NEW AND REVISED EDITION. Price 12s.

THE VOICE AND SINGING (The formation and Cultivation of the Voice for Singing).

BY ADOLFO FERRARI.

"The great and deserved success of this work has brought it, in no long time, to a second edition, carefully revised, and enriched with a number of additional exercises, which greatly increase its value.

"Since its first publication this book has met with general acceptance, and is now used as a vade-mecum by many of the most eminent and intelligent vocal instructors both in the metropolis and the provinces. We say vocal instructors, because it is only to instructors that works of this class can be of material use. Singing is not an art which can be learned by solitary study with the help of books, and those who are selftaught (as it is called) are always badly taught. But a good treatise, in which the principles and rules of the art, founded on reason and experience, are clearly expressed, is of infinite value, first to instructors, in assisting them to adopt a rational and efficient method of teaching, and next to pupils themselves, in constantly reminding them of, and enabling them to profit by, the lessons of their master. In both these ways Signor Ferrari's work has been found pre-eminently useful.-Illustrated News,

s. d.

"Oh! Glorious Age of Chivalry." Duet. For Soprano and Contralto "The Solemn Words his Lips have spoken." Grand Air. For Soprano "The Love you've slighted still is true." Ballad. Sung by Mlle. JENNY BAUR "Stratagem is Woman's Power." Ballad. Sung by Miss EMMA HEYWOOD... "Love is a gentle Thing." Ballad. Sung by Miss EMMA HEYWOOD "A young and artless Maiden." Romance. Sung by Herr REICHARDT "There's Truth in Woman still." Romance. Sung by Herr REICHARDT "The Monks were jolly Boys." Ballad. Sung by Herr FORMES "In my Chateau of Pompernik." Aria Buffa. Sung by Herr FORMES

4 0

4 6

2 6

2 6

2 6

2 6

2 6

3 0

0

The Voice of Dreams.

THE POETRY BY THE REV. HAMILTON DICKER.

The Music by J. P. Knight.
Price 35.

Who has not in a happy dream

Sweet converse held with distant friends;
And felt the grief which ever blends
With memories of that passing gleam?
And when the morrow's sun hath set,
And moonbeams lie upon the hill,

Do we not hope the voices still

Of last night's dream may haunt us yet?

Sleep and the Past.

THE POETRY BY HARRIET POWER.

The Music by J. P. Knight.

Price 35..

Night came in visions lone,

Methought I heard again

Thy voice's silv'ry tone,

Like music's distant strain:

But I woke to know that thy gentle breath,

Is for ever hush'd in the sleep of death.

MUSIC IN BERLIN.

(From our own Correspondent.)

An evening or two ago we had Fidelio, with Mad. Köster in the part of the heroine for the last time but one, previous to her retirement. Mad. Köster will be much regretted by a great number of opera-goers, but, alas! all their regret will be in vain. Even supposing Mad. Köster were to continue a member of the company, she cannot "go backwards like a crab" to the days of her youth, and Time would not-que je sache-spare her voice for the sake of pleasing the worthy burghers, their wives and families resident upon the banks of the Spree. As the German poet observes in the song: "Scheiden thut weh." And yet there is no help for it. We must all take our leave for a longer or shorter journey, a more or less protracted period-some day or other. Your respected contemporary, the Neue Berliner Musik-Zeitung, refers to Mad. Köster's approaching farewell in the following terms:-"We can scarcely refrain from giving way to the most sorrowful feelings, when we reflect that Mad. Köster, at present the last female representative of the classical opera, is about to part from us for ever. After the stars' which we have seen flit before us during the last few months, we are compelled to call the loss a truly irreparable one. At all times the number of good female singers has been limited, but never was the prospect of replacing vocal celebrities so mournful as at present. The latest musical works for the stage have helped to lower the art of singing, and, instead of noble vocalisın, we have, on the one hand, empty declamatory pathos without invention, or musical charin, properly so-called, and on the other, voices fatigued by the employment of the most glaring effect, and a practice of wild screeching on the highest notes. For this reason, if for no other, the position of a fair operatic vocalist at our Royal Opera House is one of incalculable difficulty, for the repertory is of the most comprehensive description. In it modern works in every style, the chefs-d'œuvre of Meyerbeer, the productions of Wagner, Auber, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi have the place they deserve, but the very essence of the repertory still consists of the works of Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven, and Weber, and the first thing a fair dramatic singer has to do in Berlin is to know how to animate the various personages in the above operas. The more, however, the style of singing of the present day departs from what is required by these operas, the less prospect is there of finding any one to replace Mad. Köster, who may be regarded as the last singer who has known how to preserve in spotless entirety the traditions of a better time, now passed, as a priestess of the most beautiful and purest religion. On this account-apart from the fact that every artist who leaves us, after having sacrificed to us his or her prime, has the fullest right to our gratitude and our sympathy-our feelings at losing Mad. Köster are especially sorrowful; it seems to us as though we beheld the figures of Fidelio,' Donna Anna,' 'Iphigenia,' Armida,' and the "Countess Almaviva," with their faces mournfully veiled and the question trembling on their pale lips :Who now will find the greatest source of delight in regarding us as the goal of her artistic efforts? What we could not help valuing much more than aught else in Mad. Köster, was-as is always the case with really great female artists-her constant progress, her industry, which is never contented with itself, but which is constantly seeking for new materials for study, and, consequently, attains to perfection."

The next opera on the list was Meyerbeer's Feldlager in Schlesien. The house was, I need scarcely say, crammed to the very roof. During the course of the performance Mdlle. Lucca was taken so seriously ill that, though she went through her part somehow or other, she was compelled to omit all her songs in the third act. Following the Feldlager came Méhul's Joseph, tolerably given by Herr Formes, (Simeon); Herr Krüger (Joseph); Herr Frickel (Jacob); and Malle. Mik (Joseph); and after Joseph came-a fine specimen of autumn weather, damp, uncomfortable and changing. As a natural consequence, "there also was," to adopt the language of the city, "a great fluctuation in voices, their owners moving off steadily-home, for the purpose of taking sudorifics and going to bed. Tallow for greasing the nose was in good demand, and tolerably firm, until exposed to the action of fire, when it of course melted. Several fine cases of bronchitis were offered to the attention of the medical men, but were not so speedily disposed of, by the latter, as the patients wished. Rheumatism was very lively, and coughs rose to a distressing pitch." Indeed the weather had such an effect on the personnel of the Opera House that the entire programme of the week had to be changed, save and except as regards the opera of Oberon, which retained its place in the bills despite of every adverse circumstance Mad. Köster was the Rezia, and went through the part with great success. The other characters were well sustained by Mdlle. Mik, Herren, Woworsky and Kranse.

Le Nozze di Figaro, otherwise Figaro's Hochzeit, was given on the 17th inst., for the purpose of introducing a new Susanne in the person of Mad. Beringer. She must produce a greater impression in future characters if she would be engaged as a permanent member of the company, which I do not much fancy she will be, for at present she is little better than a mere amateur. At any rate, she requires two or three years' training in the country before she will be fitted to appear before a Berlin audience. Her singing was devoid of aught resembling dash or style; her voice, too weak for a large house; and her acting awkward and meaningless in the extreme. Beaumarchais himself would have failed to recognise the gay, sprightly, pétillante Susanne as impersonated by Mad. Beringer. There must be a fearful dearth of good singers in Germany, or the management of the Royal Berlin Opera House is singularly oblivious of its duties towards the public in introducing to their notice so many incapables as it has lately brought forward, to withdraw immediately afterwards, if better artists are to be procured. Mdlle. Lucca was the page, Cherubin, a part she plays with charming naïveté. She was much applauded throughout, and encored in her romance in B flat major. The other characters were thus cast: Herr Salomon, Count Almaviva; Herr Bost, Bartholo; Herr Woworsky, Basilio; Herr Basse, Antonio; and Mdlle. Mik, the Countess Almaviva. Among the other operas promised was Le Prophéte, but on account of the onslaught made on the singers by hoarseness and bronchitis to which I have already referred, we had Guillaume Tell instead. Herr Ferenczy again appeared as Arnold, and confirmed the good impression he had previously produced.

Mad. Harriers-Wippern has completely recovered, and will shortly recommence her professional duties. On the other hand, Mdlle. Lucca is so indisposed that it is feared she will not be able to sing for some time. At Kroll's Theatre the business is very good. The Operatic troupe of the Friedrich-Wilhelmstadt Theatre are still performing there. I hear that the manager, Herr Engel, has secured the services of Mdlle. Trebelli for a night at least, at her approaching visit to Berlin. She will, most probably, sing at a concert got up expressly for her. I told you, a few weeks since, that the members of the Singacademie were about to give a performance of F. E. Wilsing's setting of the 129th Psalm ("De Profundis"). They have now fulfilled their intention in a highly satisfactory manner. The performance was under the direction of Professor Grell. That it was perfect, or that there was not here and there certain shortcomings, especially on the part of the band, is something I will not attempt to deny, but that such should have been the case is not surprising, when we remember the work is perhaps one of the most difficult to be found in the whole range of sacred music. The choruses on the whole went extremely well, especially the part in E minor. Among the audience, which was most numerous, and comprised the majority of the musical notabilities in Berlin, was Meyerbeer himself, who followed the work most attentively, score in hand, and, at the conclusion, expressed himself highly gratified. The Singacademie has, without a doubt, inaugurated the season most successfully.

The members of the Königliche Kapelle began their winter campaign with a Symphony-Soirée. The room was crowded in every part. The programme comprised a Suite in D (with three trumpets) by Sebastian Bach; Beethoven's Symphony in C major; the overture to Euryanthe; and, though last not least, Mendelssohn's Symphony in A minor. A new vocal association, under the title of the Neuer Berliner Sängerbund, has been formed from the fusion of Erk's Mannergesang-Verein, the "Melodia" and the "Orpheon." Its object is to give concerts for charitable purposes. I wish it every success. Joseph Fischer, who, from 1810 to 1818 was a celebrated member of the Royal Opera House, has just died at Mannheim, aged 82. He was a basso like his father, Ludwig Fischer, a member of the Berlin company from the year 1788. Joseph Fischer was at one time a great favorite, but fell into disgrace on account of his overweening pride as an artist, and, in consequence, left Berlin in 1818. He was accounted in his day the best Don Juan and Figaro on the stage, but was continually getting into trouble through his contempt for all the laws and regulations of the theatre. In Stuttgart he lost his engagement for this reason. On one occasion he was so violent that Count Brühl, the Intendant of the Royal Opera House here, and a very kind, good-natured gentlemen, stationed a non-commissioned officer and three men behind the scenes, to carry Fischer off to the prison attached to the theatre-for the Royal singers and actors are, as I have before informed you, subject, if needs be, to military punishment in case the refractory singer did not moderate his conduct. From Berlin Fischer proceeded to Italy, where he was highly successful. For some time he was manager of the theatre at Palermo. He then returned to Mannheim, where he had made his first appearance on the stage, in 1801. Some twenty years ago, when he was already sixty years old, he still delighted connoisseurs by the beauty of his voice, and the fiery vigor of his style.

Herr Léo Lion, who last year was compelled, by ill-health, to go to drink the waters at one of the numerous watering-places for which he German Fatherland is so distinguished, has returned, and again undertaken the duties of pianoforte instructor at the Conservatory of Music here. By the way, have you heard that Mdlle. Barbara Marchisio is to be married this winter to General Cialdini? Such is the fact. Farewell to the duet-singing of the Sisters," for she will teave the stage.

A LETTER FROM MENDELSSOHN. (ADDRESSED TO ZELTER.)

VALE.

Venice, Oct. 16. 1830.

Dear Herr Professor !-Now then I have set foot in Italy, and I wish this letter to be the first of the regular reports which I think of making you, of all that seems to me specially noteworthy. If I have omitted hitherto writing you a regular letter, the fault is that of the great distraction in which I lived both in Munich and Vienna. For to tell you of all the parties in Munich, of which I visited several every evening and where I played the pianoforte more than ever anywhere else, was not possible, because one trod upon the heels of another, and I never could really quite come to my senses.

Besides, it would have hardly been of any special interest to you, for in fact that "good society, which does not afford material for the shortest epigram," makes no very marked effect in a letter. It is to be hoped, however, that you have not taken my long silence ill, and so I still dare expect a few words from you, even if they say nothing but that you are well and in good spirits. It looks all too stormy and unfriendly in the world just now, and what we had begun to consider as unchangeable and enduring falls to pieces in a few days. In such times it is doubly grateful to hear well-known voices, and convince one's self that certain things will not be swept away or thrown down, but stand fixed on a firm foundation; and, as I am at this moment very uneasy, not having had news from home for four weeks, and finding no letters either in Trieste or here a few words from you, direct to me in the old style, would refresh and rejoice me to the heart, by giving me convincing proof that you still think of me with affection, as you have done from my early childhood.

With what a comfortable sort of joyousness the first view of the Italian plains filled me, no doubt you have been already told by my folks at home. Here I hasten hourly from enjoyment to enjoyment and see continually something new and unexpected; but during the first days here, I discovered several leading works with which I am making myself most thoroughly acquainted and before which therefore I spend some hours daily. There are three pictures by Titian-the representation of Mary as a child in the Temple, her Ascension, and the Entombment of Christ; also a picture by Giorgione, representing a girl with a cither in her hand, quite lost in thought, and now looking out of the picture with such a deeply reflective look (probably she is about to strike up an air, and as one gazes upon her, the impulse is strong to do the same); and others still. The pictures alone are worth a journey to Venice; for the wealth of ideas, the strength and the religious feeling of the men who painted them, stream out to the beholder whenever he looks at them, and so I am not much troubled at having heard hardly any music here; for the music which the angels in the Ascension are making as they surround the Virgin and express their joy-one of them meeting her and thumping upon a tamborine, others blowing away upon curious carved flutes, another lovely group singing-or the music, which is floating before the fancy of the cither player-this music of course is not to be reckoned. Once only have I heard any organ-playing, and that was sad enough. I was busy in viewing the Martyrdom of St. Peter, by Titian, in the Franciscan church; it was the hour of service and there was for me something awe-inspiring as well as devotional, as the old pictures in the very spots for which they were planned and executed, with their mighty figures by little and little stood forth out of the darkness in which the long lapse of time has enveloped them. As I was so intently beholding that wonderful evening landscape, with the trees and the angels among the branches, the organ struck up. I was refreshed as I heard the first tone; but the second, the third, and all which followed brought me out of my dreams and reveries in good condition, home; for the man played in a church, at service, and in the presence of respectable people, so:

Allegro con fuoco.

Full Organ.

*This was the period of the Revolution of 1830,

Et cætera animalia.

8

And the Martyrdom of St. Peter stood hard by! I have therefore not taken any great pains to make the acquaintance of the Herr organist; and as there is no decent opera here just now-as the Gondoliers who sang Tasso are dumbas in general what I have seen of the Venetian art of the present time-such as poems framed and glazed upon Titian's pictures, Rinaldo and Armida by a new Venetian painter, Saint Cecilia by a ditto, moreover many new structures in no style at all-does not impress me very much, so I stick to the old and study out how they wrought. I have often had great desire for music awakened, and hence have composed pretty industriously since I came here. Before I left Vienna an acquaintance gave me Luther's sacred poems, and as I read them again, I felt their power more than ever, and I think of composing many of them this winter. While here, I have almost settled upon the treatment of the choral "Aus tiefer Noth" for four voices a capella; and have also the Christmas hymns, "Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein," "Wir glauben all' an einen Gott," "Verleih uns Frieden," ""Mitten wir im Lebenesind;" and, finally, "Ein feste Burg;” and all these last I think of composing for chorus or orchestra. Please, write me about this plan of mine, and whether you will be satisfied should I retain the old melodies in all cases, without binding myself to them slavishly; as, for instance, if I should take the first verse of "Vom Himmel hoch" as a grand chorus and work it out quite free? Besides all this, I have another overture for orchestra partly written-and should a chance at an opera occur, it will be welcome. In Vienna, I completed two short pieces of church music; a choral in three movements for chorus and orchestra ("O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden"), and an "Ave Maria" for eight-part chorus a capella. The people who surrounded me there were so abominably dissipated and good-for-nothing, that I felt and conducted myself like a theologian. Moreover, the best players of the pianoforte of both sexes there never played a note of Beethoven: and when I expressed the opinion that there was, after all, something in him and Mozart, they would say: "So then you are an admirer of the classic music?" "Yes," said I.

To-morrow I think of going on to Bologna, to see the St. Cecilia; and then, via Florence, to Rome, where God willing, I think of arriving in eight or ten days. Thence will write to you a longer letter. I only meant to-day to make a beginning, and pray you not to forget me, and to accept kindly my hearty wishes for your well-being aud happiness. Your faithful

FELIX.

CRYSTAL PALACE.-The Winter Concerts are resumed to day. The concert-room has been entirely enclosed and made warm for the winter season. Herr Joachim, Mr. Santley, and Mademoiselle Zeiss are the principal artistes, Mr. Manns, as usual, being the chef d'orchestre. During the past few days a large space has been taken by exhibitors with goods from the International Exhibition, and there is no doubt that the coming season will witness much of the active business of the Exhibition transferred to the courts of the Crystal Palace. The nave and centre transept are now well lighted with gas. The afternoon promenade after the Saturday concerts is likely now to be one of the attractive features of the week.

EASTERN OPERA HOUSE (PAVILION). Crowded audiences have attended this establishment during the week; the attraction being a series of English operas, supported by Madame Rudersdorff, Miss Emma Heywood, Messrs. Walter Bolton, Charles Durand, Distin, &c. Il Trovatore, Martha, Maritana, and the Bohemian Girl have been placed on the stage in a manner that reflects great credit on the management. So vigorous a prima donna as Madame Rudersdorff has not appeared at this theatre before, and in fact the company are generally efficient. Miss Emma Heywood (the contralto), by the way, has won "golden opinions" in Azucena; her fine voice and unaffected style producing an unmistakeable impression.

MUSICAL HABERDASHERY." Mr. Brie of Conduit Street exhibits (at the International Exhibition) a handerchief of novel design as a specimen of hand embroidery. On one side is "God save the Queen;" on the three other sides the "Rule Britannia," music for piano, is embroidered. The four corners are composed of different national embleins.- . . There is also a great variety of shirts and shirt-fronts, with large and small plaits made by hand without drawing threads. There are also many novelties in dress and embroidered shirt-fronts. Also some specimens of embroidered coats of arms, crests, initials, &c., executed in a style which has never been before attempted."-Morning Post, Oct. 14.

PRESENTATION DINNER TO MR. FREDERIC LEDGER. A dinner was held on Tuesday, at the Freemason's Tavern, in honor of Mr. Frederic Ledger, proprietor of the Era newspaper, by between eighty and ninety of his patrons and friends. In the course of the evening a splendid candelabra and epergne, together with a purse of 400 sovereigns, was presented to Mr. Ledger by the chairman, Mr. Peter Matthews, in the name of certain professors and admirers of the dramatic art, as a testimony to the spirit of independence and fairness in which the cause of the drama and of its followers had, for many years, and with such thorough zeal and ability, been advocated by that journal, under the superintendance and authority of Mr. Ledger. Both the compliments paid by the chairman, in his speech, and the hearty reply of their recipient, were received with acclamations. The banquet was one of the most superb ever provided by the conductors of the Freemason's Tavern; and to make the entertainment still further attractive, there was an excellent concert of vocal music, contributed by Miss Poole, Mrs. Alexander Newton, Messrs. Henry Haigh, Fielding, (renge, and Lawler, Herr Meyer Lutz presiding at the pianoforte. Among other pieces, Mr. Lawler (who had prepared the concert) gave a song appropriated to the occasion, the words by "Celine," the music by himself. We quote the words:

This song was received with great enthusiasm. The inscription on the candelabrum is as follows:-"This CANDELABRUM and EPERGNE, with a PURSE OF £400, was presented to MR. FREDERICK LEDGER, the proprietor of the "ERA" NEWSPAPER, by his friends and patrons, at the Freemason's Hall, London, on November the 4th, 1862, as a testimony of respect for his ability and independence in conducting that journal the last twenty years." It is not often we find the efforts of a newspaper proprietor and conductor thus heartily appreciated.

BEETHOVEN'S SONATA in A. Op. 30, No. 1.

For Pianoforte and Violin.

The three Sonatas of which this is the first, were published in 1803, and written probably at the commencement of that, or the close of the preceding year. Beethoven's biographers give no account of the circumstance of their dedication to the Emperor Alexander I.; but this we may well suppose to have been one in which Count Browne was the chief agent. An official of the Russian government, that nobleman, during his long residence in Vienna, vied with the Lichnowsky family in his cordial friendship for Beethoven, and it can scarcely be matter of question, that, among all he did to advance the interest of his favorite, he should have taken advantage of his political functions to obtain the patronage of his sovereign for the great musician, his having perceived whose merit has made his own name immortal. This Count Browne, though a Russian by birth, was of Irish extraction; it was he who once resented Beethoven with a horse, of which Beethoven, though at first

The movement which is known as the last movement of the Sonata

very fond, soon became so careless, as to forget that he possessed it, until his servant who had the while been making money by letting the beast on hire, brought him a long bill for the animal's fodder. The dedication of several important works to the Count and his wife, testifies Beethoven's sense of their thorough appreciation of his power, and of their zeal in encouraging him to develope it; and the dedication to Countess Browne of the three pianoforte sonatas published immediately after the present work, and that to the Count of the six songs set to poems of Gellert, may reasonably be interpreted as an acknowledgment of the service that had just been rendered him in the recommendation to the Czar. The three Sonatas form a glorious tribute, worthy of an emperor to receive, of a friend to introduce, and of Beethoven to offer. Op. 47 (dedicated to Kreutzer) was designed to occupy the same position in the Sonata under notice; its length, its expression, and its difficulty, however, were considered to be unfitted to the general character of the composition-a judgment in which all who know the movement will concur,-and Beethoven accordingly wrote the Air with Variations to replace it, that now concludes the present Sonata. The substitution is infinitely more appropriate to the context than the original would have been, and the Sonata, as it stands, is as complete in its beautiful symplicity as are its companions, the one in C minor and the one in G, respectively in grandeur and in humorous gaity. The Allegro is singularly rich in ideas. Its opening phrasePIANO.

With Beethoven, Variations were not such as we find in the productions for the drawing room that have greatly engrossed young ladies' fingers in the interim between his time and our own-bald passages of execution, each upon a set figure. With him to vary a theme was to give diversified expression to one idea, to form several melodies upon one ground-work, and thus to excite an everrenewed interest, not in the player only, but in the composer, and in the display of his ingenious invention. A notable example of this happy ingenuity is the especially new character to the original theme. last Variation of the present series, where the change of measure gives G. A. MACFARREN.

MANCHESTER. A concert was recently given by Mr. Andrews, at the Mechanics' Institution, in aid of the Manchester Relief Fund. He was assisted by his two daughters, Miss Andrews and Miss Caroline Andrews; Miss Flinn, a pupil; Mr. John S. Andrews, who presided at the organ; and a choral body of from 50 to 60, all of whom, soloists and chorus, gave their services on the occasion. The programme comprised a variety of vocal solos, duets, and choral pieces, and a piano-forte solo by Mr. R. Andrews. Vocally, the most conspicuous feature was the introduction of Sterndale Bennett's Ode, composed for the opening of the International Exhibition, which, considering the disposable means, was a somewhat bold attempt.-Manchester Guardian.