation, and, for the benefit of such of our readers as do not see the _Westminster Review_, borrow more largely from the pages of that very able periodical than is usual, hoping that the liberal spirit of its proprietors will not accuse us of piracy, and summon us into the awful presence of the Keeper of the King’s Conscience.

‘The whole theory or principle of finding and producing the harmonic notes is in reality very simple, and such as might be communicated to any intelligent child in two or three short lessons. If the author of the _Political Register_ had been born and bred a professional musician, (as among the possible freaks of fortune why should he not?) he would have set the hope of his family before him, and said,

‘My dear little Son,

‘You are to get your bread by playing on the violin. It will therefore be exceedingly useful to you to know all that can be known about the harmonic notes; by which means you may not only get your bread, but be able to secure its being well buttered also. A violin-player is _worth_ a great deal more when he knows all about the harmonic notes; and in fact, since the appearance of Paganini, the chances are, that a player who does not know it will be worth nothing at all.

‘Do you know what an _aliquot part_ is? I am sure you do not. If you have a cake or an apple, and divide it equally among your companions, whether they be _two_, _three_, _four_, or any other number, then the thing is said to be divided into aliquot parts,--“_aliquot_” being a word in the old Latin language meaning “some certain number or other,” and implying here that the thing is divided into equal parts of “some certain number or other.” But if you were to divide it among the same so that their shares should not be all alike,--or if you were to give each an equal piece, but there should be a piece left after all which was not equal to one of the pieces you had given away, but was greater or less,--then the thing would be divided into parts, but not into aliquot parts. Now then, my dear little son, you know what is meant by dividing a string into aliquot parts.

‘Tell me now, how you would begin to show me the different places in which a string can be divided into _aliquot parts_. You would first show me the middle point, which divides it into _two_ equal parts. Then you would divide the string, with your eye or with a pair of compasses, into _three_ equal parts, and show me the two points of division between them. Next you would divide it in the same way into _four_ equal parts, and show me the three points of division. And so on, for _five_, _six_, _seven_, _eight_, and as many more as you liked to continue. These, then, you would say,--both those I have made and those I might make if I liked--are the points that divide the string into aliquot parts. And if you pleased, you might mark them by writing under each point of division the figure which shows how many equal parts the string is divided into,--as for instance a 2 under the point where the string is divided into two, a 3 under each of the points which divide it into three, and so on. And indeed it will be better that you should do this; for then you cannot help observing, that sometimes more figures than one will fall on the same place--as for instance when the string is divided into four, one of the marks 4 will fall on the same place as the division into 2; when it is divided into six, one of the marks 6 will fall on the same place that was previously marked 2, and two more on places that were marked 3; and so on. All of which will be wanted another time.

‘Now if you touch the string gently with the finger at the distance of any aliquot part from the bridge, (mind I said _from the bridge_, not at _any_ of the divisions into aliquot parts, but at the distance of one of them _from the bridge_,) and at the same time pull the string or draw the bow across between this point and the bridge, you will see a curious thing. The string will divide itself into all the aliquot parts of which the point touched by the finger makes one,--into two, or into three, or into four, as the case may be,--and every one of them will move by itself, as if it was a little string held fast at the two ends; the sound produced being the same that would be made by pressing the string down to the neck at the point touched, in the common way. If the divisions are few, as two or three, this may be seen distinctly enough by the eye: but where this is not the case, it may be shown to be the fact by laying a little bit of paper on the string while it is sounded; and if this is laid on any of the points of division into aliquot parts, whether on the one nearest the bridge or any of its fellows, it will lie still and not be thrown off, but if it is laid anywhere else, it will be thrown off directly, which shows that the points of division are at rest, and the others are not.

‘If you want to know how or why this curious thing takes place, I will tell you as nearly as I can; but remember I do not pledge myself that this is the reason, but only that I think it very likely to be the reason, and this principally because I know no other way in which it can be brought about. And this way is, that when one portion of the string is moving in one direction, as for instance from me towards you, the next portion of the string is moving at the same time in the contrary direction, or from you to me; and so with the other portions, whatever their number may be. In this manner it seems possible that the points of division should be kept at rest, and in any other manner it seems to be not possible; and therefore, since the fact is before us that the points of division remain at rest, I conclude that it is in this way it takes place. This is what the _feelosofers_ would call a syllogism. And because this sort of balance can only be kept up by the portions of the string moving backwards and forwards (which the same sort of people call _vibrating_) in equal times or with equal quickness, and this again cannot take place unless the moving portions of the string are of equal length,--it follows that this sort of motion in parts or portions of the string can only take place when those parts or portions are of equal length, which seems to be the reason why the experiment will only answer when the point touched is one that divides the string into _aliquot parts_.

‘But this is not all; for there is a more curious thing still. And that is, that if you touch the string at _any other_ of the points of division into aliquot parts, (by which I mean any other than the point of division nearest to the bridge,) the string will divide itself in the self-same way,--always with the exception (now mind the exception) of the cases in which the point touched falls in with a point in some simpler mode of division that has gone before. For instance, you remember observing, that when the string was divided into four equal parts, one of the points marked 4 fell on the same place as the division into 2. Touching the string therefore in this place must make the same sound it did before; which is a different sound from that which it makes when touched at the other two points of division into 4. And in like manner in other cases. But when this agreement with some simpler mode of division does not interfere, all the points of division on being touched produce the same sound. For example, if the division be into five equal parts, inasmuch as none of these will coincide with any of the simpler modes of division, there must be four points in the string, any one of which being touched will produce the same harmonic sound.

‘But if you want to know how and why this still more curious thing takes place, I can only tell you in a roundabout sort of way as before. If you divide the string, for example, into five equal parts, and touch any of the four points of division you choose, you check and finally prevent the continuance of any motion at the point touched, though at the same time it would appear that the touching (which, to make the experiment answer, must be very light) is not enough to hinder the _shaking_, or, as the learned people call it, the _vibration_, given at one end, from being communicated past the point of touch. If, instead of touching the string lightly, you were to lay hold of it with a pair of pincers, then the experiment would fail altogether; the reason of which may be concluded to be, because the motion is presented from being at all communicated beyond the point laid hold of. In fact the art,--for there is an art in everything, from scraping the grains off a cob of Indian corn to sounding a musical string, whatever the difference in importance and dignity of the two things may be,--appears to consist in touching the string in such a manner, and with such a degree of pressure, as shall allow the motion given by pulling or bowing to be communicated past the finger, and yet shall check and finally prevent the continuance of all motion, or, as it was called before, _vibration_, that is not consistent with the point which is touched remaining at rest. Now if you consider carefully, you will see that the only way in which motion can go on and this point remain at rest, is by the string’s dividing itself into the five equal portions, the movements of which shall balance each other as before described. It does not indeed follow, that because the motion could go on no other way, it must necessarily go on in this; but we have the evidence of the fact that it _does_ go on in this; and the knowledge of the reasons why it could not go on in any other is at all events very useful to make us remember what the effect is that is produced, and how.

‘The next thing is to be able to tell what all the sounds thus produced are. Now you remember that when you were a very little boy, I showed you, that if you stop a string by pressing it down hard in the middle you produce its _Octave_; where the two sounds (of the original string and its half) are such sounds as are produced by a man and a child when they sing the same tune together, but in very different pitches of voice;--that if, instead of shortening the string in this manner by the half, you shorten it by a third part, you produce the sound which musicians have called the _Fifth_; if you shorten it by a fourth part, you produce the _Fourth_; if by the fifth part, the _Major Third_; if by the sixth part, the _Minor Third_; with a great deal more which it is not necessary to mention now;--and I told you, too, that the intervals from one of these sounds to another were not the same, or such as to allow of beginning on any you please and making the others serve in the places they happen to fall in, which is attempted to be done by what is called _Temperament_, a thing that you as a violin player should hold in as much scorn, as an invitation to cut off your two legs for the sake of trying how pleasant it is to hop on wooden ones. If then you want to know what sound any of the harmonics really is, you have only to do this;--double the distance from the bridge to the nearest of the points of division into aliquot parts, over and over, till you get to some length that when pressed down in the common way makes a note which you know, as the _Octave_, the _Fifth_, &c.; and then the harmonic will be this note, only raised by as many octaves as there have been doublings. For example, if you touch the thickest or G string of the violin so as to bring out the harmonic at one-fifth of its length from the bridge, and want to know what note this is,--doubling this length once makes two-fifths of the whole string, and doubling it again makes four-fifths, and four-fifths pressed down in the common way make the _Major Third_ or B; therefore the harmonic produced is B two octaves higher than the B on the thickest string, or the same sound as the first B on the thinnest or E string. And in like manner in other cases.

‘The examination of all the different possible harmonic notes might evidently be carried a long way; and it would be very useful to do it if you were intended for a trumpeter, for all the notes on the trumpet or French horn are harmonic notes. But for playing on the violin, as much as is given above appears to be sufficient. It will enable you to trace all the principal harmonic sounds, and in fact all that on the violin are of any practical use; for though there is no absolute end of the number of harmonic notes, inasmuch as you may divide the string into a hundred parts if you please, and then into a hundred-and-one,--yet after the division into five or into six, the sounds on the violin become so feeble as to be of no use except as matters of experiment and curiosity. And it will have this further good effect, that it will make you cease to marvel and to wonder at finding the harmonic sounds on the same string grow sometimes deeper and sometimes shriller, as you move your finger from the bridge towards the head,--as if there was some mystery in it that anybody could not learn in half an hour when they set about it properly.

‘Suppose now you could stop some tune (as for instance “God save the King”) on one string of the violin, as for example the fourth, with your first or second finger, and at the same time always touch the stopped string gently with the little finger of the same hand at one quarter of the way to the bridge so as to bring out the harmonic note;--is it not plain that you would play the tune, only in the Double Octave, or two octaves higher than if played by the simple stopping on the fourth string? There is no doubt that this is very hard, especially for a little boy; it is almost as bad as playing on two violins at once. But still the thing can be done. And if, instead of touching with the little finger at the _quarter_ of the way to the bridge, you should touch at the third, the fifth, or the sixth of the way, you would bring out notes that were not Double Octaves to the sound that would be made by simply pressing down the first finger, but other sounds, which you have it in your power to calculate; all of which might by possibility be very useful, but the other was mentioned as being the simplest. If you asked me what is the use of playing anything in Double Octaves in this manner, or in any other of the harmonic notes,--I should answer, First, because these harmonic notes have a very fine and pure sound,--they do not squall like the sounds made by pressing the strings to the finger-board very near the bridge;--Secondly, because it is much easier to make the sounds in tune in this manner, than by trying to make them by stopping near the bridge,--for where the string is so short, the smallest error in the stopping becomes sensible in proportion;--Thirdly, because (as it is not necessary to be always playing in harmonics) they may be mixed up with the common notes of the violin, and save an immensity of trouble in jumping from one end of the instrument to the other to find the high notes. Look, for instance, at an old-fashioned fiddler playing on the second string, and wanting (suppose) A _in alto_; and see what a leap he will make to find it on the first string, and what a horrible screech he will bring out after all, when he might produce the note in the most perfect tune and tone by only touching the second open string that he is on already, harmonically at a fourth of the way from the head to the bridge, or at the same place that he would stop D on the second string.’

MELODY AND HARMONY[64].

The object and end of all music is the expression and excitement of passion, of which its notes are the signs. The practice of music doubtless shows best how powerful are these signs over the production of corresponding passions; but its theory also, in the hands of some writers, has even indicated the precise and simple expressions which respectively belong to some of the passions.

Now we know that two passions cannot coexist in the mind, except at the expense of their respective continuity, depth, and intensity. It follows, of course, that their corresponding signs cannot coexist in the ear without breaking and enfeebling their expression.

But melody consists of a succession of simple sounds, and harmony of coexistant and related or concordant sounds. It is obvious, therefore, that melody is alone adapted to the expression of passion--that is, to musical expression.

A moment’s reflection, indeed, will show that, in language, it would not be more absurd to endeavour to express or excite passion by means of the related terms, emotion, sentiment, &c., or to express and excite any one passion, as that of love, by means of the related terms, friendship, affection, &c., than it would, in music, be to endeavour to excite any passion, in all its purity, simplicity, continuity, depth, and intensity, by means of impure, compound, broken, and feeble notes.

Which, accordingly, are the nations that have excelled in melody?--The Italians, the Scots, the Irish, in whom the passions are intense and powerful; while the Sclavonic and Gothic tribes, in whom the passions are feeble, have practised that play upon related notes which indicates the weakness or absence of passion, and which constitutes harmony. There can, I think, be no more striking illustration than this at once of the intimate nature and of the relative value of melody and harmony.

To the superior value of melody, however, similar homage is paid, whether reluctantly or not, in the highest productions of scientific music. Whenever, in the opera, sentiment, affection, or passion has to be expressed, the simple melody of the airs is indispensable. If anything were wanting to corroborate the preceding train of reasoning, this surely is sufficient.

Let us now, however, from principles which regard the intimate nature of melody and harmony, as well as their precise relation to the great end of all music, descend to the mere practical observance of the relative effects of melody and harmony.

Here one thing will, at the first, strike those who are in the habit of paying any attention to the operation of their own minds, and of endeavouring to analyse it. It is this, that, while there is no end to the variety which the simplest melodies produce, there is but one sentiment excited by harmony.

However varied the melody may be, whatever the succession of emotion and passion which it calls up, it will be found that, with each of these, and always at its expense, the harmony, _quoad_ harmony, associates another, and that always one and the same, feeling. This, if observed, will be found to be a feeling of surprise, and certainly of pleasure, at the display of knowledge in the instant association of related notes; surprise and pleasure at the art and skill, not at the feeling and taste, of the composer[65].

The compositions of Handel, Bach, and others, are admirable in their kinds and perfectly descriptive; but they touch not the most exquisite feelings; they sink not into the heart; they rouse not the passions. They excite, as already said, surprise and pleasure at the art and skill, not at the feeling and taste, of the composer. Let them be compared in this respect with Sarti, Cimarosa, &c., and all doubt on this point will cease.

It is evident, then, that the admiration, however delightful, produced by the instant and unexpected association of related notes, must, precisely in proportion to its degree, weaken and diminish the effect of the melody--must, in fact, destroy its purity, simplicity, continuity, depth, and intensity.

It is, perhaps, scarcely a less fatal objection to the indiscriminate practice of harmony, that even the restricted pleasure which it conveys is, from want of education in this peculiar art, incapable of being at all enjoyed by the vast majority of hearers.

The best practical illustration, indeed, of the relative value of melody and harmony arises from observing their effects on the mind and the expression of the features. The English people, being chiefly of Gothic origin, have a fair capability of apprehending coexisting related sounds, and their conduct while hearing them will furnish this illustration.

Let any one, then, observe the effect of these sounds in the finest harmonies produced at our Opera-house. An affected look of knowingness, an insincere grin, passes from one face to another, and occasionally, when some one who really understands the matter gives a bold and loud rap with his stick,--believing that there must now certainly be something very fine, they very innocently break into a long paroxysm of applause, and they repeat this as often as the courageous fellow with the stick chooses to give them the signal, each secretly thinking how devilish stupid he must be not really to enjoy what everybody else is so highly delighted with.

See, however, the same faces when a simple melody breaks out from the chaos of the harmony: waiting for no prompter, pleasure instantly beams on every face, and truth and nature have a triumph in that deep and universal sympathy which art and affectation are utterly incapable of achieving.

The practice of harmony has, indeed, been borrowed by us from the boors of Russia, Bohemia, and Swabia, whose broad and flat configuration of head seems to be as much connected with this _practice_ as their coldness and apathy are utterly opposed to musical _feeling_, which has no existence independent of passion.

So natural and universal is melody, that even many quadrupeds are powerfully affected by it, while not one seems to be influenced by harmony.

Such then is the kind of music which, originally borrowed from these boors, the influence of a few amateurs has rendered fashionable among the half-civilized people of Europe,--for we must call those half-civilized who have no perception of the fundamental necessity and transcendent beauty of simplicity in all the fine arts, those sole tests of the highest civilization.

In Greece, where alone those arts reached the highest perfection, the purest simplicity characterized every one of their productions; and there, accordingly, harmony--as in general a complex and idle decoration, in no way promoting expression, the end of music, but, on the contrary, defeating its purpose, was, we are told, absolutely proscribed.

Even if this fact had not been recorded, the slightest knowledge of the genius of Grecian art would prove that it must have been so; and we might as safely have predicted that they no more loaded their melodies with Gothic or Sclavonic harmonies than their temples with Gothic traceries[66].

The analogy is perfectly strict; for these gingerbread traceries are not more unproductive of great or good effect than harmonies are; nor are the barn-like temples which they cover more ugly in their general form than the meagre airs which harmonies are intended to decorate.

But this is not all. Not only are the airs which harmonies are intended to decorate generally meagre and worthless, it would appear that no other airs than those are fit for conjunction with harmonies. It is certainly true that, whenever the apathetic Germans have attempted to harmonize the impassioned airs and exquisite melodies of Scotland and Ireland, they have ruined them, and disgusted every person of pure and natural taste.

The purpose, then, to which harmony is applicable is not to the expression of pure, simple, continuous, deep, and intense passion--the very highest purpose of musical expression,--but to the expression either of the slightly modified and less definite feelings, or of the more variable, and even jarring sentiments of several persons, purposes far inferior to the former.

It is evident that, where several persons express musically somewhat similar sentiments on the same subject, they may naturally sing in harmony; and where these sentiments occur at intervals of time slightly extended, they may even be supposed to chant in that regulated succession which constitutes fugue. Hence harmony is peculiarly suited to many voices, where deep pathos and passion are impossible; and it is an abuse to apply it to the higher species of music.

It is evident, too, that, in descriptive or epic music, harmony may form the background of the picture--the accompaniment of the narration,--in the front of which some kind of melody appears; and of this the most admirable examples are to be found in the works of Beethoven, the most profound and philosophical of composers. But whoever mistakes this for the highest species of music is not in a condition to understand the present paper.

It is in fact, the absence of pathos and passion among the Gothic races of modern Europe, that has led to the substitution of harmony for melody. At the same time, their excellence in mechanical invention has enabled them greatly to improve instruments, which, however suited to the former, are incapable of the feeling and the meaning, the expression and the delicacy, which essentially belong to the latter. And again, the deficiency of instruments in these most important qualities has led to those strong basses and accompaniments which fill up the vacuity. Music, consequently, has sometimes degenerated into a series of tricks which do not rank above rope-dancing or the ballet.

One word may now properly be added on instrumental accompaniments. They are the natural resource of performers who are destitute either of feeling or of voice. They may be comparatively beautiful when associated with these, but they are absolutely offensive when they interfere with the expression of deep feeling by a beautiful voice.

The best instrumental accompaniment is consequently that which least interferes with the voice--not the continuous sounds of wind or bowed instruments (for their music is rather the poor unfeeling substitute for, than the accompaniment of, fine vocal music), but the light touch of the string of the harp, the guitar, or the lyre, which, while it verifies the accuracy, least interferes with the feeling of vocal expression.

Hence the great masters of art, the Greeks, employed so simple an instrument as the guitar (their κιθαρα being obviously its original), or the lyre, which appears to have been simpler and better still. I rejoice, therefore, to see the former becoming as fashionable in England as it has long been on the Continent.

~Donald Walker.~

A GERMAN CRITIQUE.

(From the _Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung_.)

[A specimen of criticism from the most esteemed and widely-circulated musical journal of Germany, will not be uninteresting to our readers. The beauty of M. Mendelssohn’s overture has excited in M. Fink’s mind a lively recollection of Shakspeare’s most fanciful drama, and almost turned the brain of the critic. He has wrought himself into a belief that music is equal to language in the power of describing. His reverie is amusing; but the intimate acquaintance he manifests with the works of our great dramatic poet, is a circumstance more gratifying to us than all the sallies of his imagination.]

* * * * *

Overture to Shakspeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, composed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, arranged as a Duet for the Piano-Forte, by the composer. (Property of the publishers.) Leipzig. Published by Breitkopf and Härtel. Pr. 1 Thaler.

The same Composition arranged for the Piano-Forte (for one performer) by F. Mockwitz.

Reviewed by G. W. Fink, (the Editor.)

It was announced last year in one of the numbers of this publication that the orchestral parts of this excellent work had appeared at the above publisher’s; and we then expressed our regret that they should have been published without the score, for want of which the overture could not be reviewed. Up to the present time we have not relaxed in our endeavours to meet with the score, but we have been unsuccessful. This would have been a matter of still deeper regret to us if we had not had the good fortune to hear the overture, the arrangements of which are lying before us, played by our orchestra, which, at the first performance, got through the difficult composition in such a delightful manner, that a tolerably distinct impression of it remained upon our mind, which, upon looking over and playing the two clever arrangements, is powerfully called back to our memory. From the impression produced by the instrumental performance, and from these two published arrangements, we cannot but give the palm to this production of the persevering young composer, as evincing a greater degree of ability and genius than any other of his works with which we are acquainted.

Tones of simple melody seem to float, like soft and delicate whispers, through the shadows of night. It seems as though something mystic were approaching, from the distance shrouded in darkness, which suddenly settles like a gleam of moonshine on the desired spot. Now gentle and vigorous sounds alternate, as though a power of both those characters, veiled in the misty clouds, were at hand; and in a chord of silvery softness, Titania beckons her fairy followers, who, forthwith forming in couples, wind through the silent wood in fantastic twirling dances. Here, detaching themselves from their companions, a diminutive elfin couple creep into a polished acorn-cup, and sing in delicate fairy strains to the elegant movements of the rest. Pea-blossom, Mustard-seed, Moth, and Cobweb, are there among the busy revellers in the moonshine; and there is such a twirling and flirting, and rustling and glitter, that one would fain be present at the nuptial revels of the bright-helmed Theseus, were it even in the capacity of a tinker. Anon somebody trips in with a prying look, softly and slyly, as though he were plotting mischief; and this personage is no other than Friend Oberon, attended by his roguish Puck, projecting a little spell to punish his refractory consort. And lo! on a sudden, matters become coarsely real and corporeal. The ‘rude mechanicals’ are about to rehearse their ‘most lamentable comedy’ in the wood; and the lovers are eloping, because the cruel father will not let his daughter marry him she loves. The night is as busy and full of life as though it were open day, and a legato cantabile, keeping up the character of the scene, expresses the impassioned prayer of the maiden, exhausted by her flight, imploring that she may be allowed to slumber undisturbed on the mossy rock. In the foreground beneath the trees the mechanics are rehearsing their drama, each according to his part; Oberon surveys unseen the strange performance, and gives his commands to the sly Puck. The scene is now one of wonderful bustle and confusion; mortals rehearse and elves dance, Oberon smiles, and Puck, ever frolicsome and mischievous, returning, dives through the dewy atmosphere and presents to his radiant master the magic floweret, Love in idleness, whose penetrating juice changes the wise to stupid and the stupid into wise. This is, between ourselves, the very flower which, among other things, is the cause that the most shallow effusions thus metamorphosed are the most assiduously read and strummed. Dip them in the water, their element, and Puck’s observation is perfectly legible upon their hairy foreheads--

‘Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe.’

It is only a pity that the wag should always mistake his man, and, instead of the right, invariably hit upon the wrong! But for the rest, this is after all of little consequence; for in a genuine Midsummer Night’s Dream it is proper that all things should be at cross purposes, and yet so clearly defined, that in the confusion we may distinguish the forms of the beings composing it. And here the great charm is that this is just the case in this instance. Oh! what a delightful thing is a merry dream! Suddenly the chord of the diminished seventh, that pliant and accommodating harmony, accompanied by rumbling bases, resounds through the busy scene, and one may fancy Quince exclaiming, ‘Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee, thou art translated!’ No matter! it is rather a piece of good fortune for Bottom. Although the scared artisans run off at the sight of his monstrous head, the slumbering Titania, being also under the spell of the magic floweret, on awaking beholds the transformed wight; and oh! how beautiful and intellectual does she find the agreeable beast! how lovingly does she caress him! The sprightly elves are ordered to dance to her long-eared darling, and Pea-blossom to scratch his lovely little head. Theseus now approaches with his queen of the Amazons and train of huntsmen to the sound of the horns and the barking of dogs. Things now begin to assume a clearer aspect; Bottom too is disenchanted, and it seems as if the clowns were playing Pyramus and Thisbe at the wedding. Bottom roars so that the duke says, ‘Let him roar again!’ Lysander has returned to his love; and matters end so much to our satisfaction that one cannot help exclaiming with Bottom, ‘I have had a most rare vision--I have had a dream past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream.’ In short, the beauty of the thing is, that in its true sense, the beginning is the end and the end the beginning.

Now let the reader, who in this account may here and there have observed something of a flowery description, first of all read the Midsummer Night’s Dream; then let him take the two-handed arrangement, or the duet, as he pleases, (they are both beautiful and good; but the arrangement for four hands is the better--a circumstance, however, which ought by no means to imply a defect as regards the two-handed arrangement, for the simple reason that two is not four,) and he will be delighted with it and feel the import of the lines,

Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so, And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

REVIEW OF NEW MUSIC.

~Six original English Glees~, _for three and four voices, including the Glee which gained the Prize given by the_ Manchester Glee-Club, 1832, _and those performed at the_ Concentores Society, _composed by_ ~H. R. Bishop~. _The Poetry by_ Mrs. ~Hemans~, ~Joanna Baillie~, ~J. Wilson~, Esq., _and_ Dr. ~Johnson~. (Goulding and D’Almaine.)

The Glee is our national music, is indigenous to these isles, and a beautiful species of composition however viewed; we should therefore be sorry to see it fall into anything like neglect, a danger which some few years ago seemed to be threatened, though now we trust is past, judging from the encouragement it has lately received from many associated bodies, and from its re-introduction to domestic parties, where it appears to be regaining that favour which its own merits, and the facility with which it may now be performed, ought always to command.

Mr. Bishop, though he pursued his professional studies under an Italian master, and has devoted his life chiefly to the theatre, has cultivated what in an English musician may almost be called a natural talent for glee-writing, to which, it is fair to a laudable institution to state, he has probably been partly induced by his connexion with the _Concentores Society_, a small club, whose sole object is the conservation of this kind of composition, and for the service of which three out of the present collection were produced.

The first glee in this volume, ‘Where shall we make her grave?’ in ~E~♭, for four equal voices, gained the _premium_--(a _Prize_ implies a medal, or cup; a far more gentlemanlike reward, by-the bye,)--given by a club at Manchester, and is a very impressive composition, the words set with judgment and feeling, and full of good, rich harmony. Being long, a more frequent and decided change of key would have increased the effect of this; though as it is in four different movements, the sameness which otherwise would have been felt, is much concealed. The melody at the words ‘where shower and singing-bird,’ is very charming; and the whole of pages 4 and 5, where the author modulates first into ~A~♭, then into ~D~♭, is set in a masterly, affecting manner.

The second, ‘Up! quit thy bower!’ a cheerful glee in ~F~, for two sopranos, tenor, and base, is lively and pleasing: the frequent use here of the diminished 7th is rather a novelty in a glee, and tends to a good purpose. The whole of this is full of agreeable melody, which is particularly striking at page 15, where the annexed passage occurs,--a successful departure from the usual habits of glee-writers:--

The third, ‘No more the morn with tepid rays,’ in ~D~, for four equal voices,--the words, Dr. Johnson’s Ode to Winter,--is in several movements, but the key is not so various, and the whole, though set with a due regard to the Poet’s sentiments, is rather monotonous and heavy. The following passage contains some clashing notes, though we allow that many of them are passing notes.--

The composer’s design is obvious, but nothing in music can justify what is disagreeable to a cultivated ear.

The fourth, ‘Oh! Sky-lark!’ in ~F~, also for four equal voices, is throughout graceful, especially in melody; the repetition of certain pleasing phrases conduces here very much to effect.

The fifth, ‘In tears, the heart oppressed with grief,’ in ~E~, for soprano, tenor, and base, a single movement, is elegant and gentle, and the words are most judiciously set. Some chromatic notes in this will put glee-singers on the alert: they are, generally speaking, averse from trouble, but it is time to rouse them, and break through their ancient habits.

The sixth and last, ‘Come forth, sweet spirit!’ in ~F~, for four equal voices, in two movements, is a good composition, and quite irreproachable, yet not very captivating. It is best calculated to please those critics who judge music by the eye rather than the ear,--who deal largely in the phrases ‘fine writing,’ ‘parts well put together,’ &c., and seldom look beyond the mechanism of a composition.

We may pronounce this to be a successful work: the glees are all of the orthodox kind, deficient in nothing that good taste requires, or that the nature of the composition, by a prescriptive right, demands. No very hazardous attempts are made at novelty, but we meet with nothing common, and no pedantic show of mistaken learning. Mr. Bishop has written to please, not without a sufficient regard for his own reputation, and has not failed in his endeavour.

* * * * *

1. ~Songs of the Bower~, _composed by_ ~C. W. Manners~. (Goulding and D’Almaine.)

2. The Spring Wreath, ~Twelve Songs~, _composed by Messrs._ ~John Thomson~, ~R. Webster~, ~J. P. Clarke~, ~T. Macfarlane~, _and_ ~W. Hindmarsh~: _the words by_ ~T. Atkinson~, _author of_ The Cameleon. 8vo. (Goulding and D’Almaine.)

Without being at all informed on the subject, and judging only from the dedication of the _Songs of the Bower_, we are inclined to believe that they are the production of an amateur, and that the words are by the author of the music. If we are in error as to the latter point, the composer is bound to excuse us, for he should have named the writer of them, if not from his own pen. They are six in number, show a vast deal of taste, a desire to avoid commonplaces, (though not always successful in this respect,) and a most correct manner of setting the poetry, both as regards expression and accentuation. Indeed, it is the latter circumstance which leads us to think that the composer and poet are one and the same person, for mere musicians, more often than not, are influenced by the meaning of particular words rather than by the context, and almost as frequently commit mistakes in quantity and in emphasis.

The first of these, ‘Once more to the bower,’ in ~E~, is a slow, expressive air, well accompanied, but not very original, particularly in its cadences. The second, _The Regret_, in ~F~, if sung slowly, rather ad libitum, and with feeling, will always make an impression. The accompaniment to this is very appropriate. The third, ‘When youth first leads,’ in ~D~, is more pleasing than new. Of the fourth, ‘Now is the hour,’ in ~E~ flat, precisely the same may be said, though it is not as a whole equal to the former. The fifth, ‘Come welcome with me, lovely May,’ in ~G~, should have been written in triple time; it has a strong polacca tendency, and halts exceedingly in its present measure. The praise we have bestowed on the composer’s accentuation must be abated so far as this song is concerned: giving a long note to ‘with,’ and in the strong part of the bar too, cannot escape censure. The sixth, ‘The last red rose,’ in ~E~ flat, is another expressive air, and the accompaniment shows much good taste in harmony; but the cadences here, as once or twice before, are, contrary to the moral rule, not the more valuable for being old acquaintances.

No. 2 is a very pretty volume of lithographed songs, thin enough to carry in the pocket, and with neat cover and gilt leaves, producible in any lady’s drawing-room; and all this at a less price than two songs of the ordinary kind! We confess that the smallness of the characters calls on the eye for unusual exertion; and the singer and accompanyist, if in the dual number, must sit in the closest possible contact if they mean to see a single note or word.

Of these songs, the best are, _The Promise_, in the Scottish style, by J. P. Clarke; _The Night Flower_, by T. Macfarlane; ‘The Midnight Dream,’ by John Thomson, Esq., a very superior composition; and _The Proud Lover_, by R. Webster. The poetry of the songs is unaffected, and some of it remarkable for tenderness, if not for any higher quality; and, at all events, the publication is certainly worth the moderate, the hardly remunerating price set on it.

* * * * *

PIANO-FORTE.

1. _Souvenir du_ Pré aux Clercs, ~Fantasia~, _composé par_ ~F. Kalkbrenner~, Op. 119. (Goulding and Co.)

2. _Souvenir de_ ~Herold~, _Fantasia, par_ ~C. Chaulieu~. Op. 151. (Goulding and Co.)

Both of these are remembrances of M. Herold, the lately-deceased French composer, and made up, we believe, chiefly of airs from his operas.

The first, though requiring considerable powers of execution, is good music; difficulty is not the author’s _object_. Some parts are very beautiful, others ingenious; but we most condemn the hateful run of semitones in thirds, foolishly introduced, at page 8, in deference to a vicious fashion.

* * * * *

M. Chaulieu has produced some clever and many pleasing things for the piano-forte, which have always been noticed by us in terms of due approbation. Though not an original or vigorous composer, he has generally been a rational one. But all at once his judgment seems to have abandoned him,--a fit of pedantic foppery has seized him! Will it be credited that a composer in the nineteenth century, a musician not under restraint, not actually in a strait waistcoat, can have attempted to retrograde a century and a half, by introducing, in a piece written for the piano-forte only, the contra-tenor clef? He has not only employed this, most freely, in the present fantasia, but written it with _8va. alta_ over the notes, as if the same meaning could not have been expressed infinitely better by the usual clef, even admitting that the ~C~ clef were still in use! If such folly as this is countenanced, we shall soon go back to six-line staves, to the treble clef on the first line, and the mean on the fifth,--to musical darkness and barbarism. Surely the London publisher, Mr. D’Almaine, could not have been aware of this mad freak, or exquisite piece of musical coxcombry, or his common sense would have prompted him immediately to restore sanity to the notation of this work, which, in its present state, cannot have the least chance of sale.

* * * * *

1. ~Grosses Concert-Stuck~, (_Pièce de Concert_,) _Op. 47, composé par_ ~Mayseder~, _arrangé pour le Piano-forte par_ ~Charles Czerny~. (Wessel and Co.)

2. ~Rondeau Mignon, No. 7~, _sur l’air_ ‘Non più andrai’ _de_ ~Mozart~, _composé pour le Piano-forte par_ ~Fred. Kulau~. (Wessel and Co.)

The subject of No. 1 has frequently, in one shape or other, come under our notice; it has all the frothy gaiety of the author, and not a trait that gives it the slightest chance of being remembered beyond the fleeing hour. M. Czerny, as might have been expected, has not palliated any of its defects, but rather aggravated them, by a succession of restless, unrelated, senseless passages.

* * * * *

M. Kulau, a judicious musician, but, alas! no more, has made a very charming rondo out of Mozart’s popular air from _Figaro_. Like a reasonable man, he has studied the convenience of the player, and also confined himself within moderate bounds;--like a man of taste, he has been regulated by the style of the subject;--and like a musician who really understands his art, he has added nothing but what every sound harmonist will approve and admire.

* * * * *

1. ~Minuetto~ _and_ ~Trio~, ~Andante Sentimentale~, _and_ ~Allegro Scherzando~, _composed by_ ~Edward J. Loder~. Op. 19. (Goulding and D’Almaine.)

2. ~Horn’s~ ‘Happy Valley,’ _and_ ‘Dark-eyed Brunette,’ _arranged, with an_ Introduction, _by_ ~T. A. Rawlings~. (Monro and May.)

3. ‘Non più mesta,’ _the Finale to_ La Cenerentola, arranged, with Variation, _by_ ~T. A. Rawlings~. (Monro and May.)

No. 1 evinces talent of no common kind: he who composed these pieces could, we should suppose, put parts to them, and by the addition of a single movement exalt them into a symphony, of which they seem to have been intended as portions. The three great masters are the models on which these compositions are formed, of whom Beethoven appears to be the object of the author’s highest admiration. The Minuet, in ~E~ flat, and Trio, in ~A~ flat, are spirited, and less studied in manner than the Andante, in ~B~ flat, which is impressive and _recherché_. The Allegretto, in ~A~ flat, is bold and energetic; the modulations here are many and fearless, and the author has ventured on discords for which he has no precedent that immediately occurs to us, thus at least proving a courage and independence which promise much as the result of his future exertions. Were our advice likely to influence Mr. E. Loder, we would recommend him to pursue his present course, only guarding him against the possibility of being allured from melody by the temptations of harmony.

* * * * *

The composer of a song has no chance now of success unless he fee some public performer to sing it; and the composer of a piano-forte piece must not expect that his work will attract any notice unless built on some popular air. Mr. Rawlings has long known the truth of this, and still acts on his experience. No. 2 is formed on two airs said to be popular, and No. 3 on one that unquestionably is, namely, ‘Non più mesta; of all of which he has made good use, and produced two very agreeable and recommendable publications.

* * * * *

1. ~Contre-Danses Brillantes~, _et_ ~Valse~, _composés par_ ~J. T. Surenne~. (Robertson, _Edinburgh_.)

2. ~Quadrille~ _de_ ~Contre-Danses~, _sur des motifs de l’opéra de_ ~Donizetti~, Anna Bolena, _arrangée par_ ~Henry Lemoine~. (Wessel and Co.)

No. 1 are animated, animating dances, not exhibiting any very new thoughts, but well put together.

No. 2 are subjects from an opera that cannot boast a single original idea, therefore the compiler of this quadrille must not be censured for want of novelty; but he has well arranged the airs he has chosen, and adapted them in a convenient manner for the performer.

* * * * *

DUETS, PIANO-FORTE.

1. ~Grosses Concert-Stuck~, (_Pièce de Concert_,) Op. 47, _composé par_ ~Mayseder~, _arrangé par_ ~Charles Czerny~. (Wessel and Co.)

2. ~Duet~ _on a_ ~Danish Melody~, _composed for two performers, by_ ~Fred. Kulau~. (Wessel and Co.)

No. 1 is the work noticed above, as arranged for a single performer. We like it better in its present form, for the parts are more dispersed, and the melody comes out more distinctly. The upper part of this is very difficult, but the lower is easy, the duet therefore will very well suit an elder and younger sister, or two players whose musical advancement is unequal.

* * * * *

No. 2 is Kulau’s _Recollections of Odensee_, in two quick, pleasing, and very practicable movements. We will not answer for the airs being, _bonâ fide_, of Danish origin, but whatever their birth-place, they are lively, pretty, and the superior master often peeps out while he means to be only simple and familiar.

* * * * *

1. ~Quadrille~ _sur des motifs de_ ~Herold~, _de l’opéra_ Zampa, _arrangée par_ ~Henry Lemoine~. No. 1. (Wessel and Co.)

2. No. 2, Ditto. ditto. ditto.

Some of the best subjects from an opera which has been too much lauded on the continent, are here arranged in an easy but effective manner.

* * * * *

ORGAN.

~Select Organ Pieces~, _from Masses, Motets, and other sacred works of_ ~Mozart~, ~Haydn~, ~Beethoven~, ~Cherubini~, ~Palestrina~, _and other classical composers of the German and Italian schools, arranged by_ ~Vincent Novello~. _Nos. 31 to 36._ (A. Novello.)

What the preceding numbers of this work contain, we have had no means of judging, having only received those now under notice, and must confine ourselves to them. By means of very close engraving, twenty-two pieces are included in these numbers, principally from Haydn’s and Mozart’s sacred compositions, but some few are by Novello, Portogallo, and Bonno. We are not among those who think that the Masses, &c. of Haydn and Mozart are, taken altogether, equal to their secular works; many of them, we are persuaded, would never have been published by the consent of the composers, but parts of them make very good organ pieces. These Mr. Novello has culled, and, with his well-known ability, converted them to a very useful purpose. He certainly calculates his adaptations for superior organists, and is not sparing of notes. Sometimes there will be found too many, by second-rate performers; and we take the liberty to mention to Mr. N. that in the country, nay even in the metropolis, are several respectable organists, very well qualified to do the duty of parish churches, who think his arrangements too much crowded for ordinary players, and too full of harmony for country congregations.

VOCAL.

‘Tantum ergo,’ a ~Soprano Solo~, _with chorus, and violin, or flute, obligato, composed by_ ~C. Guynemer~. (J. A. Novello.)

This is more to be praised for smoothness of melody, and elegance in style, than for invention; we meet with nothing in it that can be called new, but, at the same time, nothing but what is rather agreeable. The air is in two movements, the first slow in three-four time, the last quicker, in common time. We prefer the former. The chorus, with a principal soprano added, to which a few florid passages are given, is simple, therefore--according to our notion of choral church music--appropriate; but it is also graceful. The flute accompaniment (by Mr. Nicholson) is good, as such, but not of that grave character which the words so imperatively demand.

* * * * *

1. ~Terzetto~, ‘Soccorso, sostegno,’ _for soprano, contr’alto, and basso, composed by_ ~John Lodge~, Esq. (Lonsdale and Mills.)

2. ~Glee~, ‘The Butterfly,’ _for four voices, the words by_ ~S. Rogers~ [Esq.] _the music by_ ~James Battye~. (Goulding and D’Almaine.)

3. ~Duet~, ‘Wandering Zephyr,’ (_the words from the Spanish, by Mrs. Lawrence_,) _composed by_ ~John Lodge~, Esq. (Lonsdale and Mills.)

4. ~Duet~, ‘We must part, love!’ _written by_ ~W. Ball~, _the melody by_ ~Mozart~, _with symphonies, &c. by_ ~William Forde~. (Cocks and Co.)

No. 1 begins with a single voice, the contr’alto following, on the same subject a fourth below; but the most pleasing part of this is where the three voices come together. The whole is quite in the Italian style,--the best, though; and not unworthy the acceptance of the talented and lovely young dilettante to whom it is dedicated,--the Hon. Mary Anne Jervis.

* * * * *

No. 2 is not a glee, we beg to hint to the composer: having an accompaniment, and a free one too, it should have been called a quartet. The name, however, may not much signify; but as Mr. Brown is better known by that appellation than if he were called Mr. White, so the term quartet more correctly explains the nature of the present composition than that now bestowed on it. But whatever the name of this, it will not give one to its author: he must not build his hopes of immortality on _The Butterfly_.

* * * * *

No. 3 is simple, easy in every respect, and exactly calculated to please those who either do not understand or have no taste for elaborately written music. In whatever Mr. Lodge publishes, however unpretending, a trait of originality is always to be found, and this duettino is no exception to the rule.

* * * * *

We cannot say from which of Mozart’s works Mr. Forde has taken the melody of No. 4; it does not bear any of the very distinguishing marks of the author, though agreeable. The words, which are not quite intelligible to us, are not all adapted with the proper regard to emphasis, and the accompaniment needs much thinning. With a little alteration, this duet may be made useful to such amateur singers as are not disposed to examine too critically the poetry to which they give utterance.

1. ~Arietta~, ‘Torna in quell’ onda chiara,’ _the words by_ ~Metastasio~, _the Music composed by_ ~Lord Burghersh~. (Lonsdale and Mills.)

2. ~Ballad~, ‘Crabbed Age and Youth,’ _composed and published as the preceding_.

3. ~Ballad~, ‘Unmindful of my sorrow,’ _written by_ ~Mrs. Butterworth~, _composed by_ Mrs. ~Philip Millard~. (Monro and May.)

4. ~Ballad~, ‘I know our dream of love is o’er,’ _the melody by_ ~Beethoven~, _the Poetry, Symphonies, and Accompaniments by_ ~J. A. Wade~, Esq. (Hawes.)

5. ~Song~, ‘The World of Change,’ _the poetry by_ ~Mrs. Abdy~, _adapted to a melody of Spohr’s, by_ ~Edwin J. Neilson~. (Hawes.)

6. ~Song~, ‘When the moon sheds her lustre,’ _written by_ ~S. P. Quin, Esq.~, _composed by_ ~Alexander D. Roche~. (Cocks and Co.)

7. ~Song~, ‘I saw thee crop that beauteous flower,’ _composed by_ ~Charles M’Korkell~. (Chappell.)

8. ~Canzonet~, ‘Farewell, ye green hills,’ _composed by_ ~J. W. Davison~. (Purday.)

No. 1, short and simple as it is, possesses much of that quality for which we so often sigh,--originality. Nothing can be more easy than this, for both singer and accompanyist, and it cannot fail of a circulation among those who do not take fright at a foreign language.

* * * * *

No. 2, we are told in a note, ‘is founded on the ancient Greek enharmonic mode, in which the 4th and 7th of the scale are omitted, as in the scale used in the Scotch melodies.’ In old Scottish airs, and, what is rather remarkable, in Chinese melodies, these intervals are rejected, but we do not wish to see the practice imitated, except, perhaps, now and then, to give--as in the present case--a tinge of antiquity to music set to ancient poetry.

* * * * *

No. 3 is very expressively set; but the time being marked 2/4, it appears to us that _larghetto_ would have met the composer’s intentions better than _andante_, which, in four-quaver time, is quicker than the character of both words and music seems to justify.

* * * * *

No. 4 is the andante in ~B~ flat from Beethoven’s septet, which Mr. Wade apparently intends now to be sung much slower than it is played in its original form. He has not been very fortunate in adapting words to this; ‘one’ is not emphatic, nor is the last syllable of ‘memory,’ of ‘melody,’ and of ‘minstrelsy,’ long. Me-mo-ry, &c., will not do.

* * * * *

No. 5 also exhibits numerous errors in emphasis, beautiful as is the air. In fact, as the words are now adapted, a singer would stand a fair chance of being laughed at who should perform this air.

* * * * *

The sixth and seventh of these call for no remark.

* * * * *

No. 8 sets off with some promise of novelty, but the composer, in modulating from ~F~ to ~E~ minor, gets quite out of his depth, and is engulphed in fifths of so abominable a kind, that we cannot allow them to pass without a remark.

PIANO-FORTE AND VIOLIN.

~Gran Duo Concertante~, _on Airs from_ ~Meyerbeer’s~ Robert le Diable; _the Piano-forte part by_ ~Kalkbrenner~, _the Violin part by_ ~Lafont~. (Chappell.)

This is a composition in which two first-rate artists have united their talents, and requires performers of nearly equal rank to execute it in a fit and proper manner. It is a work remarkable for its brilliancy, which appears to have been the principal aim of the writers, for the greater part is of this cast; though an expressive adagio in ~B~ minor, and one variation of the same kind in ~F~ minor, operate as seasonable contrasts and reliefs. The bulk of this consists of an air in ~C~, (we do not recollect its title,) with, in point of fact, five variations, though only numbered as two. The first of these requires a violinist expert in double stops; and if the pianist cannot run demisemiquavers in thirds, with one hand, in quick time, he had better at once decline all share in the concertante.

* * * * *

PIANO-FORTE AND FLUTE.

~Introduction~ _and_ ~Rondo~ on ‘Ah! quand il gêle sans se laisser,’ _chorus in_ ~Onslow’s~ _opera_, Le Colporteur, _composed by_ ~F. Kulau~, Op. 98. (Hill.)

We cannot any that any great exertion appears to have been made by M. Kulau either in the choice or arrangement of this chorus, but it has an advantage, and not a trifling one, namely, that it enables two moderate performers to make a considerable display without the cost of much previous practice, and at the expense of but little exertion. This is in ~E~ minor, but ends in the major key. It has an introduction, which, though there is an air of pretence in it, is heavy, and signifies nothing.

* * * * *

1. ~Tre Duettini~, _ridotti per due Flauti e Piano-Forte, da_ ~T. Bucher~. (Cocks and Co.)

2. ~Paganini’s~ _Three_ ~Fantasias~, _arranged and published by the same_.

The duets are ‘Cara pupille,’ and ‘Che cangi sempre,’ of Blangini, and ‘Vedi da questi palpiti,’ by Mercadante, arranged as ~Trios~, in as easy a manner as possible for all three instruments; and to a numerous class of amateurs they will not be less agreeable because divested of all manner of difficulty, without being rendered insipid.

* * * * *

No. 2 are as brief as the foregoing, but the flute part requires rather more skill in the performer, while the accompaniment is much the same as the other. As to the airs, they are without any distinguishing character; and why such trifling compositions, so short--only two pages each--so scanty in subjects, and consequently so destitute of those flights of imagination which the term fantasia implies, should have received such a title, we are at a loss to guess.

ANCIENT CONCERTS.

ELEVENTH CONCERT,

_Under the Direction of Earl Howe, Wednesday, May 29, 1833._

~Act I.~

National anthem, ‘Lord of Heaven.’

Song, ‘Rejoice, O Judah.’ Chorus, ‘Hallelujah.’ ~Handel.~ (_Judas Maccabeus._)

Glee, ‘A generous friendship.’ ~Webbe.~

Recit., ‘Ei parte, senti, ah no!’ Song, ‘Per pietà.’ ~Mozart.~ (_Cosi fan Tutte._)

Chorus, ‘O Father, whose.’ (_Judas Maccabeus._) ~Handel.~

Concerto 2nd. (_Grand._) ~Handel.~

Recit., ‘He was cut off.’ Song, ‘But thou didst not ~Handel.~ leave.’ (_Messiah._)

Chorus, ‘Lift up your heads.’ (_Messiah._) ~Handel.~

Selection from the _Creation_. ~Haydn.~ Recit., ‘And God said.’ Recit. acc., ‘In splendour bright.’ Chorus, ‘The heavens are telling.’ Trio, ‘The day that is coming.’ Grand chorus, ‘The heavens are telling.’

~Act II.~

Overture. (_Henry the Fourth._) ~Martini.~

Recit., ‘Grazie vi rendo.’ Song, ‘A compir.’ ~Guglielmi.~ (_Semiramide._)

Glee, ‘When winds breathe soft.’ ~Webbe.~

Recit., ‘Me, when the sun.’ Song, ‘Hide me from ~Handel.~ Day’s.’ (_Il Pensieroso._)

Overture. (_Prometheus._) ~Beethoven.~

Chorus, ‘Rex tremendæ.’ Quartet, ‘Recordare.’ ~Mozart.~ (_Requiem._)

Glee, ‘Though the last glimpse of Erin.’ Irish air, harmonized by ~Greatorex.~

Chorus, ‘O sing unto Jehovah.’ ~Haydn.~

This concert, the first selected by the noble Earl who has lately added his name to the list of directors, augurs very favourably of his musical knowledge and taste. We here discern no symptoms of prejudice, of an irrational exclusive system, for the best productions of the great schools are allowed a place; and, so long as the works of living composers are declared inadmissible,--a regulation which, for obvious reasons, ought to be strictly enforced,--the wider the field for choice, the better, both for the subscribers and the art itself. With this exception, the rule should be, and we have no doubt will be, to throw the door wide open to all that is excellent, whatever its country or date, and to give every work all the advantages that the best-appointed orchestra can bestow.

The Queen was present at this performance, and perhaps what is here denominated ‘The National Anthem’ was meant as a compliment to her Majesty. But why not have called it by its right name? And what reason can there have been for not giving the composer the credit of it? This is neither more nor less than Haydn’s Hymn for the Emperor Francis, with English words adapted to the music,[67] and as such would probably now have been announced, had not the secretary made his copy from a book of some former year.

The song from _Judas Maccabeus_ is certainly not one of the best in that fine oratorio, but the chorus is grand. Webbe’s lovely glee, of which it is difficult to say whether the melody or the simple harmony is most charming, was well executed by the second choir; the first wanted strength in the base. Madame Cinti excels more in the cantabile than in the declamatory style; she therefore sang the air, ‘Per pietà,’ divinely, but was not quite so successful in the recitative. The fine choral prayer, ‘O Father, whose almighty power,’ with the spirited fugue, forming the second movement, was admirably performed; as was Handel’s concerto. In the air from the _Messiah_, Mrs. Knyvett was perfectly at home, as she is in all Handel’s music. Indeed this lady is, we fear--and we feel with regret this apprehension--likely to be the last of that school which has received from tradition the true manner of singing the oratorio music of this master. The chorus that followed, by being placed in juxtaposition with Haydn’s choral _chef-d’œuvre_, seemed to challenge comparison; but if Handel is to be weighed in the scale against Haydn, ‘Lift up your heads,’ though a very masterly chorus, is not the work to be selected for the purpose. Nothing can exceed the admirable manner in which the selection from the _Creation_ was performed: Braham’s ‘In splendour bright’ was magnificent, and ‘The heavens are telling’ stupendously grand; we never before heard so perfect a performance, and never were more affected by choral music.

The very pleasing light overture of Martini found an abundance of admirers in the room: many who did not justly appreciate Haydn’s chorus, entered fully into the merits of this. The melody, ‘Charmante Gabrielle,’ forming part of this, dragged--was played too slow. The aria, ‘A compir,’ proved too much of a duet; the violin was rendered more prominent than the composer intended; but Madame Cinti executed her share of it with a delicacy and neatness that never have been surpassed. Webbe’s greatest work, his glee, ‘When winds breathe soft,’ was a very finished performance. Miss Stephens sang most sweetly the song from _Il Pensieroso_. What poetical music! what musical words! But the whole oratorio (as it is called) whence this is taken, tempts one to commit an anachronism, by making Milton and Handel commune together during the progress of their work. The overture to _Prometheus_ went well, but wanted some of the fire of the Philharmonic orchestra. The chorus, ‘Rex tremendæ majestatis,’ had ample justice done it; but in the exquisite quartet, a want of _ensemble_, of that union which good rehearsing produces, was too apparent.

TWELFTH CONCERT,

_Under the Direction of Lord Burghersh, Wednesday, June 5, 1833._

~Act I.~

Overture. Chorus, ‘O the pleasures.’ (_Acis and ~Handel.~ Galatea._)

Song, ‘Parto ma tu ben.’ (_La Clemenza di ~Mozart.~ Tito._)

Glee, ‘Mark’d you her eye.’ ~Spofforth.~

Recit., ‘O loss of sight!’ Song, ‘Total eclipse!’ ~Handel.~ (_Samson._)

Quartet, ‘Vieni à regni.’ (_Orfeo ed Euridice._) ~Gluck.~

Song, ‘Il pensier stà.’ (_Orfeo ed Euridice._) ~Haydn.~

Recit., ‘Euridice!’ Song, ‘Che farò.’ (_Orfeo ed ~Gluck.~ Euridice._)

Te Deum (MS.) Composed for the Royal Chapel at ~Leo.~ Naples, 1741.

~Act II.~

Overture (_Alceste._) ~Gluck.~

Song, ‘Let the bright seraphim.’ Chorus, ‘Let their ~Handel.~ celestial.’ (_Samson._)

Sestetto, ‘Dove son.’ (_Cosi fan Tutte._) ~Mozart.~

Duetto, ‘Dove scorre.’ ~Mozart.~

Quartet ‘Agnus Dei.’ Chorus, ‘Dona nobis.’ ~Mozart.~

Song, ‘Misera! dove son?’ ~Mozart.~

Madrigal (double choir), ‘When all alone.’ ~Conversi.~

Song. ‘Alles still tiefe.’ ~Keiser, 1694.~

Chorus, ‘Father, we adore thee.’ (_Judah._) ~Haydn.~

With this concert the season concluded, and in a manner which we should suppose must have determined almost every subscriber to continue his name on the list for the ensuing year. So good a selection, so much variety and novelty, never appeared on the books of the Ancient Concerts. Madame Pasta’s deeply expressive style of singing ‘Parto’ was felt by the whole room, but her shakes, or attempts to shake, nearly neutralized all the good effect she produced. Spofforth’s very beautiful glee,--one of those specimens of the English school which will descend to posterity, and never lose its power to charm,--was, upon the whole, delicately sung, though somewhat too quick. Mr. Bennet in ‘Total eclipse!’ did himself the greatest credit; he sang it most chastely, and afforded the best proofs of having studied the words as well as music of this exceedingly pathetic song, one of the _chefs-d’œuvre_ of the great master. The beautiful quartet from Gluck’s _Orfeo_ was new to these concerts. It is reasonably a matter of wonder that it never before had been rescued from neglect. We would willingly have spared the ‘Musica di Ballo,’ which, though essential on the stage, is quite unnecessary in the concert-room. Not less excellent than the quartet, though of a different character, is the aria from a drama written on the same subject, and composed by Haydn--‘Il pensier stà negli oggetto,’ a gentle, lovely air in ~E~, sung by Mr. Parry, jun., with great judgment and effect. This, we believe, has never till now been publicly performed in England![68] We have heard Madame Pasta, in the scena from Gluck’s opera, with feelings of pleasure less mingled with regret than on the present occasion. She seems exhausted by constantly singing. The two spring months in London fatigue a fashionable performer more than a whole year in cities peopled by reasonable folks. The _Te Deum_ of Leo, though nearly a century old, is another novelty, not only to the Ancient Concerts, but to this and, we suspect, every other country: it is one of the grandest works of this great composer: and some trombone parts which were, with great good sense, added to it on the present occasion, increase to a very considerable degree the sublimity of its effect. To Lord Burghersh, we are told, the subscribers are indebted for so much that is new to them; and we are much mistaken if the musical world generally will not have to thank that accomplished nobleman for having saved this valuable institution from the dissolution that was impending.

The overture to _Alceste_ is decidedly a work of genius. Was it ever before performed in London, except forty years ago at the Opera-House? In the sestetto from _Cosi fan Tutte_ the performers were by no means at ease; they wanted what they ought to have been compelled to undergo, a couple of hours’ private study together, with the piano-forte only, before they even rehearsed it with the band.

‘Dove scorre’ has never been a great favourite with us, though undoubtedly an elegant composition. It was extremely well executed by Messrs. Bennet and Phillips. The ‘Agnus Dei,’ from a not very generally known mass, is a beautiful quartet. The scena, ‘Misera! dove son?’ and following aria, is from Mozart’s _Operngesaenge_, and, like most of the pieces in that collection, did not call forth much of the composer’s strength; Mrs. Bishop, however, did it every justice in her power. The almost bewitching madrigal of Girolamo Conversi, first published at Venice, in 1575, was encored!--a great effort for this wonderfully self-controlled audience. Keiser has recently been made generally known through the medium of our work, and a very passionate and charming air by him, admirably sung by Madame Devrient, added to the attraction of this fine concert,--a concert which has most effectually assisted in retrieving the character that had been rather damaged by a few former seasons, and has left a most favourable impression on all who were present at this last of the _fifty-eighth_ series.

PHILHARMONIC CONCERTS.

SEVENTH CONCERT, MONDAY, May 27, 1833.

~Act I.~

Sinfonia in ~C~. ~Beethoven.~

Aria, Signor Tamburini, ‘O, colpo impensato!’ (_La ~Rossini.~ Gazza Ladra._)

New MS. concerto in ~F~, M. Hummel. ~Hummel.~

Duetto, Madame Pasta e Signor Tamburini, ‘Se la ~Rossini.~ vita.’ (_Semiramide._)

Fantasia Drammatica (MS.) composed expressly for the ~The Philharmonic Society, and first time of performance. Chevalier Neukomm.~