The poetry of Ossian is music in itself, and, when intensified by union with the harmonies of a German composer, nothing is more likely to be effective and spirit stirring. As to the story: "Fingal, King of Morven, makes war on Caracul of Lochlin, and with the hero marches his beloved Comala, in the guise of a warrior. He persuades her to rest safely on the edge of the battle, where, distracted by the various cries, and by the whispers of the passing spirits of the fathers' she imagines Fingal slain, and expires." War choruses, tender strains and laments, and mysterious spirit music, are skilfully mingled.

A

6

Dictionary of Musical Information.

BY JOHN W. MOORE.

PRICE $1.25.

While there is no question of the value of the great Encyclopedia, which is a standard work, there seemed to be needed a smaller, more concise and less expensive work, fitted for more general distribution. The "Dictionary" very completely supplies this want. It contains brief but sufficient notices of at least 2000 noted singers, players and composers, also descriptions of musical instruments, definitions in musical theory, and all sorts of odds and ends of interesting musical information. There is also a table of musical terms, and a very complete list of all the musical works published in the United States, the first date of issue being A.D. 1640.

APPENDIX TO

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fairly represent the average listener, and it is to such I address myself, as one of themselves, and not to the cultivated musician.

For many years in my youth I attended the finest musical performances in the metropolis. At first I listened, as I used to think, with due and proper attention; but gradually I became too conscious of the fact that execution and vivid coloring were absorbing nearly all my attention, and when I turned from the Scylla of the score to the Charybdis of the analytical programme, I knew that far too many things were escaping my ears. Later on, when happily brought into contact with men of fine musical culture, possessing the most searching discrimination, I was startled to find that they had the faculty of noticing points and beauties that I strove in vain to catch. I sat through performances with eminent musicians who with extraordinary skill could probe every detail of a complex work, and who afterwards would confound me by remarking on an alarming number of things that had completely eluded my attention. I determined to try to listen more carefully and systematically.

From my study of harmony and composition I knew, of course, that design, form, rhythm, modulation, instrumentation, etc., were elements of any elaborate piece of music, but I had thought that in order to fully appreciate such music it was altogether unnecessary to analyze these elements. Beauty was said to defy analysis, so it appeared to me vain to attempt the task. I innocently thought that the beauties of an orchestral symphony should be as plain to my ear as were to my eye the beauties of a glorious sunset, and inwardly I held it a fault of the composer that it was undoubtedly otherwise. Further, I incontinently insisted on enjoying music that my superiors condemned. After a frank examination I ascer

tained that indolence or confirmed habit had a larger share in my failure than I was at first willing to admit; for when on many occasions, in the composition class at the Royal Academy of Music and elsewhere, circumstances sharply stimulated my ears, I found myself able to hear things which certainly I did not perceive on other occasions when my natural repugnance to take trouble to listen allowed me to relapse into the old passive way. I thought what an excellent thing it would be musically, whatever the effect morally, if when a young musical student failed to observe a transition of four removes, or that the bassoon doubled the viola. he was severely thrashed for the neglect. I feel sure that many of us would have sharper ears now if we had enjoyed the advantage of some such powerful stimulant in a musical Dotheboys' Hall.

that surroundings modify or intensify their ef- that repose, it is the very business of the com-
fects, so with transition, let the means or road poser to avoid. If you wish to listen to a
be ever so various, the change can be traced by fugue, take pains to remember the subject, and
its effect. And so with other changes. The watch for it always. If you wish to enjoy the
effect of a fourth flat remove is as easy or as first movements of a good symphony, hold the
difficult to observe as are the notes La (the flat two or more subjects well in your mind, and
sixth) and Ma (the flat third). Minor keys strive to trace their transformations, and be
are far more difficult to trace than major keys. ready for their return. A score of other mat-
You can tell that you are listening to the minor ters crowd upon my thoughts, many of them
mode, but its characteristic vagueness and un-less technical and more aesthetical, a branch of
certainty render it at times more than difficult things to listen to I have not touched upon, but
to trace its incoming and outgoing.
I must be satisfied with the inadequato sugges-
tions I have made.

It is not my intention here to dwell upon all
the possible modulations to be looked for. In conclusion, I would ask how many of us
Certain it is that by steadily listening for this could give an intelligent account of an elabo-
one thing I increased my power of observation. rate instrumental or vocal work on a single
I can now wax enthusiastic over a change of hearing? How many could describe noticea-
five removes that formerly would not have ble modulation, harmony, rhythm. or even
quickened my pulse, for the simple reason that form without a laborious examination of the
I should have never observed it. And now I printed_copy? To what end do many give
was gratified to find that my new power of ob-hours of study to the mastery of details on pa-
servation, although apparently engrossing my per and from books, and generally to the cul-
whole attention, did not shut out my former tivation of the eye and faculty of calculation if
pleasure; for by some process of unconscious but little of this knowledge is applied to lis-
celebration I was able to notice and remember tening? It is very little use to study and ana-
all the things that formerly occupied my whole lyze the Sonata Form, if when listening we
attention.
cannot distinguish the subjects, and follow the
modulation and development.
I know very
well that many of you have limited opportuni-
ties of listening to much and good music, but
surely all are periodically called upon to listen
to music of some sort. My short paper is a
plea to you to make the most of your opportu-
nities. If you wish to be a musician and to
enjoy listening to fine music, do not neglect a
single opportunity offered to you.
your mind to listen for and to something. Don't
listen to music and drink it in without an at-
tempt at discrimination. I daresay some will
be dismayed at the task I have ventured to set.

Another of the points I found it necessary to
set myself to observe specially was the Bass,
and I must confess that often this is extremely
difficult. I knew fall well that unless I could
observe the lowest part in the harmony, I must
not expect to be able to analyze many other
matters implying such observation. It was im-
perative, therefore, to sacrifice for a time at
least the pleasure of noticing more obvious
things, in order to concentrate attention on the
Bass. It was not always sacrifice, however,
for I was doomed-as we all are sometimes-to
a forced hearing of the driest of dry-as-dust
compositions, and then it was a satisfaction
listening only to the Bass.
and a relief to know that nothing was lost by
Many amateur pi-
anists whom we all meet, whose muscles are as
strong as their execution is uncertain, constant-
ly supply us with useful if difficult ear exer-
cises of this kind.

Make up

ask more from the humble musical student than is required by the literary world from many gentlemen who, combining a minimum power of musical discrimination with a maximum of sounding diction, contrive to be considered musical critics.

Music in Paris.

GROWING POPULARITY OF BERLIOZ.-LAST QUARTETS
OF BEETHOVEN.

Next I tried to follow chords. I schooled myself, or rather, I should say, was schooled, by playing over and over on the pianoforte a number of the most frequently occurring diatonic and chromatic chords, and in so doing PARIS, 22nd Feb., 1876. derived the greatest help from Macfarren's Anyone following the course of the Paris. Concert "Rudiments," working and playing, with the Season cannot but be struck by the sudden popu advantage of the author's help, the numerous larity, posthumous and tardy, which has been conexercises contained therein. I am free to con- quered by Hector Berlioz. For many long years fess that I cannot yet analyze by ear all or the man passed for a wild dreamer, a dangerous innearly all the multitude of combinations used ventor of insensate theories and false doctrine. He in modern music, but it appears to me that evwas thrust away, hidden out of sight, and if any of ery time I strive I grasp some combination more his works were performed-and very few were— they rarely had adequate care bestowed upon their Having at least partially overcome my indo- clearly, and only narrowly miss others. Altolent habit of listening, I examined the necessi-gether, this chase has been to me a source of this has been changed I need hardly say. We have execution, and failed to fix public attention. How ties of the situation, and found that there were the liveliest gratification. heard Romeo and Juliette" at the Chatelet, “Harmany more worlds to conquer than I had After the same fashion I have tried to ob- old," at the Cirque, and finally the lion's part in the thought. I felt as a young beginner at whist serve the instrumentation of a symphony, or two last concerts of the Conservatoire has been feels when all the rules and recommendations the voicing of parts in a choral piece. What given to the "Damnation de Faust," perhaps the for playing are placed before him. The im- incredible knowledge, taste, and skill are need-greatest of the master's works, unless indeed we portant truth dawned on me, that in order to ed to effectively instrument a symphony, only consider "Romeo" as superior, which is doubtful. succeed I must resolutely ignore a great deal those who have tried to write for an orchestra Like the fine setting of Shakespeare's play, the of what there was to hear, so that I might be are aware. Yet how much of this sweetness "Damnation de Faust was written rather for the able to fix my whole attention on some one and beauty is wasted on the majority of listen-concert-room than the opera, and has no need of thing I wished to acquire the habit of observers! Some time ago I gave up in sheer desper-scenery or costumes to render it complete. It is ing, For instance, modulation I knew to be one of the most subtle of musical effects. I knew that while one could run and hear a purposely bold, remote modulation, on the other hand, many changes equally remote were made with such masterly insidiousness as to leave the average listener totally unconscious of change of tonality. I found that when practicable it was an immense help to analyze a piece before hearing it. Then it was comparatively easy to follow the course of modulations, and by degrees to individualize the various removes much in the same fashion as we all do the tones of the scale. For instance, the features of a transition of one remove are as distinctly recognizable as the mental effect of the notes Te (the seventh of the scale) or Fah (the fourth of the scale), and just as with those notes we find

ation the Herculean task of tracing by ear
the chords, modulations, and design of Wag-
ner's music. But eventually I settled down
with something like pleasure to observe the
rich, masterly instrumentation, and found it
quite convenient to ignore what appears to me
to be the frequent inherent dryness of the mu-
sic. And so on with Form, on which I must
forbear to dilate. Obviously it is as important
to know that a glee, a part-song, a chorus, or a
madrigal differ, from one another, as that a
sonata differs from a fugue. In listening to
any of these forms, to know what one is listen-
ing to is a help to know what to listen for.
His interest in a fugue must be small who re-
gards the first few measures as a sort of tuning
up to which it is superfluous to attend, and
who waits in vain for that clean-cut cadence,

divided into three parts, the first two of which only music for three soloists, Mephistopheles (baritone), were executed at the Conservatoire, and contain Faust (tenor), and Brander (bass). Marguerite has no direct share in the action of the first two parts, a sufficiently strange arrangement, and one which might perhaps be taken exception to. There are thus, as it will be at once seen, very broadly marked differences between Berlioz's, "Faust" and Gounod's better-known masterpiece. The two great musi cians have, however, not a little in common; indeed I would even say they have much, so much that at certain modulations, at particular passages, one might almost mistake Berlioz for Gounod. It would to the later composer, but nobody can help perceiv be going too far to impute the charge of imitation ing how considerably he is indebted to his halfforgotten predecessor, and how similarly certain points of Goethe's story have inspired both. Part I. commences with a long, rather wearisome, scene

the literature of the subject under various heads, of which the following are some :-Ancient music; the general

of richness, and perhaps a little monotony; but set-
ting its failures against its beauties, the balance in
favor of the last is so enormous that it seems incred-history of music; Church music; the Opera; Scientific,

for tenor. Faust is in the fields at daybreak alone.
This, though powerful, suffers from the heaviness
of the accompaniment, against which the voice has
some difficulty in contending, and it is also marredible the work should be so rarely heard.
by one or two vulgarities of instrumentation. We
Sunday's concert at the Chatelet was highly in-
pass from this to a fine, a very fine Dance and Cho- teresting. The novelty, M. Duvernoy's "Fragments
rus of Peasants, glowing with color, vivid as life, Symphoniques" (Romance; Scherzetto), is a cred-
full of open, fresh melody, and admirably accompan-itable production. The Romance, finely harmonized,
ied. A marked impression was made by this num- is, may be, a shade too uniform in tone. Of M. La-
ber, but the climax of enthusiasm was reached with lo's Concerto for Violin, another item, mention was
the next, the grand "Marche Hongroise." This made on its first performance. M. Sarasati made a
wonderful production carried all sympathies by sensation at rehearsal by his admirable rendering
storm, and, throwing aside every trace of its usual of the composition, which he executed with all his
correct reserve, the audience rose with a great spon- accustomed refinement and charm. Le Bourgeois
taneous movement of admiration, and literally Gentilhomme," by Lulli, was lately revived with
shouted its delight. The number was repeated. great success at the Gaité, and the minuet was an
Again the same applause, the same tumult of enthu exceedingly welcome feature in the Chatelet scheme.
siasm. It is a noble page of music, this march. Wonderfully simple, it is marked by that mournful
From the opening notes to the very end, it hurries grace which appears so generally in the music of
you along with resistless force, making the pulse the older masters. We find repeated evidences of it
beat quickly and the breath come short and heavy in the writings of Lulli, Rameau, Boccherini, and
with emotion. The whole thing is a genuine inspi- others, all of whom possessed a peculiar beauty of
ration, intensely, painfully stirring, overwhelming; their own which the moderns but seldom attain. In
a work to excite the dullest, and make the poorest- creased powers of instrumentation have killed the
spirited feel a hero for the nonce. From end to end old simple art.
it goes with a mighty swing. Towards the finish M. Maurel continues to win golden opinions at the
the drums give a suggestion of guns firing, at first Populaires. I must chronicle the success of a capi-
dull and distant, then growing louder and louder, tal quartette company, the "Societé des Derniers
till we are verily in the midst of a grand battle grands Quatuors de Beethoven" (1st violin, M. Mau-
scene, and, not withstanding the difficulty of avoid-rin, of the Conservatoire; 2nd violin, M. Coblain;
ing commonplace in "descriptive" music of this alto, M. Mas; and violoncello, M. Tolbecque). These
sort, the composer at no moment sinks below the four artists play admirably together, and without
heroic. Berlioz has scored the number in a mar- losing their respective individualities, succeed per-
vellous way. The cymbals, drums, and trumpets fectly in subordinating them to the requirements of
are of course called into continual request, but the the execution. In conclusion, M. A. M. Auzende, a
heavy instrumentation is managed with such con- pianist of no little talent, gave a soirée musicale on
summate skill that it never impresses one disagree- the 12th inst., at which he performed one or two of
ably. Above all else, there is no sign of effort. M. his own compositions with happy effect. M. Au-
Deldevez's band executed this number in a masterly zende's playing is very bold, his touch good, and in
fashion, attacking it with incomparable dash and bold music of the Brahms and Rubinstein school he
boldness. I may remark here, by the bye, that an is highly successful.- Correspondence of London
accurate idea of this " Marche Hongroise" can only Musical Standard.
be afforded by a very full and finely-trained orches-
tra A small band spoils it. I heard it a few years
ago, at one of the old concerts-Danbé of the Grand
Hotel, and, more lately, at the Chatelet. It had
hitherto always struck me as merely noisy, and to
some extent vulgar, but I frankly confess that the
rendition at the Conservatoire has brought about a
considerable change in my opinion, and I willingly
render my weak tribute of homage to the genius of
the man who could conceive so stupendous a work.
Any musician might be proud of it, and perhaps
none but a Berlioz could have written it.

The opening of Part II. corresponds with the first scene in Gounod's opera. We find Faust in his mysterious workshop, surrounded by all the grim symbols of his dangerous lore. Then comes a fine Easter Hymn" for chorus, to which justice was scarcely done by the audience, and we are at length introduced to our old friend Mephistopheles, whose advent is heralded by a sudden stagey burst of music, smacking sadly too much of the trap-door, and sadly too much of his demoniac Majesty. Passing on, after a scene between Faust and Mephistopheles, and another for the same and Brander, Berlioz takes us to the Kermesse, with a spirited drinking

chorus.

A quaint song of three stanzas for Brander follows, notable for its singular and uncommon accompaniment. A pause ensues, and the Chorus repeats Brander's air in the form of a mock-serious fugue. The effect of the basses breaking in abruptly after the strained silence is divertingly grotesque. From this we are hurried, something rudely, to another scene, between Faust and Mephistopheles (containing a fine air for the latter), and to a Chorus of Gnomes and Sylphs. And now ensues a very beautiful piece of composition. Faust sleeps, and Mephistopheles commands the obedient spirits to charm his slumber.

"Bercez, bercez son sommeil!" Here again Berlioz has been happily inspired. The "Ballet des Sylphes" is one of the most elf-like, delicate bits of fancy conceivable. It is played by the muted strings, and the few short bars of which it consists have a strange, weird grace, wholly charming. With yet one more abrupt transition, we reach the final number of the Second Part, an astounding ly bold chorus of Students and Soldiers. The selections executed at the Conservatoire did not extend further.

Speaking generally, I might say that the "Damnation de Faust" is a broad, vigorous, noble work. From the elimination of the female parts, it has of necessity a want of sweetness, an occasional excess

History of Music by F. L. Ritter.

Esthetic, and Critical works; Biographies, Dictionaries, and Periodicals. Professor Ritter has therefore done his readers a twofold service. Not only has he brought within a small compass and skilfully arranged a vast amount of information which is of the greatest value and interest to all who care to understand how, and under what influences, and through whose labors, music, in the wldest sense, has come to be what it is, but being well aware how, in the attempt to give an intellgible and comprehensive view of each important epoch, much must be sacrificed that nevertheless has a great scientific, or critical, or biographical interest of its own, he has placed within every one's reach a table of all the books that have been written upon the numerous branches into which the subject of music ramifies, so that unavoidable imperfections in point of fulness and of detail may be supplied and corrected according to the should have been done, and done so well, is much; and individual judgment and taste of the student. That this when we remember that the author is under the disad

vantage, as he reminds us. of writing in a foreign lar.guage, we shall not be careful to go minutely into little Blemishes in the style, such as occur. for example, on page 52, in the use of feudalic" for "feudal," or on

page 291, where "was" is inadvertently written for
were,'
or in the repetition of the Americanism of
"quite a number," where we might be content to read
many." Such small matters, however, in no way de-
tract from the real worth and merit of the book, and we
only allude to their existence in case Professor Ritter
may think it well. in the event of a second edition, to
clear it of such microscopic blots. That, however. for
which we feel grateful above all the rest, and to which
we attach more importance than to all the merits of de-
tail in which this History of Music abounds, is the noble
and elevating spirit in which the position of music
among the arts is vindicated. It would be difficult to
decide whether music has been more insulted by her open
enemies or by her self-constituted patrons and so-called
friends. We can feel a certain respect for a man who
dislikes music, and who says so. We cannot indeed sym-
pathize with him; and we may think that he has missed
one of the purest of life's pleasures; but we thank him,
at any rate, that he is honest. But patience gives place
to disgust-when we hear the indignities to which at the
hands of many who conceived themselves to be musi-
cally minded, the nobility of music is but too often made
subject. It really passes our comprehension altogether
how an art which engrossed the whole energies of giants
like Handel, Sabastian Bach, and Beethoven, into which
they and others, their not unworthy fellow-laborers,
breathed their highest and deepest thoughts, infused
their sublimest aspirations, poured the changeful tide of
their hopes and fears, their sorrows and their joys, how
such an art can be seriously conceived of as being for
the most part a natural and a pretty accomp ishment
for girls (who will remember to put it aside when they
marry), as a drawing-room plaything, as a convenience
to fill up the interstices of social vacuity and dulness!
And to crown all, heaven save the mark! we find Offen-
bach throned high among "musicians," and all that is
most vulgar and degraded in conception, most licentious
and profligate in association and suggestion, most mea-
gre and miserable in form, comprehended in one loud
pæan of praise and exuding upon every passer by from
the pipes of the remorseless barrel, that, with the ape
who so worthily attends upon it, mocks us from every
street corner.

[From the London Guardian of Feb. 9.] Though dedicated to the "young artists of America," we have good hopes that this volume will gain a wide circulation among the constantly increasing numbers of those in this country who have the best interests of music at heart. Volaminous as is the Continental literature which has gathered round the subject, we cannot recall to our minds any work in the English language, with the exception of Mr. Hullah's very interesting Lectures, which even attempts to occupy the ground over which Professor Ritter conducts us. Burney's General History of Music, published now nearly a century ago, and extending over four volumes, is valuable rather as a work of reference than as a text-book for students. Professor Ritter, who writes not merely as a his torian, or as a theorist with some favorite ideas for which he seeks support, but who unites in himself the qualifications, so rarely found together, of a philosoph-ful social accomplishment, within the call of any one ical historian, a professional artist, and a large-minded critic, has succeeded in comprising within the limit of same 400 small pages of large print an account of the growth and progress of music in all its forms and branches from the Christian era to our own day. In this survey we find included a general sketch of the first beginnings of music in the Gregorian chant, the Folk-song, and the Troubabour song, the nationalization of the art, from the close of the fourteenth century onwards, in the Netherlands, in Germany, in Italy, and to some degree also in Spain and in England; the rise of the oratorio, and its history from the twelfth century to the nineteenth; the gradual development of the opera from its first invention in Italy to its treatment by Richard Wagner; the course of Catholic Church music from the austere simplicity of its infancy to its secularization under the influences of modern ideas; and, finally, the progress of instrumental music from the sixteenth century to the times of Berlioz and of Liszt. My book," we quote from the author's Introduction, p. 11, "does not pretend to be an exhaustive history of music, but rather a friendly, an 1, I trust, a thoroughly reliable guide to incite and direct those musical students who feel the desire, the want of a deeper and more general knowledge of the growth and progress of their art than is common; to encourage and strengthen the talented triving one, in his unavoidably arduous labors and strug gles; to point out to the timid and undeidad the imperative and necessary duties of the true artist; to hold up a faithful mirror of art-life to the inexperienced, ima tient aspirant for artistic fame."

In accordance with the design thus unfolded, we find appended to these lectures a carefully compiled index to

We fear that those who look upon music as a trick or a trade, a question of supply and demand, so many tunes for so much money, or, soaring a little higher, as a usewho can afford a inaster, will hardly be at the pains to spend much time on Professor Ritter's volume. No one, we venture to think, could read his introductory remarks on the real nature of music as an art without being the better for them, and without gaining ever so faint a glimpse of the fact that art, born of religion, however she may be secularized by the influences among which she grows up to her full stature, yet tends ever to recall us to her parent source, and that it is at her springs that we best may slake that thirst, to which no mind is wholly a stranger, for something purer and lovelier and nobler than can be found along the dusty paths of conventional everyday life. To return, however, to the book itself, there are one or two points we should like briefly to notice before we conclude. Professor Ritter begins his history with the Christian era, merely adding a few remarks on the music of the old world by way of an Appendix. In this we quite agree with him. It is true that the Gregorian chant, which is the basis of all the older Catholic Church music, is of pagan origin, and that St. Ambrose, and St. Gregory after him built on a Greek foundation. But the fact that harmony as distinguished from melody-ie., a combination of notes as d stinguished from succession of notes, was unknown before Christianity, and the further consideration that the freedom and variety and subtle power of expression which music has gained during its development are but the reflection, 'n the history of art, of the so called moderu spirit that has been working around us since the Renascence, sufficiently justify the treatment of music as being as essentially a modern art as sculpture was essentially a Greek art. But even so music has, as it were, its ancient and modern history. Up to the end of the sixteenth century it retained, under the almost exclusive patronage of the Church, a grand austere simplicity. But the revival of the theatre in Europe, beginning with the religious plays, le the way for the gradual secularization of that music which had always played so prominent a part in the drama, and the invention about 1600 A.D. of recitative [p. 129 et seq.], which forthwith gave birth to the opera, transferred the sceptre from St. Cecilia to Apollo. The history of this change, and of the taking up of music into the many-sided, many-colored life of the modern world is admirably giv

en by Professor Ritter, but we have no space to follow him; nor can we do more than call attention to what seem ns his just and discernible criticisms on Haydn, Glück [whom, by the wav, he always calls Gluck.*] Mozart. Meyerbeer, and Mendelssohn, his excellent remarks on the degeneracy of Church music, especially in Italy, and his suggestions for its improvement There are many tempting passages which we should like to extract for the benefit of our realers; but if by omitting them we send those interested to the book itself, we sha'l not regret the omission. In conclusion, we com

mend to the consideration of amateur critics the following remarks, which may be found on p. 429:

at his father's church at Olney, Bucks, when our ancestors were celebrating the final victories of Wellington. Many years afterwards, at a period which to most of us is still ancient history, Gauntlett was admittedly at the head of his noble profession as an organist. It was in 1836 he first turned attention to the improvement of the English organ. What, he achieved in that direction is a matter of history; and some of the finest of Hill's instruments remain as monuments of Dr. Gauntlett's energy and scientific skill in supervising their construction. It was in reference to the organs of St. Peter's. Cornhill, and Christ-church, Newgate, that Mendelssohn made his well-known observation, that "but for him-Dr. Gauntlett-I should have had no organ to play upon. He ought to have a statue." Of the high opinion which Mendelssohn entertained of Dr. Gauntlett's abilities and learning there is abundant been called, Professor Ritter replies (in the Poughkeepsie evidence in carefully preserved autograph letters of

"A good ear and a general literary education are not guarantees enough to stamp a person as a competent critic. especially when the critic does not know how to compose, play, or sing. Placed between the artist and the public, the critic's office is to interpret to the latter those laws of beauty and poetical truth which govern the artist, and by this means to awaken a genuine interest for art, and with this a higher degree of intellectual art enjoyment."

*In regard to this criticism to which his attention has News] as follows:

While I gladly accept the above hints by an able, courteous, and appreciative reviewer, respecting my Alsati

serve, that the manner in which I have spelt the name of Gluck [without the accent over the letter uj is the correct one. The Paris and Vienna editions of his operas,

published under his own supervision, invariably give the name as Gluck [not as in the German word Glueck

or Glück, happiness],-as do also those facsimiles of his compositions which I possess, and all his autographs which have fallen under my observation.

F. L. RITTER.

Opera is the union of two arts, music and drama -each more or less complete in itself. In fact, music as an art must be considered as almost perfect. The auditor is not called upon to close his eyes to any absurdities or incompleteness, as he must in Looking at a dramatic representation or at a picture. No one, we think, will deny that, as an art, the drama is far less perfect than music. Now a union the composer. between two arts, one of which is perfect, and the The Mr. Gauntlett" of Mendelssohn's letters other very nearly so, can only be effected by a conwas made Dr. Gauntlett by Dr. Howley. Archbish-siderable sacrifice on the part of one or both. The question in operatic music is, which art shall be predominant? In the Italian school the drama was made entirely subservient to music which, was often ridiculously incongruous. The warmest supporters of Italian opera never denied this; but to them music was the chief point, and they never stopped to

consider the absurdities of the dramatic situations

anisms and Americanisms, I must at the same time ob- op of Canterbury, in 1842. About that time Dr. Gauntlett gave up the practice of the law, which he had followed since 1831, having been articled in 1826. As a musical critic and theorist, Dr. Gaunt lett's strong hand is manifest in serried columns of printer's type from the heyday of the Sun newspa per to within the last few weeks. But it is perhaps in the pages of the Church Muthe violations of what we have been pleased to sician, a paper he established himself in 1850, and seems to have mostly filled with his own pen, that we must look for the innermost opinions of Dr. Gauntlett in the zenith of his vigor. He had stud ied church music, and especially English church music, profoundly. It was his own chosen ground; and whatever differences may exist in our several notions on so broad and grand a topic, we must ac knowledge him to have been a guide and an author-ful composer of opera who would dispense with music altogether. At no period in the world's history have men and women gone about singing their conversation to the accompaniment of an orchestra. If, therefore, operatic music is to be but an imitation

Dr. Gauntlett.

Before this obituary notice is published most of

our readers will have heard of the death of Dr.
Gauntlett. He had entered his seventy-first year,
but was still to all appearances full of life and health
up to Monday last, when he returned from his after-ity in that section of musical literature; and we
noon walk, sat down in his study at Kensington,
and passed quietly and suddenly from the world.
The short biographical notice of Henry John Gaunt
lett which appears in Men of the Time is in every
respect authentic. It reveals the strong and striv-
ing life making its mark in the musical history of
the century. His birth and parentage, his many
years' practice in the law, his later adoption of mu-
sic as a profession, are the facts in his biography
which give the key to his subsequent career.

The son of an English country vicar of the old school, he would naturally imbibe, with his first impressions of music, those scholastic tendencies,and that soundness and solidity which at least directed the literary efforts of Dr. Gauntlett. The business modes of thought he afterwards acquired in the law only confirmed his inborn English sentiments in favor of the morally genuine and human.. He had a natural aversion to ultra-æstheticism and artifi cial forms of feeling. With him feeling had no source but in the plain heart of man; no true issue but in domestic and social affections. He was intolerant of the ecstatic, and barely tolerant of fancy in natures more delicate and effeminate than his own. The sorrows of Hagar would move him too deeply to allow his attention to be divided by the scenery of the wilderness. In that respect he at once parted from the poetical and picturesque aspi. rations of the newer generation of musicians. The intense Protestant feeling, rather than the realistic poetry, of Sebastian Bach was the attraction which led him early to the study of that master, the fibre of whose choral songs he worked up in his own psalmody.

think there are few who will deny him a place as a
composer of church music amongst the two or three
in this century who have worthily continued the
traditions of the school which dates from three cen-
uries back, and is still our greatest glory as a mu
sical nation. Almost at the hour of his death Dr.
Gauntlett was officially engaged in furthering a
scheme for attaching a chapel and choir to the new
Training School for Music. The happy idea was
his own, and when realized its author will be re-
membered.

Dr. Gauntlett was buried yesterday. Literary
enmities his ardent nature may have excited are
already forgotten.-Lond. Mus. Standard, Feb. 26.

Where Wagner has Failed.

term the "unities." Wagner claims, and, of course, correctly, that for a man or woman to sing a long and tender love song when in the agonies of death is absurd; therefore he asserts, the nearer music is brought to the singer's actual feelings, the more perfect the composer's art. This sounds plausible, but if we push the argument to its logical sequence

what follows? That he would be the most success

of real life, it will cease to be music. The absurdities of opera cannot be obviated, and the world has for generations been contented to accept operas, be

cause of the beautiful music which has been written in them, and because the union of acting, with music-no matter how inherently ridiculous-always awakens pleasurable emotions. Wagner has thought to do away with these absurdities by throwing his stories back into the myths of the German legends: consequently, his plots are, to a great extent, devoid of human interest, and utterly wearisome in the mangled version to which the necessities of the hours of representation, allotted to operatic performances in England and America, reduce thein. What [From the New York Arcadian. he has endeavored to do is, in his own words, to Wagner states his object to be to create a school construct a tone-poem, composed of “music wedded of opera which shall be entirely free from the ab- to immortal verse." As he supplies his own verse, surdities and incongruities which have marked all this expression is a fair specimen of Wagner's naprevious productions in that line. Instead of, like tive modesty. But when we hear one of his operas, other composers, making his drama subservient to do we recognize this perfect wedding? We miss music, Wagner sacrifices music to what he calls a melody, form, and incident. In the place of these, poem; his object is to express as nearly as he can, we have an orchestra playing music of most inin musical sounds, the impressions that would be volved, and, at times, of an ear-torturing character. formed in the mind of a musician who read a certain That Wagner is, as far as power of orchestral scorstory; and each phase of feeling is desired to be ap- ing goes, one of the greatest, if not the greatest com. propriately expressed by a corresponding musical poser who ever lived, no sensible musician can dephrase. The principle is false to everything that ny. [Fudge.] His knowledge of the effects of comwe know of the powers of music: it was never rec- binations of instruments is wonderful; and, much ognized by any of the great classical composers. as we may object to his chromatic progressions, and True, some of them sought to picture in sound the his violation of recognized harmonic laws, we caneffects of Nature, but none ever attempted to make not refuse our admiration to the ingenuity of his But apart from sympathies and models, the in- music express words. This, indeed, it cannot do. counterpoint (!) One reason why his music, clever grained characteristic of Dr. Gauntlett's writings in Its limitations end with the suggestions of emo- as it is, fails to be agreeable to the ear, is that he literature or music is strength. He was one of the tions. Any person can prove this for himself by does not write for the best parts of the compass of few now remaining examples of the old type of Brit-playing one of the most strongly characteristic various instruments, but usually keeps them for the ish worthies, full of learning, common sense, vehem- phrases from Lohengrin, and asking half a dozen most part at one or other extreme of their registers. ence, and dogmatism. It was a favorite scientific different people to give their ideas as to what the He pursues the same system in writing the vocal maxim of Dr. Gauntlett that "the big phrase went composer meant to express; the diversity of the parts, and the consequence is, that while, like Verwith the big pulse." He felt his own vigor and his views will be found to be something quite extraord-di, he does not ruin voices by writing occasional natural responsiveness of feeling to the broad con- inary. ceptions of the great masters in music. Just as he The germ of Wagner's theory is not new. Gluck was impatient as a musician of the small refinements was the first man to rebel against the absurdities of in the sentimental school, he as a man morally el- the "Italian Opera,” but while he sought to reconbowed his way through adverse criticism, utterly cile, as far as possible, the character of the music unconscious that in pressing a strong opinion he with the sense of the words, he never made the was offending delicate susceptibilities. If some were former subservient to the latter. Wagner asserts offended by a vehemence of manner, others who that Beethoven, towards the end of his career, recknew him better found out what lay beneath the in-ognized the fact that instrumental music was incatellectual dogmatism which was on the surface; and that this was less a trait of character than a habit peculiar to the ancient tye and branch of the church militant from which he seems to have

sprung.

At the age of nine, young Gauntlett was organist

pable of the highest form of expression, and that
when he wished to attain the culmination of his
grandest thoughts, in the Ninth Symphony, he was
obliged to weld with his music the words of Schil-
ler's "Ole to Joy." But this union of choral with
instrumental music was no new thing with Beetho-

exceptionally high notes, he does much more damage by keeping the voice continually on the strain. He has sought, also, to give to his orchestra the chief interest of the music, and has made the voices accompaniments to the instruments. Voices are, unfortunately, not instruments, and they will not stand, nor is it pleasant to hear them attempting to do so, Leing strained to sing subservient parts against the power of a very large body of instrumentalists.

If we call to mind the points of Wagner's Lohengrin that gained most applause when played here, we shall find a few simple melodies and the unisonal termination of duets constructed after the fashion of Italian opera, which, much as Wagner affects to