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SUBSCRIPTION:-Stamped for Postage, 20s. per annum-Payable in advance, by Cash or Post Office Order, to BOOSEY & SONS, 28, Holles Street, Cavendish Square.

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To the Editor of the Musical World. SIR,-I beg distinctly to contradict the statement made by Mr. Anderson, through his solicitors, relative to the letters which have appeared in your journal with my name attached. Instead of their being a "tissue of misrepresentations or misstatements," I proclaim them a chain of undeniable facts from beginning to end, which I shall only be too glad to prove whenever Mr. Anderson feels disposed to meet me "in the proper quarter." I remain, sir, your obedient servant, May 3rd, 1855. HORATIO CHIPP.

PRINCIPAL AND DEPUTY. To the Editor of the Musical World. SIR,-Is it true, as I have been told, that Mr. Simmons received in 1853 and 1854, the sum of 4 pounds for attending eight rehearsals, and eight concerts at the Philharmonic? It seems to me quite improbable, since the salary of the leading second violin is, I am told, sixteen pounds; and though Mr. Simmons only played as deputy for one of the leading second violins-I forget his namehe would hardly receive so small a consideration for his services as only one fourth of the regular salary. It is true, I believe, that the same Mr. Simmons was paid half-a-guinea for acting as deputy in place of one of the leading second violins, at the Sacred Harmonic Society, while the stipulated salary of the leading second violin is one guinea. But half-a-guinea is half a guinea; while four pounds is only the fourth of sixteen pounds; and I feel quite certain that Mr. Costa-though, with that gentlemanly spirit which always distinguishes him, he might be induced to tolerate a deputy in his orchestra receiving half the amount of the salary due to the appointed player-would never have allowed any member of the profession, however humble, to be placed in so paltry a position as that in which poor Mr. Simmons (as I have been told, but cannot possibly believe) was placed when deputy

at the Philharmonic concerts, in 1853 and 1854.

It may be argued that the gentleman second violin, who engaged the deputy for these concerts in 1853 and 54, played four times as well as the deputy, and, consequently, was entitled to four times as much money for his talent; but, on the other hand, it is difficult to explain how, if he played four times as well at the Hanover Square Rooms, he only played twice as well at Exeter Hall. The moral question is not so much difficult to explain as inexplicable. Whether it is just that a Society which exists by public patronage, and pays to each member of its band a stipulated sum, as recompense for his time and talent, should 18

PRICE 4d. STAMPED 5d.

only enjoy the advantage of a fourth part of his talent, is open to discussion. If a concert-giver engaged Herr Ernst for a series of eight concerts and eight rehearsals, and Herr Ernst, instead of appearing himself at the eight concerts and eight rehearsals, was to send, as deputy, Mr. Anderson-who, though a violinist as Herr Ernst-surely that concert-giver (say M. Jullien) would of repute, can hardly be said to play more than a fourth as well be anything but satisfied; and yet one position is precisely analagous to the other. Mr. Anderson and the Philharmonic Directors paid out of the funds of the Philharmonic Society (which are the common property of the forty members whom the directors represent) the sum of £16 for the services of a competent gentleman second fiddle at the concerts, which gentleman second fiddle (as I am told, but cannot believe) received the £16, and handed over a fourth of it to Mr. Simmons, as his deputy. The committee of the Sacred Harmonic Society paid out of the funds of that Society (which are the common property of the members), the sum of one guinea for the services of a competent gentleman second fiddle at each of the concerts, which gentleman second fiddle (as I am told, but cannot believe), received the guinea, and handed over half of it to Mr. Simmons as a deputy; so that, in the one case, the directors only obtained the fourth part of the presumed equivalent, and, in the other, the committee only one-half. Would it not be much better to engage Mr. Simmons perpetually, since his services were to be had so cheap, while those of the gentlemen he represented were apparently not to be had at all (since he only played by deputy)? At any rate, would it not have been fair to reverse the order of things, and give in the first case the twelve pounds to the deputy, who always appeared, and the four pounds to the gentleman who preferred looking on. Your obedient servant, Windsor, May 3rd, 1855. WINDSOR CASTLE.

P.S.-I enclose my card and address, as you insist on it,

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SIR,-In a recent number of the Musical World, allusion was made to the last stringed quartetto of Maestro Pappalardo; a letter I received this morning from Naples informs me, that His Royal Highness the Conte di Siracusa has lately appointed Sig. P. "Compositore di Camera" to H. R. H., an honour previously conferred on two "Sovrani Maestri," Raimondi and Donizetti, an evident proof of the high estimation entertained of Sig. P.'s genius; he is also engaged to produce a comic opera in the month of August, at the Royal Theatre "Nuova," at Naples; in allusion to which, H. R. H., on conferring the appointment, was pleased to remark to Sig. P., "La classe istruita del publico pretende sentire una musica degna del nome di Pappalardo." I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, AN ADMIRER OF SIG. P.'S COMPOSITIONS,"

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critical and numerous audience, composed chiefly of the principal families of Manchester, and most of the leading professors of the city. The applause during the evening was unremitted, several encores were demanded, and at the conclusion Mr. Harris was loudly called for. A German resident professor, of undeniable merit, as a critic as well as a performer, at the close of the concert went up to Mr. Harris, complimented him on his success, and courted his further acquaintance. Referring to his music, you will doubtless have heard that it possesses great melody, originality, and depth of thought, wanting, if anything, vigour in working out his conceptions, which can easily be excused in a young composer like Mr. Harris. He does not attempt that which is beyond his power to grasp, like most English composers, by taking the trivial and whimsical Italian school as his model, but brings over the music from our next-door neighbours, the Germans. And therein lies his great secret of success; for who can deny that we, the English, are of German extraction, and consequently must have the same distinguishing characteristics. And as music is but the poetical representative of our feelings and predilections, why should such music be placed before us which is in direct opposition to our sensualities? But the Guardian tells a very different tale. The Guardian, with its accustomed keenness, by following in the current of public opinion, in supposing the audience to be unfavourable to the wishes of Mr. Harris, committed a great error, and the consequence was, that a miserable, meaningless criticism appeared in the next publication, totally unworthy of a gentleman (as I suppose he must be called) who has had the pleasure of hearing music in public rooms for the last "thirty years." It was illogical, and the writer tried to be racy, but failed signally. He contradicts himself, and contradicts himself constantly; for instance, he says, "There is a great want of originality, individuality, and melody" (all of which are stereotyped phrases). A few lines lower down, he compares a certain song ("Parted for ever") to the Balfe style. Besides the unworthiness of the article, with respect to composition, it is written in so unkind and sneering a spirit, that it is impossible to escape the notice of any person of an unprejudiced disposition. For myself, I would strongly recommend the writer to study music before he attempts to write another musical article, and thereby disgrace the columns of a journal considered by many to be so respectable and so pure in its sentiments; for until he does, he will always have to confess “his simplicity, and remain for evermore" innocent in musical matters. It is currently reported that he has himself stated, in bravado, that he cannot distinguish one note from another, and that he mistook the overture to Fra Diavolo for that to Der Freischütz. My object, in penning this, has been to direct your attention to the article in question, for yourself and many others to consider its merits, A LOVER OF JUSTICE.

if you should condescend to oblige an unknown correspondent, by pub

lishing it. Believe me, etc.,

COPYRIGHT AND PRAEGER OF HAMM. To the Editor of the Musical World. SIR,-I shall be much obliged if you can explain to me a point in the copyright law.

A British subject disposes of his compositions to a Prussian publisher, who prints them at once; by so doing, does he (the composer) lose his right to sell them at a future time to an English publisher, and can he restrain English publishers from reprinting them ?

And please tell me, is Professor Praeger the correspondent of the New York Musical Gazette, "Ferd. Praeger," who told me a very different tale about Wagner at Rotterdam last year? Yours, &c., Cologne, May 1,

ROYAL OPERA, DRURY LANE.

C. A. B.

To the Editor of the Musical World. SIR,-The alarm of fire on Wednesday evening during the performance of Sonnambula, was raised without any foundation. Nothing took place in the theatre to warrant it, and how the report got circulated remains a mystery.

No theatre in Europe has such facilities of egress, so that in case of fire the whole audience can escape in a few minutes. Three firemen are always in attendance, and Mr. Smith, the lessee, causes all the means of exit to be prepared previous to the commencement of the performance.

Those ladies and gentlemen who were preparing to leave the theatre immediately returned to their places, and remained during the evening, perfectly satisfied with Mr. Smith's explanation.-I am, Sir, your obedient servant, EDWARD STIRLING. Stage-Manager.

Royal Opera, Drury Lane, May 3,

THE CRYSTAL PALACE. To the Editor of the Musical World. SIR,-The subject of musical entertainments at the Crystal Palace having lately engaged a portion of the public through the medium of the press, beg to suggest a plan which, if carried out, I think might be adopted with considerable effect and satisfaction to visitors. Professor Wheatstone has lately made some experiments on the rate at which sound travels through conductors, but without entering into the statistical results at which he has arrived, and which probably will be thoroughly laid down by some more competent person than myself, I at once state my plans-namely, That the band be placed on an isolated sound-board, say at the east end of the middle transept, and opposite to that another sound-board at the west, also isolated; and one also at the north and south ends of the nave, similarly placed, all of these to be perfectly connected with the sound-board on which the performers stand by means of a deal conducting rod, of a half or one inch square. The effect of this would be, that instead of visitors now only hearing the music at a few yards distance, it would be agreeably dispersed over the whole building. The inexpensive character of the experiment I should think would induce the directors to give it a trial, in addition to the fact that the result which I have now stated is beyond question. I am, sir, your obedient servant, RICHARD BLISS.

38, Moorgate-street, April 30.

HANOVER-SQUARE ROOMS.-A performance of Anthems and Organ Music took place on Thursday evening, the 3rd instant, at the above rooms, under the direction of Mr. George Cooper. A selection of choristers and gentlemen, from her Majesty's Chapel Royal, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and St. George's Chapel, Windsor, were engaged, Mr. Sudlow conducting. With such means, infinitely better results might have been obtained. The vocal selection was not so full of interest as it might have been-with the exception of Mendelssohn's Motett, "Why rage the heath en?" the same composer's hymn, "Da Nobis Pacem," and Purcell's Anthem "Oh give thanks"-none of which was particularly well sung. The verse anthem (Weldon) " In Thee, O Lord," by Messrs. Knowles and A. Barnby, elicited great applause. A trio (M.S.) from The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, by Sir F. Gore Ouseley, sung by Masters Sullivan, Stevens, and Malsch, was encored. Mr. George Cooper performed on the organ a prelude and fugue by Sebastian Bach; the adagio from Spohr's Nonetto, arranged for Freyer. His playing was admirable, and he was loudly apthe organ; and variations on a Russian Church melody by A. plauded in all, but especially Spohr's adagio, which was perfect. Two solos-Dr. Greene's solo anthem, "Acquaint thyself with God," sung by Mr. Dawson, an alto singer with a pleasing voice and a solo from Mozart's Litany, sung by Mr. T. Ê. Williamsare entitled to honourable notice. The house was only tolerably full.

WHITEHAVEN.-The Whitehaven Harmonic Society gave their fourth concert on the 20th ult., in the theatre, before a numerous assembly, who were much pleased with the manner in which the choruses, etc., were given. The programme was miscellaneous. The members are all amateurs, except the conductor, Mr. H. White, who deserves praise for the manner in which he has drilled the chorus. Miss Burns and Mr. Tulk deserve mention, the former for her singing of Mendelssohn's "Praise thou the Lord" (Lobgesang), and Haydn's "On thee each living soul;" the latter for his performance of "Sound an alarm." In "He was despised," Miss Froggart was warmly applauded. Mr. J. Graham obtained an encore for his solo on the flute. MendelsThe National Anthem terminated the concert. sohn's Andante and Rondo was well played by the conductor.

HEREFORD MUSICAL FESTIVAL, 1855.-The list of Stewards being complete, the time will be soon fixed for the meeting of the three choirs. Hereford possesses now three lines of railway, and the Festival depends no longer on locality. The losses of the Stewards will therefore in all probability be diminished, as at Worcester and Gloucester. The following gentlemen are the Stewards-The Right Hon. and Rev. the Lord Saye and Sele, Sir Harford Jones Brydges, Bart., J. K. Arkwright, Esq., Hampton Court; T. W. Booker, Esq, M.P., E. Chadwick, Esq., Puddlestone Oourt; W. Keville Davis, Esq., Croft Castle; Rev. W. P. Hopton, Bishop's Froome; and H. S. Stratford Esq.

A REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC
BEFORE MOZART.

(Continued from page 261.)

Sixtine Chapel at Rome. Since, through Palestrina, we come more in the Stabat Mater, which is sung on Palm Sunday in the upon the first great revolution in Art-the origin of real music, and since he himself constitutes the bond, by which the dead works of calculation are united to the works produced by feeling, taste, and imagination, we must inquire wherein the alla capella style was distinguished from what went before, and in what it is distinguished from modern music.

surpassing all his teachers, as a contrapuntist; then the madrigalist, who strove, perhaps primarily, to express the words; and then the creator of the style which bears his name, and which was formerly called alla capella. We have to speak of him only THE Middle Age bequeathed to early civilization two forms in this last capacity; in a relation, therefore, which makes him a which contained all that there had ever been of learned music- unique man in his way. For the rest, the age was not yet ripe, the choral song and the canon. These forms possessed nothing is the choral song become harmony, according to the true chaeither for the fugue or for expressive melody. For us, Palestrina that could flatter the ear, whether taken together or separately.racter of church music, as we find it in the Improperia, and still The choral song without the canon was as yet no music; with the canon it ceased to exist, and the canon itelf was nothing more than a sonorous noise, which drowned the Latin of the Liturgy; a loss the more to be lamented, since no musical interpretation of the words took its place. Things went on worse from day to day, till finally, about the middle of the sixteenth century, the patience of the hearers was worn out, and reason had begun to be awake. All cried out against a music of this sort, excepting those who composed it. "Away with the canon!" was the cry, and probably musicians thought to themselves, "Away with the choral song!" But the choral song was nearly as old as Christendom; the canon also numbered many years. Could men for several centuries pursue a scientific path, which was to be without present profit, and entirely fruitless for the future? That were admitting that Humanity could lose its time, like a single man, which is not possible. In the collective striving of the human mind there is nothing absolutely unprofitable; but we often pronounce false what passes before our eyes and ears, judging, like the reader of a book, without the conclusion, or the spectator of a drama without its denouement. If the book appears unintelligible, or the drama absurd and immoral, it is because the last chapters or the last acts are wanting, which would explain and justify the whole; and, therefore, is contemporaneous history, whether it treats of music or other matters, always difficult to write. He who should have undertaken, as a lover of music, to judge of the merits, the productive energy of the Roman choral song before Palestrina, would certainly have very much deceived himself; he, who as professor of aesthetics, should have undertaken to weigh the significance of the fugue before Händel and Bach, or without knowing them, as J. J. Rousseau has done, would have deceived himself not less, and their errors in judgment would have appeared the more gross, the better judge the man might be for his own century. Through the labours of the Belgian and Flemish masters, the contrapuntists had at length acquired that certainty and mechanical facility which allowed them, in spite of the enormous weight which seemed to clog their every step, to move with a certain ease and grace. Already had counterpoint become more pliant, and harmony somewhat purified, and in a condition to co-operate towards the true end of music. The hour had struck of a glorious new birth for music, but, above all, for the choral song; that was the oldest and had waited for it, for more than one thousand years. It was no more than fair!

ear.

In its outward form the alla capella style reproduced the united counterpoint of the fourteenth century, which the masters of the fifteenth scorned to employ, or only very seldom employed, and which, with a certain contemptuousness, they named style familiare. But Palestrina introduced into it a more closely interwoven and correct harmony; he mingled with it a light dose of canonical seasoning, which elevated the composition without harming the words; and instead of banishing the canto fermo into the middle part, he transferred it to the upper part, where it could unfold itself more freely, and more deeply enchain the attention of the That was restoring the leading melody to its right of singing, and opening a path in which no one of the predecessors of the Roman Swan had previously travelled. The distinction between him and the modern composers-who, considered with reference to his own time, begin with the melodists of the seventeenth century-lies particularly in their choice of chords. which is an almost indispensable condition of all modern music, That there may be some unity of melody and key in a work, the harmony must be composed of the different kinds of trichords, seventh and ninth chords, which have their seat in the diatonic intervals of the scale chosen by the composer. If he family of chords follows upon the first, and, for the time being, passes over into another scale, to tarry there awhile, another governs the modulation until the return of the original key, whose absence must not last too long, lest the ear become too accustomed to a foreign land, so that it will hardly recognise itself in its own when it gets back. This is the system of modern intonation, this true and perfect system, which gives for every major scale fifteen, and for every minor scale twelve principal or radical chords;* which chords, multiplied by all their respective transpositions, place unlimited means in the control of the composer, whereby he can vary the harmony within the limits of foreign to it. The whole mass of these auxiliary and related the scale, without the necessity of striking a single chord that is chords-which have only a dependent existence and a relative importance, since they do not subsist on their own account, but always end in the perfect chord of the scale, into which they its centre of gravity; it constitutes the harmonic unity and revolve-represents the revolving movement of a system around homogeneousness of a piece.

In the year of grace 1565, God commanded 'his servant Aloysius of Præneste, to quicken this dull form of the choral song with the breath of genius; and, Aloysius replied, "Lord, thy will be done;" and the transformed church song again resounded like the chorus of the angels; sublime church music appeared in a holy crown of rays. The pope, the cardinals, the whole people threw themselves down at the feet of the immortal man. Let A melody may express anything or nothing, unless it flows us too bow down before the great name of Palestrina, the honour from the feeling of the modal relation, of which we have spoken; of the catholic church and the glory of Italy. Hail to the god-notes, which leave the ear in uncertainty about their origin, inason the other hand, since there are in every melody indefinite like man, whom Greece would have exalted among her gods, had he been one of her sons! He came, and the hod carriers of harmuch as they admit of several, often very different, interpretations, mony made way for the master builder; through his voice the the presence of the chord is indispensable to the determining of shapeless materials, collected with so much pains since the time their sense and character. Herein lies the whole science of the of Ambrose and Gregory, were united in a temple of the most harmonist. Such a wealth of means of expression through harimposing majesty; music, but now almost dumb, although eupho-lived-about as far as the precision, the boldness, the variety and mony was still infinitely far from the time in which Palestrina nious, begins to speak, and the human soul responds. She speaks grace of contours, which shine in the outlines of the modern of God, as if first of all to thank Him that He has given her a language. The musical sceptre, hitherto borne provisionally by music. Most of the auxiliary chords were unknown to him. He the Netherlanders, passed from this moment over into the hands knew, indeed, the dominant seventh chord; he has, in fact, emof the Italians, there to remain for two centuries by the most ployed it without preparation and with all its intervals; but legitimate and undisputed claim. this kind of harmony appears in his music only as a rare accident According to the classification of Godfrey Weber, which seems to me the best by far.

Palestrina could be divided into several great musicians. In the first place you find, in him, the scholar of the Flemish school,

or a thing of instinct. His customary and systematic progression consists in a series of perfect major and minor chords, mixed with a few chords of the sixth, between which there exists so slight a modal affinity, that you cannot, through them, recognise the key. Barely are you directed to the scale of the piece by, now and then, a half-tone lying below the tonic or a seventh. Nevertheless, Palestrina's harmony, in general, is pure, by reason of the great correctness in the movement of the voices. Notes I will show this better than words can describe it. I fancy, a musician of the present day should be able to give at once a harmonic, but quite simple and natural, explanation of the four following measures of choral songs :

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Sta-bat Ma ter do lo - ro - sa.

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It will be seen, that nothing can be more ambiguous than the key of this fragment. Is it in C, or in F, or in G major, or A minor? It may be any one for all that appears. I decide for F, and quickly fill out my four lines thus:

bo

cem lacrymo - sa.

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How does that sound? Beautiful, sublime, heavenly! That music is not of this earth; it comes, in fact, from heaven. Yes, Palestrina is sublime, precisely for the knowledge, which the musicians of his time had not; as the Bible is sublimely above all that depended on the wealth of languages and the metaphythat with a more melodious and expressive cantilena, a harmony sical culture of the times in which it was written. Observe well, like this of Palestrina's would be impossible; it holds only in the choral song, which, on its part, rejects as trivial and ordinary all the combinations of chords that belong to ornamental melody. Palestrina, as yet, makes no division of the verbal phrases; the effect of his purely harmonious song is like the impressions of an Eolian harp. His solemn trichords fall upon one another at equal intervals, without characteristic rhythm, and resound like the voice of God, that triune God, of whom the harmonic trichord seems to be one of the most unfathomable material emblems. Here are none, or almost none, of those connecting chords, whereby might be expressed some casualty and mutual dependance between the grand revelation of the absolute; none of those wanton or pathetic dissonances, types of our momentary happiness, our transient or excited humour; no rhythm following the flight of time, measured by the pulsation of a mortal heart; in a word, nothing that awakens a worldly thought and speaks the language of fleshly passions. This is a church music, than which no one ever composed a truer. It contains absolutely no admixture of profanity; it wears an eternal beauty, since it rests upon something unchangeable, or, SO to speak, upon the elementary application of the accord. It is antique, and that is of one its most precious excellences, since its antiquity knows no age, which enhances everything, and contributes so powerfully to the reverence one cherishes for sacred things. And, in fact, time has made Palestrina young. His modulation, so original and striking to-day, must have been much less so in the sixteenth century, as composers of that time generally modulated after the same fashion. To grow young through years-is not that altogether an extraordinary fate, especially for a musician?

Thus was realised the oldest and most sublime of all the expressions of music, the religious or Christian chant expression. It was no more than right, that an art born upon the altars of Christianity, whose long and refractory childhood the church alone, like a tender mother, had protected, should lay the firstlings

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of its majority upon those same altars. Music, in this way, was doing no more than her sister arts, Painting and Architecture, also revived through the Church, and that entirely in the true Christian spirit, ad majorem gloriam Dei.

We have yet to remark, in passing, that the sixteenth century was the epoch of the brief glory of a nation, which to-day has acquired other titles to consideration, and easily consoles itself for the inability to produce great artists, by the fact, that it can pay those from abroad better than any other nation. If Palestrina had rivals in his time, we must seek them in England. There shone the admirable Tallis, and his yet more admirable scholar, William Bird. He was organist to Queen Elizabeth, and could not, therefore, as a Protestant, under the influence of the reformed cultus, soar to the majestic simplicity and the lofty ecclesiastical expression of the Roman master; on the other hand, as a contrapuntist, he was perhaps superior to Palestrina. In his fugued song may be found more character, melody, and sonority than I have been able to discover in that of any composer of his time; for which reason his harmony occasionally comes nearer to the modern harmony. The work of his, which Dr. Burney mentions, would be worthy, in every respect, of an organist of our time, supposing there were one now with ability to write in forty parts. Only forty parts-no more!

Soon after Tallis and Bird, the English music, which had kept even pace with the Italian, succumbed to the Vandal fury of the Puritans. These must have pulled it all up by the very roots, for there has been no growth since. Only Purcell escaped the general devastation. England, which, for fifty years, had only sighed and sung psalms, held this man at first for a God; but Purcell glimmered only for a moment, like a rainbow after a storm, to be obscured by the beams of Händel, that great light, that ascended over Albion at the beginning of the last

century.

(To be continued.)

NEW ARRIVALS.-Signor Bottesini, the eminent contra basso; Madame Fiorentini, late of Her Majesty's Theatre; Signor Salvi, late of the Royal Italian Opera; and Herr Nabich, trombone player.

CECILIAN SOCIETY, LONDON WALL.-The Cecilian Society gave a performance of Mendelssohn's St. Paul on Thursday evening, at the Albion Hall, London Wall. Although the names of the principal vocalists were not in the book of words, we understood them (on inquiry) to be as follows-Soprano, Miss Cox; contralto, Mrs. Dixon; tenor, Mr. Thomas; and bass, Mr. G. Buckland. But as no particular display of vocal excellence transpired, to say much of them individually would be invidious. We may, however, observe that the soprano sang her music with great simplicity and sweetness, and when she is older in the art, when her voice has acquired more volume, and her head more judg ment, there are reasonable hopes of her becoming an efficient vocalist. The contralto sang carefully, as did also the tenor (Mr. Thomas), whose voice, though light, is pleasing, and who is to be commended for his clear articulation. The advice we would tender the bass (Mr. G. Buckland), is to apply immediately to some established professor, and ascertain by study under his surveillance what is meant by vocal tone. Mr. Boardman, organist of Clapham Grammar School, conducted the performance with ability. The hall, which is ancient and badly ventilated, was exceedingly full and oppressively hot.

SALE OF OLD VIOLINS.-At the conclusion of the sale of a musical library, which took place on Wednesday at the auctionrooms of Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, in Piccadilly, several violins and violoncellos of a high class were disposed of. Among them was a violin by Straduarius, said to be one of the finest in the country, which was knocked down at 200 guineas; and a violoncello by Amati, well known to most amateurs as having been the late Sir William Curtis's, sold for 100 guineas. The sale also included the violins of the late Mr. William Cramer (son of François Cramer). His violin by Straduarius (but not in its original state), sold for £24, and his violin by Bergonzi, for £43.

LOHENGRIN:

A ROMANTIC OPERA, IN THREE ACTS, DY RICHARD WAGNER. (Concluded from page 260.)

ACT III.-SCENE III.

At the rising of the curtain, the stage represents the meadows on the banks of the Scheldt, as in Act I. Day-break-afterwards completely day. From various sides, the Brabant Ban arrives gradually on the stage; the separate bodies of troops are led by counts, whose standard-bearers plant their standards in the ground, while the respective troops gather round them. Pages carry the shields and spears of the counts, and grooms lead their horses on one side. When the Brabanters have all arrived, KING HENRY enters on the left with his Ban; they are all in full armour.

THE BRABANTERS. (Greeting the KING on his entrance.) Long live King Henry! Hail to King Henry!

beloved men of Brabant! How proudly I feel my heart glow on finding THE KING. (Standing under the oak.) Receive my thanks, wellin every German land such a strong and numerous military union. Now let the foe of the Empire approach; we will receive him valiantly: never more will he again venture hither from the desolate East! For the German land, the German sword! Thus let the power of the Empire be preserved!

ALL THE MEN. For the German land, the German sword! Thus let the power of the Empire be preserved!

KING. But where tarries the man whom God sent for the fame and greatness of Brabant? (The various personages crowd timidly together. The four BRABANT NOBLES carry in FRIEDRICH's corpse, covered over, on a bier, which they set down in the middle of the stage. Uneasy glances of inquiry are interchanged on every side.) ALL. What do they bring? What do they proclaim? The vassals

are those of Telramund. seizes me at sight of you! KING. Whom do you bring hither? What must I behold? Terror

THE FOUR NOBLES. Thus wills the Protector of Brabant; whose is this body he will himself make known.

[ELSA enters, followed by a long train of women, and advances slowly, with faltering steps, into the foreground.] mournful is her countenance! THE MEN. See, Elsa, the Virtuous One, approaches. How pale and

KING. (Advancing to meet ELSA, and conducting her to an elevated seat opposite himself.) How sad do I behold thee! Does the separation so much grieve thee?

[ELSA dares not look him in the face. There is a great rush in the background.]

VOICES. Make way for the Hero of Brabant!

ALL THE MEN. Hail! Hail to the Hero of Brabant.

[The KING has resumed his place under the oak. LOHENGRIN, armed exactly in the same manner as in Act I., has advanced, without retinue, solemnly and mournfully.] KING. Hail to thy coming, cherished hero! Those whom thou so truly summoned'st to the field, eager for the contest, await thee, certain of victory when led on by thee!

victory when led on by thee! THE BRABANTERS. Eager for the contest, we await thee, certain of

lead to battle the valiant heroes whom I summoned ! LOHENGRIN. My Lord and King, let me inform thee that I cannot

ALL THE MEN. (In the greatest astonishment.) God protect us! what harsh words he speaks!

LOHENGRIN. I have not come hither as your companion in arms; let me now be heard as an accuser! First, I state publicly before you all, and demand judgment in accordance with law and right, that this man attacked me unexpectedly in the night; say, was I right in killing him? [He uncovers FRIEDRICH's corpse; all turn away with horror. KING AND ALL THE MEN. (Stretching out their hands towards the corpse.) As thy hand has stricken him here upon earth, God's punishment will be his lot in another world!

LOHENGRIN. Second, I complain aloud, in the hearing of all men, that the wife to whom God united me has allowed herself to be inveigled into an act of treachery against me.

ALL THE MEN. Elsa! how caine such a thing to pass? how could'st thou be guilty of such a crime?

LOHENGRIN. You heard how she promised never to ask me who I to faithless counsel! In recompense for the giddy questions of her was. Yet has she violated her sacred oath, and delivered up her heart doubt, my answer shall no longer be deferred. I was at liberty to resist the importunities of my foe, but must now declare my name and race. Now, mark me well, and say if I have reason to avoid the light

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