I considered that if I was disposed to submit to the inconvenience of keeping my garden windows closed all summer, my vis-a-vis could hardly be expected to do the same. So the matter came finally to this to see which could fairly kill the other off with bad music. Here I had clearly the advantage; I rolled my grand piano up close to the window, and the moment the violinist put bow to string, I set up the cover of my instrument, raised the dampers, and played with all my strength in another key. Against my full harmony his single melody of course could do just nothing at all, however hard he exerted himself to vex me.

He finally wrote me a polite note and inquired whether we might not make a truce, and agree upon certain hours, during which the one should bind himself not to disturb the other while practising. I saw that I had to do with a man of understanding, and therefore called upon him, and showed that, in my present studies, when in search of some particular tone which I needed but which was not forthcoming, his music, though so distant, was a far greater cause of disturbance to me than when I was playing myself, for then I could drown his tones by my own. I depicted my misery to him, when I had put my pen to the paper ten times already in vain, and had hardly got my thoughts collected again after the last interruption, his violin bow continually, like the shears of the Fates, cut off the thread of my thoughts.

The violinist had no difficulty in comprehending that two musicians, if they did not play the same piece, were one too many in the same place, and having taken his lodgings for a month only, to my great satisfaction withdrew to other quarters.

Unfortunately for me however, in the meantime, my unceasing, really mad piano forte playing, my weapon in the war which I had waged against the violinist, had so increased the violence of the nervous headache to which the widow was a martyr, that she gave the landlord notice, and at the end of the quarter also quitted. Various persons, who came to see the rooms, happening to come at moments when I was playing with all force, declared to the landlord, that the rooms pleased them highly, but they did not like living in the house with a musician; for even if one was fond of music, it was tiresome to listen to exercises and studies all day long, and this in the end would give one a disgust at the very idea of

music.

At last came a young lieutenant. He found the rooms magnifique, the view from the windows superbe, the chambermaid charmante; and then he measured the wall to see if there was room for his grand pianoforte. The landlady was honorable enough to ask, whether it was an objection to the place that a person played the pianoforte in the rooms underneath, and it sounded about as loud in one room as in the other. The lieutenant answered laughing, he cared nothing for that; on the contrary, such mad music as the two instruments would make, all in confusion, would be an endless source of fun to him and his comrades.

When this was reported to me my heart sank; for against such ears my weapons were of no avail. But what could I do? My finances did not allow me to change my rooms, since I had

and in every new lodging I might meet again the same misfortune. Nor had I the same means at command as Spontini, who, as is well known, obtained free lodgings at the theatre for his female fellow lodgers, on condition that they should never touch the piano when he was at home. I labored hard to acquire the power of complete mental abstraction. I would not hear anything else than the tones within me, and sought to convince myself that the lieutenant's playing was but noise, and bore no relation whatever to music. But such attempts to educate my ears and nerves not only miscarried in spite of my best will, but the strain upon my nervous system almost destroyed my whole organization.

I now devised a different plan of study. Early in the morning, while the lieutenant was sleeping away the effects of his heroic deeds at the previous evening's tea-table, I undertook to perform the exercises set me in my thorough bass lessons. But, alas, it was not possible to finish before the lieutenant was up and drumming away at " Vor Romeo's Raecherarme" or " Erzittre Byzanz !" He spent all his leisure time at the pianoforte, and in those days a lieutenant had an endless amount of such time, God knows! He played gallopades, polkas, quicksteps and such trash by the hour together; all with pedals raised, chromatic runs and scales in the bass not excepted — horribile dictu!

I determined upon battle for life and death! The moment he touched his piano I sat down to mine; and as mine was twice as powerful as his, I had no difficulty in annoying him to my heart's content. I would make four-part chords with both hands, with tremolandos in the deepest bass. Against this he could only pay on twice as hard, and the tuner had to be called in twice a week to put on new strings. After all I suffered more than he did. I could only drown him by playing such music as his own, and the listening to such stuff, gallopades, polkas, &c., was to me perfect martyrdom. In my favorite pieces, the "Songs without words," Fugues and Sonatas, there is too much of the pianissimo to pierce through the noise of his polkas.

In the course of a few weeks, I had gained so much on my musical antagonist, that even to him the mingled harmonies of D and C major were no longer entirely agreeable. The servant girl said to me, that, the Herr Lieutenant had inquired whether his playing over my head might not disturb me somewhat? I answered with affected indifference, that when I was playing my piano forte, I paid not the slightest attention to the weak-toned affair overhead.

In the meantime I had finished the decima quinta in my contrapuntal studies, and was set to studying out themes for fugues. Now indeed must I take advantage of every moment of peace; but when I had set me down in the very best humor for my difficult task, no sooner did I hear the lieutenant's spurs clattering on the stairs, or the moving of a chair overhead, than it would come over me like a fever, "Oh woe! now he is going to play!" and ere he had struck a note all capacity for study was gone. I grew as it were crazy with rage, and when I had heard, perhaps but a note or two of a hand organ in the street, the idea of the lieutenant's piano forte would make me almost beside myself. When not engaged in writing, perhaps merely reading the

newspaper, my wrath and indignation were boiling within me-in fact, I was no longer master of my thoughts. At last I actually hated my tormentor as my worst enemy-as the disturber of my whole existence.

My continual efforts all in vain - to set myself down to my composition, the constant interruptions, and my own anti-polka tremolandofortissimos-all together so overwrought my nerves, that when for once in a while he was invited out to tea, and left me in peace, I could effect nothing, for headache. He spent most of his time at home, however, and was frequently visited by five or six friends, who howled airs from Bellini and Donizetti at the piano, either unisons, or what was still worse, with bass and air in octaves. Sometimes too they exercised themselves, with a view to their future vocation, by breaking the furniture and crockery and letting the battle cry resound from the window in the stillness of night.

To play anything which should make itself heard above such choruses, was an undertaking in which I did not dare venture the pure tones of my splendid instrument. In time however, I learned to revenge myself after such an evening, by inviting the children of the free school to my room mornings from six to seven, to practise psalm tunes for the school examination, and thus disturbing the lieutenant's sleep.

At length he remarked that I never began to play, until immediately after he had placed himself at his instrument, and that I purposely played the loudest. That made him malicious, and he called in the regiment trumpeter to assist him. Now, thought I, I am done for! and threw myself in despair upon the sofa, stopping up both ears. But the battle had now become a contest of honor. I took courage and conjured up one final

resource.

I knew a Frenchman, who was passionately found of blowing the serpent. Of this instrument, Hector Berlioz, in his work on the art of instrumenting, says among other things the following:

"Its essentially savage tones fitted it far better for use during the bloody sacrificial ceremonies of the Druids, than for the Catholic church service in which it is continually employed. An abominable relic of that want of understanding, feeling and taste, which, time out of mind, has regulated the employment of music in our churches. The single exception that can be made is when, in the Requiem, the serpent is used to strengthen the awful choral of the Dies Ira. Its howlings, which make one shudder, are there doubtless in their right place; indeed, this instrument, when used in the accompaniment to these words, which breathe all the horrors of death and the vengeance of a jealous God, seems actually to possess a sort of mournful poetry."

The instrument thus described seemed to me just the thing to use in carrying out my plan. In respect to music, I called to mind a Flemish monk, by the name of Hucbaldus, who lived in the time of Henry the Fowler, and in his treatises left behind him the oldest compositions in parts. These move in pure fifths and octaves, up and down in direct motion! The venerable master says of this style, by no means bad at that time," Videbis nasci suavem ex hâc sonorum commixtione concentum!" Still, they effect a musician of the nineteenth century quite in the opposite manner. I have sometimes proved this when my visitors have stayed too long. I no sooner

commence on a so-called "Organum" of Hucbaldus, than away they go screaming from my doors.

Now whenever the lieutenant had a visit from the Trumpeter, I would carefully steal out of the house by the back door and wait in a neighboring confectioner's until he was gone. Then I came home perfectly unconcerned, greeted the lieutenant, who would be leaning out of the window, in the most friendly manner, and who, deluded by seeing me return home, would be confounded by the thought that he had given the trumpeter his drink money in vain.

But not in vain did I promise a capital breakfast to my serpent blower and two Ross trumpeters from the orchestra, whom I regularly had come to me, on a morning when I knew the Lieutenant had been out dancing all night, at five o'clock, A. M. for rehearsal. We rehearsed the above-named " Organum" of Hucbaldus, whose long extended notes seemed to have been written expressly for the serpent; but our concert never wanted for foreign assistance; for all the cats and dogs in the neighborhood, even the poultry and the jackasses of the milk-women, joined jubilant in these primitive tones.

Three times we performed our morning serenade, when the lieutenant left.

Correspondence.

[From our New York Correspondent.]

Music in New York.

Madame ANNA THILLON is still singing, but has only produced three operas — the Diamonds of the Crown, the Black Domino and the Child of the Regiment. She continues to be a great favorite-because she is a pretty woman. Yet her prettiness is Frenchy. I saw it long ago in the rosy-faced wax dolls with flaxen ringlets. We all agree to that. Everybody consents that it is sadly artificial, but she has crowded Niblo's on her three evenings in the week for two months, with only three operas, and her audience is enchanted. One great reason of her success is the same as that of the modern French vaudeville. The operas of Auber represent the daily life of modern men and women. Everybody likes to see his own life and his own companions projected into the perspective, and made a picture. With what profound interest I have seen a man contemplate his own daguerreotype. Conceive the Fornarina, "who loved her love more than her lover," as Xavier de Maistre says, standing before the Madonna del Sisto, of which she was the probable model, and beholding herself transfigured by genius into an immortal and sacred image.

It is impossible to get back again to the Opera Comique, and I will pass on to something more sympathetic, which is the Philharmonic Concert of Saturday evening, the 17th of April. The great saloon of Niblo's was crowded by a capital audience, largely German, of course, but with that abundant sprinkling of "the old familiar faces," which puts you in such good humor

the

best of preludes- because you are sure of sympathy in enjoyment. The great feature of the evening was Spohr's Weihe der Tone, Consecration of Sound. It is the musical illustration or interpretation of a poem descriptive of the characteristic influence and power of sound, which the

Composer desires may be always read by the auditor, before the performance. It is an unhappy and fatal desire. A "song without words" is the song that genius writes, in music. Let me explain a little: Art is simply a language. Its aim is to convey ideas-which is the end of all expressions. Its varieties are only modifications and differences of form. There is nothing final or fatal in them. A picture does not essentially differ from a statue or a song. Picture, statue, and song are the flexible speech of the artist, to manifest, according to his gift, the emotions of beauty, grandeur, pathos, or of whatever thought inspires him. Each of these forms, in strict science, must therefore be sufficient to itself. If you are compelled for intelligibility to write under a pictured "this is a tree "—it is no proper picture.

tree

If these and these emotions, what use is there of the song?

you must say of a song, this is meant to express

Now no student of the pictures of a master requires any hand book to indicate their meaning, because a fine picture is just that which the observer sees in it. And in the degree that a man is musical, or capable of receiving delight from music, in that degree he rejects all words or explanations, and derives the meaning of the music from its own perfection as an expression. Recall Mendelssohn's Gondola-lied, one of the most exquisite, airy and, in the highest sense, dramatic pieces, in music. It is the musical incarnation of Venitian moonlight. You see how my words struggle after a description of it, and are therein an illustration of what I say. Now no words could possibly be written to that music, because, if they were good enough, they would be too good, and by their perfection in another way would distract the hearer. On the other hand, you published last week Tennyson's wonderful Bugle-song,- which implies all its own music so entirely, that the thought of making a melody for it is amusing and hopeless. I do not forget the great exceptions to this rule in Haydn's Canzonets from Shakspeare, and Beethoven's melodies to Goethe. But neither the " Mignon" nor "She never told her love" are the more beautiful, because of the beautiful music. The music is still delightful, but it does not reveal any new value or thought or emotion in the poetry.

There is the case, and there is the fatality of Spohr's desire that the poem shall be read before the symphony is performed. Why? Certainly only to explain the music. But if it does not explain itself to the musical mind, and for such only is music composed, then it is irretrievably defective as a work of art. If it is good, there is no need of explanation. In the Pastorale of Beethoven how offensively superfluous is the elaborate sketch of pastoral life so often prepared for the programme. It is a kind of insult to the Composer.

Spohr's great symphony is very majestic. The first movement, especially, is masterly. But fancy opening your bill of fare, as the conductor's baton imperially rose, and reading, "Gloomy silence of Nature before the creation of Sound, Busy life afterward, Sounds of Nature, The Elements." The misery of the thing is that your mind falls into the rut, and away it runs on the sharp look out for the point when the "gloomy silence" merges in the "busy life afterward." Music, I trust, and a great symphony of a distinguished master, is no such intolerable trickery as this.

The heaving, rocking under-tone of the whole introduction, imparting the idea of vast and mysterious restlessness, with the shimmering play of themes shooting along the surface, like the sunsparkles upon the sea, is impressive in the highest manner. Don't accuse me of falling into my own trap. I am merely describing an individual impression in the same way as I should describe my feeling upon seeing a picture or a statue, or upon reading a poem. If I were the composer of a symphony, I should certainly not apprise you in a schedule of general heads what I meant to express in it. If you heard it and then told me what impression you derived, I should know if I were successful or not.

The Philharmonic orchestra is admirably drilled. The members are all inspired by the same sympathies, mostly Germans, they believe in the German Composers, who would not regret to sit among the audience and hear their own immortality so assured. Mr. TIMM, the most elegant of our Pianists, is President; Mr. SCHARFENBERG, whose delicate and polished style evinces the student of the best classics only, is Vice President. They assist in the orchestra, taking very humble parts. Scharfenberg, I think, played the cymbals. The Symphony, which can never be very popular, despite the song, serenade and battle-march, gave great satisfaction. Individually, I confess too distinct a sense of science in Spohr's music, excepting some of his fragmentary songs. There are great volume and splendor of sound and movement in this Symphony, but little of that irresistible élan, which bears you out of the consciousness of means into the Empyrean of delight. If I were an angel and conscious of my wings, as I floated in the June sunshine, I should feel something was yet imperfect.

Mr. SCHARFENBERG played a Concerto of Mendelssohn's with the orchestra. I wish he were more impassioned. Yet his reverence for the master is very beautiful, and the quiet, uncompromising purity of his style is sure to secure your most judicious approval. Later in the evening he and Mr. TIMм played a Grand Duo of Mendelssohn's upon the Bohemian march from "Preciosa." It was effective, but not striking. In fact neither of the piano performances were strictly interesting. They were learned and skilful rather than inspired. But the audience made it a point of honor to listen silently, and recognized by their applause the admirable performance, although there was no enthusiasm for the works. I was glad to hear something of W. STERNDALE BENNETT's, whose name is so familiar in the English musical notices, as a "classical" musician. He was a scholar of Mendelssohn's, I believe, and to too much purpose; for his overture is only a very admirable study in that master's style. It has a masterly air, but you feel it is all derived from the admirable science of the Composer. The pervasive inspiration, which is always individual and in which there can be no study, is utterly wanting. I recognized whole phrases, doubtlessly written with the utmost sincerity. But they were not Bennett's music, they were only the music he loved.

Mrs. BOSTWICK sang. I was much disappointed. Her voice has a certain domestic sweetness, but that seems to me all the true pleasure derivable from her singing. She is well cultivated enough, but the total want of freshness and the constant sense of effort, although careful and successful,

make the whole impression rather mournful, like the sweetness of faded flowers. Mr. HAASE blew a trumpet better than I have ever heard a trumpet blown before. It was really a fine performance, and I could not but regret all the while that so much skill and trouble had been lost upon the instrument. There is a manly and heroic strain in its peal, and it kindles chivalric feeling and recalls Sir Philip Sidney's saying of the ballad of Chevy Chace, that it "stirred him like a trumpet;" but it is still a pity that a man should expend his lungs and labor to such a necessarily unsatisfactory result. The concert was much too long, by the by, and on the whole, not so interesting as it should have been. Why should Mrs. Bostwick sing the Happy birdling, when Jenny Lind sang the Bird Song? Why, above all, should the Philharmonic Society assume the responsibility of such a proceeding? HAFIZ.

[From ROME, March 29, 1852.]

A correspondent of one of our friends writes from Rome that among the artists there orders have been abundant this past winter; and that the Americans particularly have been purchasing works by modern artists.

Our friend, Frank Boott, who has been pursuing his musical studies diligently in Italy, has produced a composition of which the writer speaks thus. "We had a grand musical soirée in our rooms the other day, with Paggi's oboe, Ramacciotti's violin, Wiehmen on the pianoforte, and Rheinthaler's songs; and among other things we had a stringed quartette of Boot's, admirably performed. It was certainly a triumph for him, and I am delighted to say to you that it was full of science and freshness of fancy. The themes were original and naive, and the condotta clear and unconfused. It quite surprised me by its merit, and its piquancy and spirit gained for it an unanimous applause. Just where young composers fail, he succeeded, in the management of its partition and the development of his theme."

The same letter contains an account of some very successful private theatricals among the Americans and English, in which our friend the writer assisted. The Midsummer Nights' Dream, and Merchant of Venice were performed with great effect. But we must not entrench any further upon the privacy of a letter not intended for publication.

New Publications.

Theory and Practice of Musical Composition. By ADOLPH BERNHARD MARX. Translated from the third German edition and edited by HERMANN S. SARONI. 8vo. pp. 406. New York. F. J. Huntington, and Mason & Law. A work of this importance cannot receive justice in a hasty notice. We have reserved it with the hope of finding time and room for that; but lest the matter should grow old in the mean time, we make here simply a first note of our impressions, meaning to return to it again.

We have here, then, something upon which to congratulate our musical public: namely, a clear and intelligent translation of the first, or rather of the substance of the first, of the four volumes of MARX's famous Compositionslehre. We trust it paves the way to a translation of the entire work, which covers the whole field of musical composition, with a copious supply of illustrations throughout. So far as our own acquaintance goes, as well as the report of all our best informed German musicians, the subject has never before been developed with anything like the unity, the naturalness,

the clearness, the completeness, and the charm (unwonted in dry scientific text-books,) which we find in these noble labors of the Berlin professor.

The beauty of it is, that he unfolds the whole thing from a little germ; that is to say, from the simplest conceivable little phrase of melody, such as one might hum to himself without a reason, or such as might have been the very beginning of music in the rudest ages of mankind. This little phrase is examined, its elements noted, then its possible variations, consequences and enlargements sought, till finally we discover the whole scale of tones, as well as the nature of a musical period, sentence or proposition, with all its rhythmical and melodic conditions. First however, melodies for two voices are introduced, or as the translator renders it, duophonic melodies; this leads to some discoveries about chords and natural harmonics and the origin of the notes of the scale in their fundamental tones or roots, and so we learn our first lesson in Harmony or Thorough Bass, in the heat of our first efforts at melodic invention. For invention, from the first, is made the exercise of the student, and Marx's system herein is quite kindred with the method pursued in our modern "Schools of Design."

MARX is a believer in musical Science, in the possibility of referring all the elements of the art back to a unitary, central principle, and not a mere empiric like GODFREY WEBER. Thus he notes the importance to the key-note (say C) of the Fourth and Fifth (say F and G), and the indispensableness of these three roots to the generation of the full diatonic Scale; and he does not hesitate to renew (perhaps as a second independent discoverer) the proposition of an obscure but very suggestive and philosophical French author, MOMIGNY, who published in 1806 a Cours d' Harmonie, in three volumes, that the Scale be written in a way more expressive of the true relations of its parts; namely, by placing the key-note (C) in the centre, with the Fourth and Fifth at the two extremes, thus:

G, a, b, CC, d, e, F,

To invention of melodies for one and two parts or voices, follows that of melodies for three and four and even more voices; including by the way all that is essential about Chords and Modulation, and exercising both the analytic and inventive power of the student at each step. This concludes the First Book, or "Elements of Composition."

The translated volume includes also the Second Book, which treats of the "Accompaniment of given Melodies." These melodies or themes it takes from two sources, namely, the old sacred Chorals, and the secular National Songs, and shows how they are to be harmonized, with plain and with figural bass, giving noble examples of SEBASTIAN BACH'S arrangements of some of the old Chorals. Here too are amply treated the peculiarities of the "Ecclesiastical Keys," or Modes. The description of the various expressions of the Ionic, Dorian, &c., we notice to be essentially adopted from SCHILLING'S Aesthetik der Tonkunst, though we cannot vouch for the fact that MARX was not the older of the two.

Here the present translation ends. The original goes on in the next volume to unfold the mysteries of composition in the various musical forms, from simple Songs, to Canons, Fugues and Double Counterpoint.

Of Mr. Saroni's translation we have already said that it is intelligently made. He fully understands his author, and the force of language. We only wish, that in his endeavor to give the sense as concisely as possible, and also to adapt the whole thing to the wants of pupils, and make an American text-book of it, he had not seen fit to abridge as much as he sometimes does. We notice paragraphs omitted, pages and whole chapters as it were re-cast into the form of his own mind, illustrations cur tailed, &c. &c. And in this, while we give his translation credit for great clearness, it has seemed to us in some portions which we have compared, that he has rather sacrificed a certain verdure and picturesqueness of style, which in the original redeem the book from the dry category of most treatises. For the author's very general and long Preface, the translator has, wisely as we think, substituted an admirably clear statement of the "Elements of Musical Notation," by himself.

In the rendering of technical terms it could hardly be expected that all tastes, or all the essential desiderata of the subject should be satisfied. We do not like those Greek terms monophonic, duophonic, &c., in place of the

simple German "one-voiced," "two-voiced," &c. In one other instance it strikes us that the term selected will be apt to perplex and mislead the scholar; we mean his translating the term motiv by design. The design of a musical, as of a pictorial composition, or a poem, covers the idea of the whole work; whereas what the French and Germans term the motiv in a piece of music, is the mere melodic germ, or little elementary thought or figure, which is perpetually reproduced in ever new forms and keys throughout the whole structure, and like the first seed-leaf or cotyledon, types the whole conformation of the tree: those first four notes, for instance, in Beethoven's C minor Symphony. We have no English word for it; then why not borrow the European, and say motive?

But we have already paused longer in this first reconnoitring of the field, than we intended, and we must conclude with simply recommending the work to students. Other publications must still bide their time for review.

Dwight's Journal of Music.

BOSTON, MAY 1, 1852.

The Old Church Modes or "Tones."

[Second Article.]

Under this head, in our last number, we alluded to a certain retrospective, Middle Age taste in music, manifested of late in certain quarters, more especially in England; to a certain peculiar reverence for the old Ecclesiastical Modes, as if no music since them could be half so rich or sacred. To test the reasonableness of this, we appealed to the history of the musical Scale, the basis of all musical Art, and showed that these grand and severe old melodies, originally without harmony, were properly older than Music itself as an Art; and that their peculiarities of expression are owing to the fact of the imperfect, halfdeveloped Scale in which they were written :Scale without semi-tones, and hence without the means of modulation through a variety of keys. We stated, what is commonly known among musical students, that their nominally twelve modes or scales are in fact only our one diatonic scale, with some of its most important elements or organs latent, unpronounced, or rudimental. While, as for their peculiar sacredness, it would appear that they were all borrowed from the Greek, from uses which we know not to have been other than secular.

:

a

If the tone-series ranged from C to c, as the initial and closing note, the tune or melody or chant was called IONIC, and had, of course, the firm, serene, composed and solid character of our major key of C, confined to the few simplest modulations of the diatonic scale. If G was made the starting-point, it was called MYXO-LYDIAN, and such tunes had the singular expression of aspiring to rise or modulate into the tone-sphere a fifth above, and never getting fairly up there for want of the sharp F, but having to gravitate constantly back to C; hence it is not an independent, self-subsistent key; it depends on the Ionic, and is in fact that; it commences not firmly grounded like the Ionic, but as it were hovering and floating upward; and in its termination there is no repose, but rather excitement, since it reverses the two poles of Tonic and Dominant, making what is called the "Plagal "Church Close," which sound so bold and startling. The DORIAN took the same sounds

or

from D to d, and had a very earnest, solemn character, most used in high church festivals. And so on through the twelve Modes. (The musical student may find them fully described in the work of Marx, noticed on an earlier page.) But it must be remembered that these Gregorian chants or "tones" at first were sung in unison, depending on great masses of voices for their effect. It was very slowly that any Harmony was added to their rough melodic progressions. Some occasional chords must have been now and then improvised and have grown into unwritten habits, especially at the closing cadences of tunes. By degrees it became common to add a voice part above the canto fermo, which was called Discant. But it was not before the enthusiastic studies of the monk Guido Aretinus in the 10th century, that anything like regular Counterpoint appeared. And for centuries after that, indeed even till after the Reformation and the dawning of mental freedom in Europe, when Music had got well secularized upon the stage, what harmony there was, was mostly limited to the hard, barren intervals of fourths and fifths, with an extremely timid and shy use of the expressive thirds and sixths; while (as we have said) the semi-tones had not all got emancipated and recognized in the Church, which made law in musical as in other matters. secular and vagabond music of the streets and fields, we may fancy, had semi-tones and thirds enough, without knowing it, any more than Moliere's M. Jourdain knew that he had been speaking prose. Because the natural instincts are more suggestive, more prone to accept all the elements of any truth, than a cramped science, made the subject of ordinances and prescription. Music is so true and genial to the whole of human nature, so allied to the heart and therefore of course to freedom, that only in the free and secular air of unmistrusting, generous, joyous, although checkered life, can she fully be herself, and fulfil her beautiful and perfect mission among sister Arts. The very idea of prescription is alien to the very soul of Music, who must be allowed freely to unfold all the types of order and unity and beauty and divine wisdom out of herself. And is it not her divine mission to elevate the whole of life and make it holy? But to return to our historical sketch.

The

So much, in passing, of the "Church Modes" and the Gregorian Chants. We must further notice how elaborate a music the restless, curious ingenuity of old composers, working within the aforesaid superstitious, theoretic limitations, had gradually evolved out of these plain materials, by the time of the establishment of our full modern Scale and of the true beginning of modern musical ART. The grave Discant which was sung above the Canto fermo soon took on refined and florid airs, so that some one compared it to "the curls and folds and flounces in a female dress." From the antiphonal or responsive singing, choir answering choir with the same melody commenced a little later and pitched a fifth or fourth higher or lower, that is in the plagal mode, arose the trick of Imitation, Canon and Fugue, which kindled up the emulous inventive and refining faculties to many a long heat. This accounts for florid and elaborate melody, for separate and long-spun parts, and melodies pursuing and entwining one another in one intricate and involved composition; while by the same process, together with the inviting facilities of the first church organs, arose

such timid and scant use of chords and harmony as we have just seen. The result was, theoretically, a whole system of counterpoint; and practically, an abundance of very elaborate, though cramped specimens of Art, especially the Catholic Mass and Passion, and all the wondrous difficulties of Fugues and Canons, carried mostly to a pitch of barren artificiality, until this science culminated and became inspired in great SEBASTIAN BACH and HANDEL.

We must regard then all this musical development before the 17th century, all from the Ambrosian plain chant to Sebastian Bach (though PALESTRINA stands out solitary and sublime, above the shining constellation of grand old English church composers, in the 16th) as mere preparation for the modern Art of Music proper. It mainly amounted to just this: The treasured inspiration of the same old stock of plain church chants and chorals, wrought over and over, and refined and twisted by a scientific ingenuity, until it became necessary that the fountains of melody should be replenished, or rather, that new fountains should be opened.

This came, in due time, with the progress of letters, arts and commerce, which were closely followed by the art of counterpoint, beginning in Rome, thence passing to the Hanse towns, and so on; and with the expansion given to the moral life of Europe by the Reformation. The secular, neglected vagrant, Melody, was picked up out of the streets. The popular airs, the free and native music of the human heart, were recognized. Music burst her fetters and got upon the stage. And then the progress of the art was rapid and inspiring, and all its secular gains and its rejuvenescence told upon its uses in the Church.

After reviewing these facts, is it wise or proper to carry our partiality for the old and simple and church-consecrated so far, as to ignore what modern times have gained in the power of expressing all the highest and holiest aspirations of the human soul through tones, as Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Cherubini and the rest have done!

AN ELL FOR AN INCH. In our translation from LISTZ's memoir of CHOPIN, in the last number, we spoke of a certain painting, instanced as a small one, as covering "a canvass of twenty square ells". it should have been inches.

Musical Intelligence.

Local.

SENORA DE RIBAS offers a very attractive programme for her complimentary concert this evening. She is to sing herself a Cavatina by that liquid melodist, Cimarosa, and the Fatal Goffredo by Donizetti. Also in the Trio of maskers from Don Juan, with her sister and Mr. Arthurson, and a duett with Mr. A.

Miss EMMA GARCIA sings a ballad by Wallace, and Miss Julia Garcia the "Captive Greek Girl," by Hobbs; and the two sisters the duett by Wallace: 66 Sainted Mother, guide his footsteps."

Mr. ARTHURSON will sing "Thou Soft flowing Avon," composed in 1740, by Dr. Arne.

SIG. DE RIBAS will play upon his oboe the Adagio Religioso of Ernst, with organ accompaniment by Mr. HAYTER, senior, and a solo of his own, with orchestra.

Mr. HAMANN, the fine French-hornist, is down for a solo: and Mr. GARCIA for a piano-forte solo, with orchestra. Three good overtures, and Meyerbeer's Marche du Sacre, make up the balance.

We trust there will be an overflowing house. The programme looks long, but the pieces are short and will be all through, we are assured, by 10 o'clock.

A NEW THEATRE AND OPERA HOUSE. We rejoice to learn that the prospect brightens for a fine theatre and place for lyric music, besides the two great concert halls in progress, in our city. A full and spirited meeting of merchants and others was held at the Revere House on Wednesday evening, when the wants of Boston in this respect were strongly set forth by the Mayor, by P. P. F. Degrand, Esq., and the chairman of the meeting, Edw. C. Bates, Esq. A committee consisting of Messrs. John D. Bates, John E. Thayer, William Amory and Gardner Brewer, were chosen, "to apply to the Legislature for an act of incorporation, for erecting a building for theatrical representations, to select and obtain the refusal of one or more suitable sites; and to take measures for obtaining subscribers for the necessary amount.

NEWTON MUSICAL ASSOCIATION. A pleasant "Public Rehearsal" of this new choral and orchestral society, numbering some eighty members, took place last week. The first part of the poogramme consisted of glees, duets, and trios by Callcott, Kreuzer, Bishop, &c.; the second part, of sacred quartets and choruses. Besides the names of MENDELSSOHN and SPOHR, those of our friends, S. JENNISON Jr., the conductor, and EDWARD HAMILTON, appeared as composers. We are happy to learn that Mr. Jennison is about to publish a series of six sacred choruses.- May this example of Newton soon be followed by the other thriving and intelligent communities, all over Massachusetts and New England!

New York. EISFELDT'S LAST CLASSICAL SOIREE will probably come off on the 8th at the Apollo Rooms, when, we understand, the following pieces will be given:

BEETHOVEN'S Septet, in the original form, for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, 'cello and contrabasso; HAYDN'S celebrated Quartet in G; and either MENDELSSOHN'S second Trio, in C minor, or SCHUMANN's Quintet, with Mr. Scharfenberg for pianist.

The Annual Meeting of the AMERICAN MUSICAL FUND SOCIETY took place on the 17th ult., when Ole Bull was elected an honorary member, and the following officers chosen for the ensuing year:

President, H. A. Coit. 1st Vice President, W. Scharfenberg; 2d Vice President, H. C. Watson; Treasurer, Anthony Reiff; Secretary, F. Scherpf.

Trustees, Ogden Haggerty, F. H. Austen, Julius Metz. Directors, Th. Eisfeld, H. B. Dodworth, C. Pazzaglia, G. Schneider, U. J. Hill, Jas. Shelton, F. A. Stohr, Wm. Thos. Roberts, G. F. Bristow, Louis Ernst, John A. Kyle, D. L. Downing.

The German LIEDER-KREISE, or popular chorus societies, which for the last three years have held their anniversaries in Baltimore and Philadelphia, will this Spring gather en masse in New York. It will be a time of real German enthusiasm, at once rhythmical and free. — A similar festival will take place on the 7th of June at Cincinnati.

The newspapers chronicle the marriage of Signor BETTINI, the popular tenore, with Mlle. SOPHIE MARETZEK, a sister of the indomitable impresario.

The "GERMANIANS," leaving Philadelphia in triumph, have been welcomed back to one of their special homes, which is Baltimore. We see that they have meanwhile paid a flying visit to Washington.

BISCACCIANTI had given five concerts, amid much enthusiasm, at San Francisco.

Germany.

VIENNA. The German Opera finished on the 14th of March with the Prophète. On the 15th the Italian Opera began, with Mmes. Medori and Demeric, and MM. Fraschini and De Bassini in Lucia. On the 17th Mme. Maray and M. Scalese made their debut in Don Pasquale. To these succeeded Lucrezia Borgia and Verdi's Macbeth, in which last Medori and the baritone De Bassini had a wonderful triumph.

SCHULHOFF, the pianist, had returned and was giving successful concerts.

On the 1st of May was to be celebrated in the chapel of the royal palace a jubilee commemorative of its foundation four hundred years ago. Among the works to be performed, were Masses by Mozart, Assmayer, Mayseder, Eybler, Preyer and Beethoven; Graduals and

Offertories by Haydn &c.; finally a grand Litany by Mozart and the abbé Vogler's Choral Vespers.

The concert for the Charitable Fund for musicians was composed of all the music to Meyerbeer's Struensee, Mendelssohn's posthumous Symphony and "Midsummer Night's Dream" music, a Symphony by Beethoven, and the Oratorio of "Noah," by Preyer.

BERLIN. The musicians of the royal chapel were to present a bâton of honor to their director, Taubert, (author of Jenny Lind's "Bird Song,) as a reward for ten years labor; the same honor had been paid to Spontini and Meyerbeer.- Much was said of a new Oratorio, "Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar," by the organist Kuntze. Madame WAGNER took her leave in the part of Fidelio. Don Juan, with Mme. Koster for Donna Anna, the Grossfurstin, by Flotow, the Doppelflucht by H. Schmidt, Fille du Regiment and the "Doll of Nuremberg" are named among the operas old and new. As singers for the Summer season, were announced Roger of Paris and Mme. Meyer, Liephart from Vienna, and Formes the baritone.

Meyerbeer has written a Cantata for the 28th anniversary of the marriage of Prince Charles of Prussia.

At the college Frederic-William, the pupils of the first class have performed the tragedy of Antigone in Greek, with the choruses by Mendelssohn.

BRESLAU. The Academy of Song gave on the 3d of March a concert, composed of chorals by John Eckart and S. Bach; a motet by Mich. Bach; the Requiem by Hasse; a cantata by S. Bach. On the 26th they sung Haydn's "Seasons."

At OKLAU, Dr. Karl Loewe's Oratorio of " John Huss" was performed. [The music of this is in that author's romantic, German ballad vein, full of pleasing variety and contrast, and may be produced some day ere long in Boston, as we once found some amusement in translating its quite clever poem for one of our most active professors of sacred music.]

LEIPSIC. Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto has been represented with unanimous applause.

AMSTERDAM. The inauguration of the statue of Rembrandt, who died in this city in 1674, was to be accompanied by a grand musical festival, in which all the philharmonic societies of Holland were to partake. It was supposed that there would be over 2,500 executants.

Paris.

OPERA NATIONAL. Duprez's opera, Joanita, has drawn crowds, and shed a glory over a multitude of smaller things, romances, canzonets, &c., which the great tenor composed before he wrote for the theatre, and the beauty of which the Parisians have just begun to recollect. Caroline Duprez, the daughter of the composer, sang in Joanita, and she is styled an adorable singer by the French critics.

The "Prison of Edinburgh," by Caraffa, and la Pie voleuse, have since been played.

VIEUXTEMPS was to arrive in Paris and give a concert about this time.-M. TELLEFSEN, a young pianist and composer, whose style and sentiment are said to be analogous to those of his master, Chopin, was to give a con

cert.

A LEARNED FEMALE ORGANIST. Mlle. Juliette Dillon, organist of the cathedral of Meaux, has been giving Soirées of MUSICAL IMPROVISATIONS. On the first evening, she improvised five times: 1. Preludes in a given key and measure; 2. improvisation on a theme proposed on the spot; 3. on a poetic subject; 4. on several themes of different style and character; 5. on a scene containing several contrasted subjects.

SOCIETE ST. CECILE. The programme of the sixth concert was as follows: Overture, Meeres-Stille, by Mendelssohn; Trio from Les Songes de Dardanus, by Rameau; Chorus from Les Elus, by M. Wekerlin; Pastoral Symphony, Beethoven; Air de Limnander, sung by Mlle. Miolan; Pavane, dance air of the sixteenth century; Overture, Le Roi Etienne, Beethoven. Orchestra directed by M. Seghers; choruses by M. Wekerlin.

LEOPOLD DE MEYER was to give his last concert in Paris on the 19th of April in the Salle Herz. He was to play two new compositions; viz., a fantasia on le Prophète, and his Souvenir d' Italie.

MLLE. CLAUSS is still extolled to the skies, especially in her performance of Beethoven's Sonata in Ĉ sharp minor (the "Moonlight"). She was to leave for London.

Advertisements.

A CARD.

SENORA ROSA GARCIA DE RIBAS Melodeon, on Saturday Evening, May 1, '52,

have been singing in the Prophète, Laborde in the Huguenots, Gueymard again in "William Tell," and Mdlle. Courtot, a pupil of Duprez, in La Favorita.-There is great expectation of the new opera, "The Wandering Jew," which was to be brought out early in April.- A danseuse there too, Mdlle. Priora, is spoken of as one destined to renew the triumphs of Taglioni, Elsler and Cerito.

ITALIAN OPERA. Mdlle. Cruvelli sang Rosina in the "Barber." Lablache, as always, was irresistible in the rôle of Bartolo; Calzolari sang that of Lindoro admirably, and Belletti distinguished himself in Figaro.

Cinderella was given for the benefit of the contralto, Angri, in which Lablache had another triumph. In L'Italiana in Algieri, Ferranti was very amusing as Taddeo. In Don Pasquale, Cruvelli again, with the quartet above named.

The season closed on the 1st of April with a concert, said to have been rather triste, as Sophie Cruvelli and her sister, who were announced in the programme, had already left for London.

At the OPERA COMIQUE the appetite for graceful fun holds out and there has been great activity in feeding it. In one week, the habitués had passed in review before them, as in a sort of magic lantern on a grand scale, the Domino Noir, the Fille du Regiment, La Dame Blanche, the Carillonneur de Bruges, le Macon, le Tableau parlant, la Fête du village voisin, and the Château de Mme. BarbeBleue,-eight merry operettes!

Then they have had a new one-act opera by Adam, called le Farfadet (the Hobgoblin,) in which he has a caricature of the statue scene in Don Giovanni. — Also Madelon, and the Trompette de M. le Prince, great favorites, by F. Bazin. The caste of the former piece was

at the

her COMPLIMENTARY will take place on which occasion she will be kindly assisted by the following talent MISS J. GARCIA,

MISS E. GARCIA,
MR. ARTHURSÓN,
HERR HAMANN,

MR. AUGUST FRIES,
MR. FRANCIS RIHA,
MR. HAYTER,

MR. J. R. GARCIA, SENOR De RIBAS, and A GRAND ORCHESTRA.

BENJAMIN B. MUSSEY & CO. 29 Cornhill, Boston.

BERTINI'S PIANO FORTE INSTRUCTOR.

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The Modern Harp, or BOSTON SACRED MELODIST. A Collection of Church Music. By E. L. WHITE and J. E. GOULD.

The Opera Chorus Book. Consisting of Trios, Quartets, Quintets, Solos, and Choruses, from the most popular Operas. By E. L. WHITE and J. EDGAR Gould. Sabbath School Lute. A Selection of Hymns and appropriate Melodies, adapted to the wants of Sabbath Schools.

The Tyrolian Lyre. A Glee Book consisting of easy pieces, arranged mostly for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices, for the use of Societies, Schools, Clubs, Choirs, and the social circle. By E. L. WHITE and JOHN E. GOULD. Sacred Chorus Book. Consisting mostly of Selections from the works of HANDEL, HAYDN, MOZART, MENDELSSOHN, ROMBERG, NEUKOMM, ROSSINI, &c. &c., with an, accompaniment for the Organ or Piano Forte. Suitable for singing societies, and advanced schools. By EDWARD L. WHITE and J. EDGAR GOULD.

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This work is intended to supply a want long felt in our Higher Schools and Institutions. The music is arranged for three parts, and in such a manner that it may be sung exclusively by female voices or by a mixed choir. Whenever solos occur, a simple accompaniment for the Piano Forte or Melodeon has been added. The work is printed from new English type and on beautiful paper. Retail price, 62 1-2 cents. ZUNDEL'S ORGAN BOOK. By JOHN ZUNDEL. TWO Hundred and Fifty Easy Voluntaries and Interludes for the Organ, Melodeon, Seraphine, &c. With Introductory Remarks, Description of Stops, Directions for the Purchase of Organs, &c., adapting the work especially to the wants of young organists, and those who have made sufficient progress to accompany plain Psalmody on the Organ, Melodeon, or Seraphine. Retail price, $1.50

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