tered better for the thoughtless crowd of absolute dilettanti, and perhaps exercised more attraction on the masses; but as an artist he prejudiced beforehand their understanding of the matter he had undertaken to present. Mozart, Beethoven and Gluck also interweave thoughts from the opera into their overtures; but they are very careful to take only those of such decided stamp, that they help to prepare the mind correctly; and then they employ them only as introduction, or as episode, as in the overtures to Don Juan, Iphigenia in Aulis, Leonora, (in C major). Weber's overtures, on the contrary, especially in the second theme, fall off into the Potpourri style; this is true of the Freyschütz, as of the Euryanthe, the Preciosa, &c., and most strikingly true of the Oberon. At this point Weber violently breaks the spell of his life-like description, so full of character and so faithful often to the truth; makes far too great a concession to the multitude, and all the beautifully germinating devotion is over; the audience is simply amused and longingly waits, after the return of the first more tedious thought, for the repetition of that tempting sugar work, which does not keep them waiting long, and now dazzles them with all the greater splendor. By this turn Weber the gave signal for a whole host of similarly put together, but not equally inspired overtures; they had learned of a revered master, both for themselves and for the pleasure-loving public, to take life easily.

Rossini was already peeping in here like a rogue, who had just then begun completely to turn the heads of the best and bravest people. When the composer had cooked up enough to furnish forth his splendidly and daintily set tables, then, like a prudent and experienced cook, he never omitted to stimulate the appetite by the nicely prepared ragout of his overtures.

Precisely at the time when Weber's fame, that had been kindled by the Freyschütz, was threatened with extinction by the sad fate of the Euryanthe, did Rossini reap his first dazzling triumphs. This was not without its injurious influence upon Weber's mind, which more and more opened itself to bitterness; it so excited him and dazzled him, that this same Weber, who had once so earnestly conjured Meyerbeer to remain German, now unfaithful to these principles, frequently in his Oberon strayed off after Rossini, and studied effect by an arbitrary mixture of German and Italian turns.

self-con

Nevertheless Oberon contains still glorious treasures of true German music, and what is far more important, true description; as for example in the elfin scenes, which even Mendelssohn has not surpassed; in the overture too, there is a brave essay of polyphony. But Weber was, alas! too sick to exercise the necessary trol. Outward impressions gained ever more a stronger influence over him, and challenged him as to a formal conflict with the hostile elements. His enfeebled body yielded to this soul struggle, and to the chicanes to which he was exposed in England, in a foreign language, on the part of narrow-minded singers, arising from the bad translation of the Oberon. Weber was, as we have said, in spite of all there was new, invaluable, popular, and thus far unsurpassable in his works, too specific a musician, too much a man of feeling, to soar up to that summit of the arch of Reason, where the classical musician, standing above his impressions, overlooks, controls and regulates himself and his emotions.

The Italians in Russia.-Mme. Bosio.

(Correspondence Lond. Mus. World.)

In

All your readers who profess an unbounded admiration for Madame Bosio (and I address myself to no others) will be glad to hear how she has been occupied during her recent sojourn in Russia. In the first place, I must hasten to say that the liquidity of her tones has not been interfered with by the congealing power of the Russian frost. In the second, I must chronicle her almost unprecedented success at St. Petersburg, and her altogether unprecedented success at Moscow-where no first-rate Italian singer, properly supported, ever appeared before the epoch of the coronation of the present emperor. I am aware that many persons will laugh at the idea of a Russian reputation, and sneer at the notion of a success achieved in Moscow. truth, when so accomplished a singer as Madame Bosio makes her appearance before a new public, the principal honor involved in her success is that which reflects upon the discernment and taste of her audiences. But it should be remembered at the same time, that almost all the great Italian singers, who have been heard in London and Paris for the last twenty-five years, have found their way to St. Petersburg, and that the representations of the Italian Opera and the concerts of the Philharmonic Society are attended with so much eagerness, that it is difficult to find a place on the subscription list of the former, and almost impossible to obtain a season ticket for the latter. In short, the Russian amateurs really love music; they have been accustomed to hear music of the first kind, and the excellence of their orchestras, composed, for the most part, of native instrumentalists, proves that the nation can execute as well as appreciate. I speak especially of the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society, which consists of only forty performers (about the number of Mr. Alfred Mellon's band of the Orchestral Union), and which, by long and continuous practice, has attained almost the perfection of ensemble. The orchestra at the Italian Opera, numbering twice the number of executants, owes its completeness to the fact that the performers take, rank in the Government service, to preserve which it is necessary they should remain in the band of the Government theatre. After a certain number of years' service, each performer is entitled to a pension, like any other Government officer; and when, in addition to this, it is considered that the musical reputation of the St. Petersburg Italian Opera is considerably higher than that of any other theatre in Russia, it will be at once understood that its musicians are not in the habit of quitting it for any slight reasons, but that on the contrary, most of them remain in it during the whole of their professional lifetime. This "permanency," so much admired by Mr. Carlyle, of course produces its usual results in music as in all other things, and the orchestra of the St. Petersburg Italian Opera exhibits an excellence which, under another system, might never have been attained.

All this is intended to show that Bosio's success in Russia is a success not to be despised; indeed she has nowhere been more thoroughly and more warmly appreciated, from her appearance in Moscow at the State representation, when her brilliant vocalization in Norina was received in involuntary silence by an audience which had been invited by the Emperor to hear L'Elisir d'Amore without being permitted to laugh at Lablache!—down to her last appearance in the Traviata, when her pathetic acting and her charming execution of music, which with all its original insipidity becomes touching as "interpreted" by her, caused her to be "recalled" some dozen times, and with an enthusiasm which I had imagined was not to be found out of Italy. will be remembered that Bosio was advertised to appear last season in the Traviata, at the Lyceum, but Piccolomini having forestalled her in the part at Her Majesty's, and the public moreover appearing satisfied with that young lady's style of singing, it of course became unbecoming on the part of the former vocalist to enter into a competition from which nothing was to be gained.

It

This summer, however, in case of Piccolomini's non-appearance, it will be profitable to her late admirers to have an opportunity of seeing and hearing the part of Marguerite Gauthier, executed without "piquancy" or accroche-cœurs, by the most accomplished soprano of the present day. A low-minded realist might object in Madame Bosio's performance of the part to her lady-like demeanor. She, in fact, looks like a young girl accidentally living in the region of the Dames aux Camélias, where she appears quite depaysée. But it seems to me that the Dame aux Camelias-on the stage as in real life-is tolerable under no other circumstances, and that in order not to be offensive, it is necessary, in the first instance, that she should not look like what she is. It has always been my conviction that the original representative of the part in Dumas' drama (or comedy as it ought to be called,-its chief merit being that it gives us a lively representation of manners in the quartier Breda) owed a large part of her success to the lamentable fact that she "looked the part." And in support of the truth of this assertion, it may be mentioned that in the provinces where the public are not familiar with the dress, manners, and bearing of the first-class lorette, Madame Doche failed. But the Dame aux Camélias at the Vaudeville, to a more pure-minded person than an habitual theatre-goer is likely to be, was doubtless a very offensive exhibition. At all events there is a great contrast between the performance of the French actress and that of the Italian singer in the same part, and one that cannot be entirely ascribed to the purifying influence of the music, although the air of the last act is angelic as executed by Madame Bosio.

Calzolari was Madame Bosio's tenor, of whom it is unnecessary to speak, as the public of London have already heard and applauded the feeble gentleman in the ungrateful character of the amant de cœur. Do not think, however, that we had no tenor but Calzolari at St. Petersburg and Moscow. The "robust" parts were taken by Bettini (the big one), and his performance with Bosio and the contralto, de Mérie (who has vastly improved), in the Trovatore, was especially successful. The principal baritone was de Bassini. The seconda donna (appearing sometimes as prima donna-in the Norina of Don Pasquale, for instance) was the interesting Marai.

(From

Boarding School Music.

"Music and Education," by Dr. MAINZER. London, 1818.)

Whence does music receive its greatest injury, its deepest wounds? From those who should be its natural guardians, and the most jealous defenders of its beauty and purity-the parents of children and the managers of schools, especially schools for female education. To study music is, to them, nothing but to learn to play the piano. You may have talent, or you may have none, you must learn it under penalty of being taxed with having received but an indifferent education. In what, then, consists this study of the piano? In sitting so many hours daily before the instrument, having the fingers curved, and stretched, and trained; and after having thus passed, in the most tedious and thoughtless of studies, the most precious and invaluable hours of life, what knowledge has been acquired? Have they become musicians for their pains? Has the science of music been revealed to them? Have they learned to understand, to judge, to analyze a musical composition in its technical construction and poetical essence? Or, have they learned to produce, after their own impulse, a musical thought, to develope it, and, in a momentaneous inspiration, to make the heart speak in joyful or plaintive strains, according to their mood of mind? Nothing of the kind. A few have learned to play a sonata, perhaps a concerto; a greater number have reached variations, but by far the greatest majority only quadrilles! This playing of quadrilles, this training of the fingers, mothers complacently call accomplishment, a refined education: and musicians who look with contempt upon musical study and musical works of this description, can they be surprised when the art to which they

have devoted themselves, is not appreciated, not understood? What can we expect, when its whole destiny is left in the hands of matrons of boarding-schools, who, generally, are clear-sighted enough to make it an important item of their business, withdraw the lion's part from what is due to the teacher, but are ignorant of its very alphabet?

If, in musical education, great errors are committed by teachers, the greatest of all arises from their submitting to the tyranny of these matrons, and their complacency in satisfying the wishes and the vanities of the parents. Unacquainted with music, its loftier purposes, and even with its mechanical department, the latter are overanxious, in their paternal solicitude, to hear their offspring play or sing great pieces. The day is fixed beforehand, when, at a certain party, the young prodigy should take the whole company by surprise. The teacher, or governess, are alone initiated into the secret; and these poor martyrs of ignorance try every means to show the star in all its magnitude. The day, the great day arrives; the company begin to gather; the grandpapa has taken his arm-chair, and now, O misery! begins the musical entertainment. Papa feels quite uneasy; mama is in a fever; and the juvenile Corinna is all but fainting. However, the glorious moment has come when the sun is to rise and dazzle every eye. We all have heard such prodigious performances. One bar after the other makes slowly its appearance, and is, as it were, forced out; when she sings, it is in stammering notes that she produces the eloquent A te o cara, or Una furtiva lagrima. Often overcome with fear and emotion, not of the music, but of the heads and candles around her, she stops short, goes on again, but, alas! the black and white keys begin to melt into each other, and to interchange colors, until-all is darkness and confusion. So ends the first musical entertainment, and so begins the musical career of young persons in general: each party-day is a new disappointment for the family and visitors, and a day of deep distress for the poor victim of such vanities and follies.

It is very certain that music, so acquired, must become irksome and tedious, that it can offer no enjoyment for the moment, no nourishment for the mind, and throughout a whole lifetime, no compensation for the time, the money, and the tears it has cost. In going directly against the purpose, it would be unreasonable to expect to attain it. We would wish to learn and love music; but you teach us to dread and hate it:a system which resembles that of the night police, who carry lanterns, that the thieves may see them from a distance. Well may we say to those parents, and boarding-school Minervas, that music is a dangerous art, if thus it becomes, in their unholy hands, an instrument of torment to the young, or if it has to pass as a blighting blast, over the happy days of youth, and is, thanks to them, a handmaid of vanity, an empty, idle, stupid show, on the one side, and a greedy, cunning speculation, a vile, contemptible trade on the other. Well may we say to the musician, who thus sacrifices his dignity, betrays the art, and, as a sordid usurer, sells it to the highest bidder,. what Schiller said to the literary tradesman: Unhappy mortal! who, with science and art, the noblest of all instruments, effectest and attemptest nothing more than the day-drudge with the meanest; who, in the domain of perfect freedom, bearest about thee the spirit of a slave." "But," continues he, "how is the artist to guard himself from the corruption of his time? By despising its decisions. Let him look upwards to his dignity and his mission, not downwards to his comforts and his wants."

As we do not expect to change this degrading system of musical education, unless the parents show a better understanding and a higher appreciation of the art, it is to them we expose the necessity of a total reform in musical tuition, and say, either release the child entirely from this odious, mechanical and stupifying study, good only for nourishing ostentation and self-conceit, or make it a rational, intellectual and noble agent of moral education and mental refinement. The

more solid, the more elementary the beginning, the sooner the end is attained. All those who learn music with the view to shine, will never learn it to satisfy the better judge. They will find the general road too long, and, unlike common mortals, begin where others finish; fly without wings. They learn, by heart, like a bird, a Cavatina and a great Aria, and display their science in drawing-rooms, turning henceforth-a living hurdy-gurdy-in endless rotation, from the Cavatina to the Aria, and from the Aria to the Cavatina. How different those who have learned

thoroughly the principles of music! they sing every choral or solo composition, though never seen before.

(From the Home Journal, Dec. 1852.)

A TRIBUTE TO BOOTH.

The veteran actor, whose recent death brought a heartfelt "Alas! poor Yorick" to many a lip, is kindly treated in the verses below, by an esteemed contributor. Booth was not an ordinary man; and we are glad that his decease has called forth so worthy though inadequate a tribute to his memory:

BOOTH.

Just now it came into my head,

I know not how it came,

That somewhere I have heard or read, That Junius Brutus Booth was dead,

An actor of great fame.

In Richard he was really great,

Though Kean's was lauded higher: All parts, when not in tipsy state, He played with judgment accurate,

With spirit, force and fire.

His tragic powers high praise bespeak-
His comic claims as high;
Profound in the absurd or weak,
He made you laugh at Jerry Sneak,
And almost made you cry.
For to his sense with feeling rife,
The "fun" was not the best-
That tragedy of common life,
The loving fool, the tyrant wife,

He deemed a serious jest.
He was a scholar deeply versed

In old and modern lore;
A poet, too, and not the worst;
His lines, when by himself rehearsed,
Were seldom thought a bore.

At Holland's lodgings once we met-
Our speech on trifles ran-
The nothings that we soon forget,
But leaves me an impression yet

Of "wit and gentleman."

A bard, the humblest of our times,

While sauntering down the street,
Together strung these careless rhymes,
And thought how oft ambition climbs
As poor reward to meet !
What lasts of Booth ?-a paragraph
Some flippant paper gives;

A lie, or only true by half,
To set on barren fools to laugh-

And thus his "glory" lives!
Green boy, who seest on the stage
Some bully foam and roar,
Thinkest it glorious to engage
Applause, by shamming grief or rage,
Go-be a fool no more!

Few idols of the box or pit

Might well with Booth compare:
A genius, scholar, poet, wit,
For every range of talent fit-

And Booth is-what?-and where?
In vain his mind was heaven-inspired,
By study, too, refined-
All nature gave, or art acquired,
Was only for the hour admired,

And then it passed from mind.

The next German Festival. To the last number of Fitzgerald's City Item, Philadelphia, we are indebted for the following:

SEVENTH MUSICAL FESTIVAL OF THE GERMAN VOCAL SOCIETIES OF THE UNION.-Coming summer, our city will be witness of one of those grand celebrations for which our song-loving Germans have of late years become so famed, and which promises to surpass all others of the same kind, whether held in New York, Baltimore, or in this City of Brotherly Love. These festivals have been justly considered displaying in a remarkable degree the social elements as possessing an eminently national character, and of German public spirit and life, in the midst of American conventionalism, and have won encomiums of admiration from all classes of our society.

The preliminary proceedings were commenced last May, and the preparations are of the most complete kind, no expense or pains being spared to give eclat to this celebration. The following is the order of proceedings:

1-Saturday (June 13th) Eve of the Festival. Reception of the Societies, and Torch light_procession; Salutation by the President of the Delegation; Supper at the Head Quarters; Escort to the lodgings of the Guests.

2-Sunday Morning, at 8; Introduction and Rehearsal. In the Evening, Oratorio at the Festive Hall, by the Vocal Societies of Philadelphia. 3-Monday Morning, at 8, General Rehearsal for the Festive Concert; then Procession and Reception in Independence Square; Evening, at 7, Concert. 4-Tuesday, Pic Nic in the usual manner; Evening, Opera and Ball.

5-Wednesday Morning, at 10; Meeting of the Delegation; Afternoon, Chorus Singing of the different Societies; Conclusion of the Festival, Grand Banquet.

6-Departure of Guests.

...

4-Scena and Chorus, from "Euryanthe,' (Philadelphia Societies), Weber. 5-"The American Revolutionary Hero," Wolsieffer. 6-Pilgrim Chorus, from "Tannhäuser," (United Societies), Wagner. Both Concerts will be held at our Academy of Music, and will be arranged in a manner commensurate with the magnitude and splendor of the Festival. The following Societies have accepted the invitation and will attend:-New York, eighteen Societies, with eight hundred members; Baltimore, six Societies; Philadelphia eleven Societies; Richmond, Va., two Societies; Newark, two Societies; Norwich, New Haven, Poughkeepsie, Hartford, Easton, Buffalo, Rochester, Williamsburg, Hoboken, Trenton, Reading, Harrisburg, Wilmington, Petersburg, Washington city. Together, fifty-six societies, with fifteen hundred members, a force sufficient to

Fräulein Deutsch, after she became Signora Tedesco, turned the Havana and Boston musical public topsy-turvey.

Miss Jennings, after becoming Signora Fiorentini, played a great part at London and Paris. Fräulein Ungher of Vienna, having become Madame Sabbatier, was a great Italian contralto.

Possibly the name of Signora Canzi, who thirty years ago was the great singer at La Scala, and on other Italian stages, and then shared the triumphs of Pasta in London and Paris, may be known to some readers. Well, she was Fräulein Canzi, born of German parents, at Baden, near Vienna. But the notices of her at that time of course made her of Italian birth.

The name of Madame Fodor-Mainvielle, the so long ruling spirit at the grand opera at Paris, may also be familiar. She was Fräulein Fodor originally, the daughter of a German pianist, who about 1795 settled in Amsterdam.

Musical history, however, does give us some instances, in which singers have attained a reasonable degree of fame, without sailing under false national colors.

As instances, these names occur to us: Maria and Pauline Garcia, Mrs. Billington, a certain Fräulein Sontag, and a Miss Lind, Caecilia Davies, Mara, Clara Novello, Johanna Wagner, CintiDamoreau, Miss Paton, the original Rezia in Weber's Oberon, with whom he was delighted, (we know her as Mrs. Wood), and too many others to be cited here.

Of these some never saw Italy, and others only went there after their fame had brought them engagements at Naples, Florence or Venice.

When the next manager brings us an opera troupe from sunny Italy, and engages Zacariah Smith, Habakuk Townsend, Pelatiah Jones, Abigail Barnes. Lois Bigelow and Hepzibah Bacon-how the-ahem!-will he Italianize their names? For certainly, under such every-day cognomens, no human being could sing!

Second Conductor, Samuel Thurston; Secretary, Charles P. Carlton; Treasurer, Parmenio W. Neal; Librarian. Cyrus Staples; Investigating Committee, John L. Shaw, Arthur M. Ilsley, George M. Howe.

MANCHESTER, N. II.-Mr. G. W. STRATTON's first Soirée took place at his Piano-forte rooms, March 20th. In the programme we notice Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique; the overture to Tancredi, (for violin, clarinet and piano); a Lament," by Schubert, (for two clarinets); Variations by Mozart, for clarinet solo; a fantasia for piano, by Strakosch; and in the vocal portion a sacred Quartet by Kreissmann, a Quartet and a Trio by Stratton, the Trio from Belisario, songs from Donizetti, Auber, &c. The Manchester paper says the Soirée was a complete success.

"The performers were all natives. The vocal parts were by Mrs. Wm. Reynolds, Mrs. II. B. Carter, Mr. J. R. Dudley. Mr. David Alden and Mr. Stratton, who performed some Trios and Quartets in a superior manner. Mrs. Reynolds sang two songs with much taste and expression. Stratton's Trio and Quartet were much liked, and appeared quite original compared with the general run of this kind of music. The instrumental parts were performed by Miss S. A. Osgood, Pianist, Mr. E. K. Foss, Violinist, Mr. J. S. Huckins, Clarinetist, Mr. Stratton, Pianist and Clarinetist. Miss Osgood's Fantasia was played in a neat and finished style, which did credit to herself and teacher, Mr. Stratton. The clarinet pieces were much admired."

WORCESTER, MASS.-The Mendelssohn Quintette Club, with Mrs. Wentworth, have been in our city for two or three days, delighting our citizens with their performances and playing to all classes of music lovers. On Friday evening they performed at Washburn Hall, (a fine place, it is said, for chamber concerts), giving a programme of light music. On Saturday afternoon they gave in the Mechanics' Hall a concert for the school-children and others, suiting the performances to their tastes. It was advertised as a "tencent concert," packages of five tickets being sold for fifty cents. Had the tickets been sold singly, for a dime, the hall would have been crowded.

But the crowning glory of the Club's visit among us was reserved for Saturday evening, at which time they gave a soirée of classical music in the parlors of the Bay State House, which was an occasion of unalloved enjoyment. The programme was well chosen, and, throughout, well performed. It opened with Haydn's Quartet in G. No. 75, which the strings gave with delicate grace and perfect appreciation through

out.

We have never heard the Club play better than in this quartet. The Introduction and Allegro movement of the Beethoven quintet in E flat was characteristic and interesting; and the canzonet from Mendelssohn's Quartet in E flat, proved to be one of the gems of the evening. Ryan's quintet arrangement of one of the simplest yet most charming of the Songs without Words, was very acceptable; and the clarinet quintet in A, No. 6, on. 198, was a fitting close for so fine an evening's entertainment. being in Mozart's best vein, and, most excellently played withal. The programme was interspersed with singing by Mrs. Wentworth, who gave, with her accustomed taste. Cherubini's Ave Maria, and the air. Come unto Him; and solos by Krebs and August Fries-accomplished players of the flute and violin.

The performance, on Fast evening, of the oratorio of the Creation, by the Mozart Society, should fill our Mechanics' Hall to overflowing.-Palladium.

PITTSFIELD, MASS.-(From the Berkshire Co. Eagle, April 10.)-The winter session of the Mendelssohn Musical Institute closed on Tuesday evening last, with a soirée given by the Young Ladies, under the direction of the principal, Prof. E. B. Oliver. The occasion was a pleasant one to all, and especially to those who, like ourselves, with some idea of the designs of the founder, have watched the progress of the Institute from its beginning. The novelty and boldness of the undertaking, and the singular fitness of Mr. Oliver and his associates for giving it success, early gave us a lively interest in it. A passionate devotee of high art and an enthusiastic believer that music-designed to express all the finer feelings of the soul, and all the more delicate fancies of the mind, could only be perfectly cultivated in proportion as the heart, the taste and the judgment are cultivated, and only perfectly expressed by the most thorough artistic skill, Mr. Oliver undertook to establish a school of classic music upon a basis corresponding with his theories. In the system established, music is, of course, made the central point of instruction. The course pursued is extremely thorough, and the favorite style taught is of the severe classic school of Germany. At the soirée on Tuesday evening, the programme contained fifteen pieces, from the following brilliant constellation of authors. Bach, Haydn, Beethoven. Mozart, Schubert, Von Weber and Concone, an unusual combination at least to be found in the

programme of an evening performance by young ladies, and one characteristic of the school. That something more of music must have been learned by them than is often taught, was evident to those who listened to them. And aside from the general musical skill acquired, it was well remarked by a gentleman present, that these pieces now learned were, like the works of Milton and Shakspeare in poetry, always fresh, and would as much delight the hearer if the performers repeated them twenty years hence, as they do now-perhaps the truest test of classic music as distinguished from the fashionable.

So much for the central point of the school. Accessory to this, the sister art of painting and drawing is taught with great skill, by Miss Merrill, and French, German, Latin and some branches of English studies are pursued under teachers of the first class. The primary object of Mr. Oliver in selecting these studies, is that variety which the mind of the student must have, and especially to give that cultivation which he believes essential to the character of the true artist.

By an advertisement it will be seen that a new term of Mr. Oliver's Institute has just commenced.

PROVIDENCE, R. I.-The "Beethoven Orchestra" gave their third concert on the 23d ult., assisted by "a resident lady singer, of excellent talent," and by the "Providence Flute Club." The programme was:

From the Committee of Management's card to the public, we extract the following paragraphs:

The Orchestra was formed and commenced its rehearsals in March, 1856, under the direction of Mr. W. F. Marshall. and is now composed of the following instruments: 8 violins, 3 violas, 4 violoncellos, 2 double basses, 3 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 1 horn, 2 trombones, 1 basso tuba, large and small drums, triangle, cymbals, and kettle drums. Their object, principally, is to encourage and develope, in a large form, the instrumental talent of this city.

They hope that the citizens generally will take an interest in the establishment of a first class Orchestra in this city, and be induced to give such encouragement to the efforts they are now making as will have the effect to increase the numbers and strengthen the efficiency of the Orchestra, thus enabling them to perform music of a higher and more classical character, and perhaps stimulate them to the performance of the grand instrumental compositions of the immortal composer whose name the Association have assumed-BEETHOVEN !

NEW YORK.-Maretzek and company commenced a season of Italian Opera at Niblo's on Monday evening, when Mme. GAZZANIGA made her New York debut in La Traviata, with BRIGNOLI, AMODIO, &c. The Courier & Enquirer says:

Madame Gazzaniga, to be so poor a vocalist, is one of the most remarkable artists we have had upon our lyric stage. Her merits are her own peculiar gifts; her faults are in the form of defective acquirement. She possesses that rarity in music, a truly sympathetic soprano voice. No mezzo-soprano, no tenor, is more penetrating in quality, more pathetic in tone; and to this it adds a peculiarly feminine expression which, strange to say, does not always accompany a female voice. She has a great range, quite two octaves and a half, we should say, and more power than any soprano we have heard, except Jenny Lind. Her volume of voice, too, seems to be all music; very little of it runs to waste in mere noise. These merits she in a measure counterbalances by certain defects, which, though they are not fatal, still limit her range, and we fear, unless they are remedied, will prevent her from attaining the rank of a prima donna of the first class. She vocalizes very badly; and in fact cannot sing scale passages or arpeggios, or the ordinary figures of rapid melody, in a manner which would do credit to a pupil of a year's standing under a good master. If we may judge by her performance last evening, her intonation is not reliable; and in passages which require her either to force or to subdue her voice she sings sharp; this however may be the temporary effect of illness or agitation. She delivers her voice with great freedom and purity, but seems to lack elasticity of spirit or of utterance, to a degree which almost reaches monotony; and, consequently she is never brilliant.

Madame Gazzaniga's style is the purely declamatory dramatic style which has been brought into vogue by the later compositions of Donizetti and by those with which Verdi alternately delights and offends us. As

a musical declaimer she has few superiors; and the unusual richness and fullness of the lower register of her voice, gave her great advantages in this respect. As an actress she has much merit; and her personshe is a blonde and has a very pretty figure-wins her favor before she sings.

The illness of Mme. Gazzaniga prevented a repetition until Friday....The PYNE and IIARRISON troupe are giving six nights of English Opera at Burton's theatre with W. V. WALLACE as conductor;-their farewell before returning to England.

WASHINGTON, D. C.-A very beautiful "musical soirée" was given by Mr. Corcoran, in behalf of Mr. ROBERT GOLDBECK, for the purpose of introducing him to some of our most influential familics as a pianist and artist of great merit, previous to his giving a public concert here. Though he comes unheralded, yet with the strong introduction he brings from Baron Humboldt and other distinguished European friends of his, we cannot for a moment doubt of his future success in this country, where, we believe, he intends to take up a permanent residence, having already met with marked favor in New York, where he has established himself. But now, to return to Mr. Corcoran's Soirée, where the guests were accomplished in music; we understand that Mr. Goldbeck delighted and astonished his audience. The neatness and precision of his playing cannot well be surpassed, and his classical performances of Beethoven's celebrated Sonata in A flat could not fail to stamp him as an artist of true merit. In short, he gave most entire satisfaction to all who had the pleasure of hearing him.-Intelligencer.

SAVANNAH, GA.-We have received a copy of the Constitution of the "Mozart Club," which has existed in this city since 1855. Its object is "the performance of instrumental and vocal music, and the cultivation of correct musical taste." It has active members, (professional and amateur), who pay $5 a year, the professional excepted, and associate members, who pay $19; and all members are privileged to attend rehearsals and concerts. The rehearsals take place every Wednesday evening from October into March, and at least four concerts are given during the season. The number of active members for 1856-7 is: Professors 6, Amateurs 14; of associate members, about 60. Of the programmes of the four concerts given this past season, that of the last, (March 4th), may serve as a specimen :

LONDON.-Since our last concert report was written, there has been a performance of the Creation, by the Sacred Harmonic Society, and one of St. Paul, at St. Martin's Hall, under Mr. Hullah's direction. There has been one of the Concerts for the People, at which Miss Dolly was advertised as giving her aid: this is one of the contributions which, coming naturally from an artist, are graceful and commendable. There has been, also, Mr. Howard Glover's monster concert at Drury Lane.

The programme of Mr. Ella's second Soirée was interesting. It was made up of Herr Molique's Quartet in B flat, a work full of ideas, which, if not very new, are distinct, and of contrivances excellent in their ingenuity; of Mendelssohn's Second Trio, very finely played by Herren Molique and Halle and Signor Piatti, and Dr. Spohr's elegant Sestetto, op. 146. the first movement of which is one of its master's most graceful compositions. Then there were glees -one of them so excellently led by Mr. Foster, the best male counter-tenor we have ever heard, and so evenly sung as to deserve an encore-a glee, by the way, when well sung, makes a variety in better proportion with concerted instrumental chamber music than nine-tenths of the songs to be named and singers attainable could make.-Athenæum, March 21.

The music selected to open the Art-Treasures Exhibition in Manchester will probably be the National Anthem, the Old Hundredth Psalin, and the final chorus to Handel's Cilian Ode-since we cannot immagine our contemporaries correct in announcing the entire work for performance on the occasion. Madame Novello is engaged. There is also to be a grand concert on the evening of the opening daybut this, we imagine will not be held in the building. Ibid.

PARIS.-Mme. De Staudach's concert, in Erard's Rooms, was fashionably attended. She played a

sonata by Scarlatti, and some compositions by Chopin, Schumann, Litolf and Heller. M. Reichardt was the vocalist. He sang Beethoven's "Adelaide," a romance by Donizetti, and Blumenthal's "Chemin de Paradis." The Parisian press are prodigal in their eulogiums on the singing of M. Reichardt.

The London Athenæum, (March 21), has the following items:

"Madame Steffanone seems not to have contented her public in I Puritani-Signor Mario having been the real star of the Italian season there about to close. When music has ended in the Theatre Ventadour, Madame Ristori will begin her two months' season.

We are glad to see M. Stephen Heller's third Sonata, (the best modern piano-forte Sonata we know), keeping its place in the chamber programmes of the Paris season. Further, there is good hope in the promise of another three-act opera by M. Reber, to come out at the Opera Comique. Lastly, we may note that M. Sax, whose inventions in brass instruments need no epithet, and who has long been vexed by the piratical proceedings of other instrumentmakers, has, after ten years of law, gained his cause against the counterfeiters of Paris, whose further operations are henceforward prohibited, and who are sentenced to heavy costs and to retrospective reimbursements."

ITALY.-The Athenæum gives the following list of new Italian operas:

Lida da Carcano, by Signor Taddei, produced at Milan: Il Conte di San Germano, by Signor Traversari, at Novara; Guzmano il Prode, by Signor Sanelli, at Parma. Somewhat more importent than the above may be La Punizione, by Signor Pacini, given at Roine with Madame Albertini and Signor Baucarde as principal singers.

LEIPZIG, March 3.-The London Musical World translates from the New Vienna Musikzeitung thus: On Thursday was Liszt the hero of the day, and to-morrow he will be so again. We shall see Wagner's Tannhauser brought upon the stage under his direction; the Weimar singers, Milde, Wife, and Caspary, as well as the harp-virtuosa, Mme. Pahl, are at his orders. The performances are for the benefit of the operatic stage-manager, Behr.

Liszt was made much of, Thursday; he was received with bravos and welcomed with sturdy applause. His two symphonies are the essence of the whole matter. Both were listened to with approbation by the audience. The "Préludes" must be pronounced as indisputably the most successful; Mazeppa was but faintly applauded. After hearing both of these much-talkedof works with our own cars, we, ats, are cured of the erroneous idea that they are something special, something we never heard before, something immense. They may be listened to very well with other things. Berlioz has made my head ache much more. People, however, must not allow themselves to be persuaded that they are music with any claims to importance, or destined to enjoy a great future. We have discovered one important peculiarity about them, it is true. But Dr. Franz Liszt will not be exactly proud of it. We mean the great poverty of ideas, and the want of melody and harmony distinguishing them.

In addition to this poverty of ideas and monotony of form, the No. 1, or E flat major concerto, for the pianoforte, played, and in a most masterly manner, by Hans von Bülow, is most unrefreshing. As the artist was honored with too much applause, there were some very audible hissings, to mark the worthlessness of the composition. The barytone Milde sang a very pleasing romance by Liszt, which pleased ourselves and the public very well. So much for Liszt. Milde and his wife sang also a duet out of the Holländer; they sang it magnificently, and were rewarded accordingly with hearty applause. Wagner's music reminds us of Weber, Meyerbeer, Marschner, and Tannhäuser, which was born at a later period. The first part, under Rietz, introduced us, unfortunately, to a not very valuable posthumous work of R. Schumann. a "Singspiel Overture," to a poem in the style of Hermann und Dorothea. It was nearly damned. Mme. von Milde rehabilitated Schumann by singing the prayer of Genoveva" with great feeling and artistic finish.

est in the success of the project, from the fact that it is another effort of our finest and oldest musical association-we believe the oldest in the country-to give a new impulse to music in the right direction.

We think the public generally is unaware how much has been done in Boston by the Handel and Haydn Society, for the cause of music. We are unable to go very deeply into this subject now, but shall in this article direct the attention of the reader to a few topics in point. Previous to 1813, occasional concerts of sacred music, called Oratorios-as grand concerts of vocal and instrumental music in Vienna went by the name of Academies-had been given, some by a man named BAILEY, (of whom we should be glad if any correspondent would tell us more), and others under the direction of Dr. G. K. JACKSON. This gentleman, a noted music teacher of his day, was an Englishman, and during the war of 1812, as an alien, was sent away from Boston. It was at this time, that many of the leading singers of the town-some of whom still survive, and whose reminiscences we would gladly have given insertion in the Journal of Music-formed themselves into a choral association, under the name of the "Handel and Haydn Society." The society cast away at once the miserable music which was then the staple of popular performance, and devoted its time and labor to conquering the difficulties, then formidable, of the highest class of vocal music-that of Handel, Haydn, Mozart and others of their schools.

Within ten years after the formation of the society, it had published several volumes of choruses and other sacred music at its risk, we may perhaps say expense, for we doubt if any of those volumes sold to any good extent out of the society. The credit belongs to it of having set an example and adhering to it, of singing none but music of the highest order, and of giving a new impulse and direction to public taste by its publications. Though not in due order, we will speak of its collection of psalmody here.

The "Bridgewater Collection," the "Village Harmony," and perhaps other collections, had made some advance from what is now called "old folks' music," but no editor had dared to confront popular prejudice and taste, with a work which should be free from all trace of Billings, Holden, Stephenson, Kimball and the like.

In 1821, Dr. LOWELL MASON, then a young man, and resident in Savannah, came North with the manuscript of a collection of music, which was something as new and out of the common course then, as ZEUNER'S "Harp" was twenty years later. His book was made up from the best English sources, discarded all the old fuguing tunes, contained many arrangements from the noble Adagios and Andantes of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Pleyel, &c., and above all was har

BOSTON, APRIL 18, 1857.

The Handel and Haydn Society's Festival.

The great musical event of this year, 1857, will undoubtedly be the Festival in May, for which preparations are now making. Besides all the other reasons for our anticipating much gratification and enjoyment during the successive performances in prospect, we feel no small inter

a thorough German musician. This manuscript had been offered in Philadelphia, and to booksellers in other cities freely, save on condition of his receiving such copies as he needed gratis.

No bookseller would touch it. At length, when there seemed to be no hope, the Handel and Haydn Society took it, placed their name upon the title page, printed it, and thus began the greatest revolution we have yet had in psalmody.

To the Handel and Haydn Society, so far as