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GIACOMO MEYERBEER.

(Continued from page 465.)

Il Crociato in Egitto, not at Trieste, as Weber supposed, but at Venice,
where it was represented for the first time the 26th December, 1825.
The principal parts were written for Velluti, Lablache, and Madame
Meric-Lalande, then in the zenith of her fame. The execution was
admirable, and the success surpassed the expectation of the composer,
who was recalled many times and crowned on the stage. All the large
towns of Italy received the Crociato with the same enthusiasm, and
there is no doubt but that if Meyerbeer had continued writing operas
in that school, he would have become the rival of Rossini even on his
own ground. But already other projects occupied his mind.
On examining the score of It Crociato in Egitto with attention,
certain signs of a modification in the manner of its composer will be
discovered, and an endeavour to amalgamate his primitive school with
the Italian style he had since adopted. The individual character of
Meyerbeer's talent began to form itself, and his happy instinct for the
expression of powerfully dramatic situations to make itself apparent.
In order to develope itself this instinct had no other requirements than
the study of the French opera. A favourable circumstance presented
itself in the invitation Meyerbeer received from M. Larochefoucauld to
direct the mise-en-scène of his Crociato at Paris; and it was in the
French capital that the transformation of Meyerbeer's artistic ideas was
finally achieved.

OPINIONS, however, were not unanimous in Meyerbeer's own country upon the change which had taken place in his manner. A kind of spite that he had deserted the school, of which he had been a pupil, for a strange one, manifested itself frequently through bitter words in the journals. This disposition increased with each new success of the author of Emma. Weber partook of these prejudices, and perhaps they influenced him more than all the others. It could hardly be otherwise. Weber, a man of a rare talent, but whose genius was directed towards a despotic idea of the principles of art, was perhaps the last person in the world disposed to that eclecticism which admits as equally good systems the objects of which are entirely different. That elevated sentiment which leads to eclecticism is among the rarest qualities of the human mind. It frequently happens that the most exalted geniuses become narrowed when they are called upon to pronounce judgment on works of art belonging to a school different from their own. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that Weber should condemn Meyerbeer for departing from the style to which he himself so pertinaciously adhered. Weber did not understand Italian music or at least he failed to appreciate it; it might be said, indeed, to be antipathetic to him. It was, then, in a spirit of opposition to the popularity enjoyed by Meyerbeer's Italian operas, that Weber produced at Dresden, with infinite care, Abimeleck; ou, les deux Califes, written in the composer's first or German style, and which was re-accept of any other composer than Rossini; no other music but his. ceived with so much coolness by the Viennese public. In other respects his friendship for Meyerbeer knew no diminution. In a passage in one of Weber's letters written to Godefroid Weber, the common friend of both, he thus expresses himself:-" On Friday last I had the great pleasure of having Meyerbeer pass a whole day with me..........It was, indeed, a delightful day-a revival of the happy hours we passed at Mannheim....... We did not separate until long after midnight. Meyerbeer goes to Trieste to bring out his Crociato. He will return in less than a year to Berlin, where he will, perhaps, write a German opera. God grant it! I have made many appeals to his conscience." Weber had not sufficient power over Meyerbeer to find his wishes realised at once: eight years later he would have been completely happy. Although he had already composed many admirable worko, Meyerbeer was still-in 1824-in search of his individuality; a circumstance of which he had more than one illustrious example in the history of artists, among others that of Gluck. As happened to that eminent man, a light came suddenly to irradiate the mind of our hero; and, like Gluck, it was on the French stage that he found the true aliment of his genius. Though altogether disapproving the course he was pursuing, Weber was convinced of the great talent of Meyerbeer, for, when dying, he expressed a strong desire that he should complete his own comic opera of the Pintos, which he had left unfinished.

In 1821 Meyerbeer wrote, in the Italian style, an opera entitled The Gate of Brandebourg, for Berlin, his native place; but circumstances that have not transpired hindered it from being produced. The composer was now occupied on another work for the Scala at Milan. The success of Emma di Resburgo had opened to him the principal theatres in Italy, among which the Scala stands in the first rank. In 1822 Margherita d'Anjou was represented there, and, in spite of the prejudices which a stranger never fails to inspire in the minds of Italians, the opera was received with enthusiasm. A French version of this work was given at the Odéon in Paris, and has been played successfully in all the theatres of France and Belgium. To Margherita succeeded-in 1823-L'Esule di Granata, the principal parts in which were composed for Signor Lablache and Madame Pisaroni. Already Meyerbeer's name had resounded over all Italy. His reputation created him a host of enemies, who would fain have put a stop to the applause bestowed on the author of Emma di Resburgo and Margherita d'Anjou. The Esule di Granata was rehearsed with so much carelessness, that it was only performed during the last days of the season of the Carnival; and the same influence which had retarded the production of the opera, endeavoured to contrive its failure by a thousand secret machinations. In fact, everything seemed to presage the fiasco of the Esule di Granata. The first act was hissed, and the second appeared destined to the same fate, when a duet sung by Lablache and Pisaroni completely carried away the audience. At the following representation the triumph of the opera was complete. The season terminated-Meyerbeer repaired to Rome to compose music for Almanzor, an opera in two acts; but, after the general rehearsal, Madame Caroline Bassi, entrusted with the principal character, fell ill, and the opera was never played.

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After a voyage in Germany, Meyerbeer returned to Italy to bring out

Il Crociato in Egitto did not enjoy at Paris the enthusiastic successes of Venice, Rome, Milan, and Turin. Circumstances were not favourable. At Paris laurels are rarely divided, but are bestowed all upon the same head. In 1826, the habitués of the Théâtre-Italien would not Too serious for the majority of the spectators, the music of the Crociato was not appreciated at its just value except by a small number of connoisseurs who were even then fully sensible to its beauties. Nobody, however, it must be acknowledged, could divine the whole extent of the author's genius in this work, nor perceive the capacity of intellect, the fertility of invention subsequently manifested in Robert le Diable, Les Huguenots, Le Prophète, and L'Etoile du Nord. Those who really understood and admired the Crociato, regarded it as the highest expression of the talent of the composer-in some respect, indeed, his last word. The silence observed by Meyerbeer for some years seemed to justify their judgment and their prejudices. His marriage and the melancholy death of two of his children suspended his labours: He returned to them again in 1828, but as soon as he resumed his pen his new route was traced; his genius, matured by years of meditation, was completely transformed, and his talent had taken its proper colour. All the world knows at the present moment the results of these radical modifications.

In 1825 Il Crociato in Egitto was produced, for the first time in London, at the King's (Her Majesty's) Theatre, under Mr. Ayrton's management. Immense preparations were made in getting it up, and no expense seems to have been spared; but, as is usual with the production of great works in this country, there were not sufficient rehearsals. In Paris it took nine months of preparation under the direction of the composer; in London not more than one month under the superintendance of Signor Velluti, the celebrated mal soprano singer, who, having played in the opera both at Venice and Paris, was well acquainted with the composer's intentions, and followed them with zeal and veneration. The opera was further remarkable as being that in which Malibran made her first appearance on the stage. Felicia Garcia-how few remember Malibran by that name!-was then a girl of seventeen. She was prepared in her part in the Crociato by Velluti, who saw her talent, and took infinite pains with her. The opera had a great success, and attracted immense audiences. At that time the subscribers to the King's Theatre used to attend all the rehearsals. The greatest expectations were entertained of the new composer's new work, and the first performance filled the house with all the rank and fashion of London. "The Duke of Wellington," says Mr. Ebers, in his work, Seven Years of the King's Theatre, "with a party who dined at Apsley House, attended the Opera, as did most of the people of dis. tinction in town. The effect of Velluti's assistance in getting up the opera was fully manifest in the perfection of all the singers in their respective parts. Remorini, Curioni, Mademoiselle Garcia, excelled themselves, and Madame Caradori exhibited a degree of excellence which even those who had best appreciated her powers had not antici. pated. No other opera than Il Crociato was performed during the remainder of the season, which closed on the 13th of August, after ten representations of that piece."

The critics, for the most part, were all favourable to the new production. The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review published the following remarks, which we transcribe, to exhibit the current opinions of the day on a work which, however well prized, and eminently suc cessful, has since been strangely neglected :—

and

THE MUSICAL WORLD.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 28TH, 1855.

MEYERBEER left London, on Tuesday, for Spa, in Belgium, his usual summer resort since very many years. Spa is a quiet secluded town, buried in a nook of the Belgian Highlands; and, but for the Rouge et Noir, etc., which turns a little heaven into a sultry hell, would be one of the most desirable spots in the world for contemplation and repose. Meyerbeer, however, is no gambler. While nine-tenths of the visitors that flock to Spa in the dog days are sweltering in heated rooms, watching with throbbing hearts a colour or a number, and inventing systems to overthrow the doctrine of chances-as baseless and illusory as those of Richard Wagner for perfecting the drama-the celebrated musician is enjoying the fresh air, on the hills or in the plains, pursuing, as it were, the musical ideas with which his fertile imagination teems, entrapping this or that fugitive melody, to mould it into consistent form and stamp it with immortality. If we may judge from results, the atmosphere of Spa is favourable to musical aspiration. Nearly the whole of L'Etoile du Nord-in which the melodies come and go as fast as swarms of fire-flies, each like the beam-like Ephemeris, Whose path is the lightning's,'

"If we would estimate justly a dramatic composition of this character, it must never escape us that the intercourse of nations and the progress of civilization now occasion so rapid a circulation of the works of eminent men, that a community of judgment, almost independent of natural aptitude and natural predilection, is, as it were, established over Europe. If Italy first gave musical instruction to Germany, the latter, in her turn, by her Haydn and her Mozart, has materially influenced the structure of opera, which may be called the drama of Italy. England has bought her knowledge of both. The result certainly is, that whatever improvements obtain in our country are much sooner transmitted and caught by the rest than at any former period, and hence it becomes a fair presumption, that not only a mixed style will prevail, but that the most recent additions will, as soon as they have obtained a certain degree of celebrity, tinge with their peculiarities the productions of the modern composer, however gifted he may be. The most original writer of an age so advanced as the present is he who combines with so happy an assimilation that he produces passages which raise the emotions he desires to raise ; and to do this, he must employ phrases which have been previously em. ployed, but in a manner more forcible, more various, and more equally sustained than his predecessors. We defy the most imaginative composer to discover a passage so novel that it may not be traced, either as a whole, or in such fragments, as to prove its previous existence, or the germ from which it is developed. But if a man writes the fulness of the German harmony with the grace of the Italian melody-if he collects expedients which are scattered here and there, and uses them to new and better purposes and effects-if he accumulates imagery introduces unexpected, bold, and beautiful transitions, converts an ornament into an exclamation of passion, or gives an outline which a singer of expression fills up magnificently-the man who does all this, at this time of the day, we say, must be considered an original and highly-gifted genius; and such we esteem Meyerbeer. In drawing our definition, we have, indeed, only recapitulated the qualities which appear to us to be compacted in his opera of Il Crociato in Egitto. dying almost as soon as it is born, yet, unlike the Beautiful traits of melody, rich harmony, novel and grand effects, ephemeris, reviving in another and still more glittering intense feeling, and pathetic and passionate expression, are all brought shape-nearly the whole of that fascinating opera was, if we together, with a fine vein of imagination. Solidity, energy, pathos, are compounded and employed with great delicacy and are not misinformed, conceived and sketched at Spa. It force as to the means, by turns and in season, Above all, may have been completed in Paris and Berlin; but the first he has a vivid perception of the beautiful and the great, unalloyed by ideas presented themselves to "the immeasurably rich comfalse notions of effect. It would be difficult to say to what school he poser "+ at this pretty miniature of a watering-place-embelongs, or to the study of whose works he has chiefly devoted his bosomed among gentle heights, whose tops are capped with hours. We see marks, classical marks, of acquaintance with the great the sun as with a shining head-dress, whose sides are robed masters, both of Italy and Germany, down even to the latest and most popular-Rossini himself. And here it is just and necessary to repeat with wealthy trees, and at whose feet are tiny rivulets, that the works of that great Italian composer have so considerably en- sparkling and singing as they flow, and bearing tribute from larged the domain of execution, that the singer and the hearer of the the treasury of springs and fountains in the hills that are present time expect and must be supplied with the matériel, the one to display his acquisitions, the other to feed his over-stimulated fancy. their birth-place, to feed the larger streams in which they Meyerbeer has indulged them both very artfully, at the same time that live but to be lost. At Spa came all those tunes, so evanescent he has, in a good degree, brought them back nearer to simplicity. This in themselves-petitioning the Master to receive and clothe is principally to be seen in the recitatives and choruses; in his airs and them in harmony, that they might endure to delight concerted pieces he approaches nearest to the fashion of the day. From the world, and not remain for ever invisible, like the all these facts, we conclude that his style may fairly be said to be his own. He has acquired strength, and an evident inclination for rich drops of water that make up the length and breadth harmony and for modulation from his native country; while, from the and depth of the limitless ocean which ebbs and flows in more fervid and voluptuous school of Italy, he has imbibed that warmth eternity. To think that good and evil should be so near each of feeling, that sensibility to the touches of passion, and that elasticity other in Spa-the inspired minstrel to the ever restless of sentiment which, assisted by a natural enthusiasm that runs through and wretched gamester! To think that one man should be his veins, form a style at once imaginative and refined. Pathos is Meyerbeer's forte; in the expression of deep feeling, from the most industriously and modestly working for the happiness of vehement to the deepest shades, he is not excelled by any modern com- mankind, with a fulness of love for his task, while hundreds poser. Meyerbeer must be classed with florid writers, but, at the same are labouring to the destruction of their species; that one man time, he has mingled the portion of ornament with so much of what is should be doing God's behest, and dispensing the riches of his much more sound, that one of the strongest reasons for which we com mend him is, that he obviously aims at moderating the rage for execuendowment for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, while huntion, and shows a taste for purer means of expression, without a particle dreds-unmindful of the plenteous manifestations of nature, of affectation or extravaganza." and scorning" the dædal earth," with its forests and waters, its laughing plains and upstart hills, its branching trees and pleasant-scented shrubs, its green and ample fields, its merry wild flowers, and its sky that spreads out till it melts into infinite space-should prefer a stifling atmosphere where pale faces, tortured spirits, worn-out frames, and all the various outward phases of inward madness and despair make hideous day and night! To think that the earnestly busy * Shelley. + Wagner.

(To be continued.)

BERLIN. The annual performance of Mozart's Requiem, in commemoration of the death of Queen Louisa of Prussia, took place on Thursday the 19th instant, in the Louisenkirche, at Charlottenburg, under the direction of Herr Börner. Several pieces from St. Paul and

the Messiah preceded the Requiem.
DUSSELDORF. Herr Julieus Tausch has been elected Städtischier
Music-Director, for three years certain. There were forty-six can-
didates.

man, moved by a fine artistic impulse, should be fulfilling his mission within a stone's throw of these same headless and heartless money-grubbers, and yet the sun at day, and the moon at night, not veil themselves in mist for very sadness! But no. There are no clouds at Spa; or at least none but those fleecy soft transparencies, through whose bright thinness the smallest objects can be easily discovered, as through the vapourous shadow of an exhalation. While Meyerbeer catches a melody amongst the trees, to sing the child to sleep, or rouse a people to fight for liberty, a smothered sigh, down in the valley there below, in that flaunting hypocritical mansion whose white and finely shaped exterior is a mockery, announces, perhaps, a ruined fortune and a broken heart!

Go to Spa, reader, and watch the composer of the Huguenots breathing the fragrant air, and courting health by means of exercise on the docile back of a mule-may be an ass*-for Meyerbeer, like Auber, is a "good rider "t-go and refresh yourself, with him, on the hill-side, and perhaps some melodies may come to you; but avoid that gaping edifice, with its many windows through which the sunlight peeps but furtively at day, and its dazzling lamps underneath which, at night, the tables-covered with treacherous verdure, a verdure that grows upon a grave-seem to dance and quiver with a light as sickly as it is glaring, as ghastly as it is insolent and unblushing. When morning slowly dawns upon those marble halls, so richly dight with tapestry and blazonries,

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"And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels Before day's pathway you will see the faces paler and more dim (an "anxious polyscopity" on each), the tables greener with a more unearthly green-a green that has no affinity with nature's wide-spread carpet in the fields-the croupiers haggard and still hungrier for prey, the winners (poor devils!) departing, with a grin of imaginary content, but stealthily, as though fearful that some thief may come on them unawares and rob them of their ill-gotten gains; the losers, with unwilling steps, tottering lamely to their never-welcome homes, to find no sleep in bed, no pleasure when the noonday sun invades their shameless rest!-a scene, in short, not unlike, in many of its details, that graphic one described by De Balzac, in his Peau de Chagrin, when the morning streams, unperceived, through the hall-windows, and lights up a revolting and still unfinished orgy.

How much better to go forth into the valleys, like Meyerbeer, and listen to the birds singing, and see the milch-cows lightened of their load by the tender fingers of the paysanne, and intoxicate yourself with the bracingvigour of the morning, and enjoy all God's blessings, and give thanks for them, and, if you are gifted, compose beautiful music, and present it to the world-that voices may be lifted, trumpets sound, and feet twinkle, to heaven-sent melody. Thus you will show "the finger that inforced you," and appear before the face of your brother-man-not as a selfish egotist, but as a benefactor. And then

-enough, however; we have been preaching, without intending it. The fault is Meyerbeer's, not ours. Had he not composed the Etoile du Nord-and at Spa, too-we should hardly have written a sermon. *Jules Janin σε says, an ass."

+ Wagner:

A PRINTED circular has been sent to us from one of the cider-counties, with a request that it might be published in the columns of The Musical World. Although, strictly

speaking, it is an advertisement, and should be paid for as an advertisement, we are induced to give it a place, for several reasons. It is enough, at present, however, to mention one. We are anxious to impress clearly on the minds of our readers our strong objection to the system of puffing which now unhappily obtains. It appears to be almost inseparable from every kind of musical enterprise, big and small-from the grand festival to the shilling concert. The circular which has been addressed to us on the part of the Committee of the Hereford Festival involves a puff in favour of that meeting, at the expense of another which takes place in Birmingham, the week following. Puffing is at all times ungraceful and injudicious; but it is still less to be admired, when, not content with magnifying ourselves, we combine with that act of egotism an attempt to injure others. Such is the case with the Hereford puff, which we therefore insert under protest.

"HEREFORD MUSICAL FESTIVAL.-We have much pleasure in announcing that the plans of the Cathedral and Shirehall are now placed at Mr. Parker's, so that places can be secured; and we would wish to impress upon our readers the desirability of early application, in order that a party consisting of a large number may obtain the requisite number of seats together, or in immediate proximity. We are glad to hear that it is proposed to issue the ball tickets on Friday at a moderate price, including refreshments. The Lord-Lieutenant and the Members for the county and city have consented to act as stewards, with the lay stewards of the Festival, and a first-rate list of lady patronesses has been obtained. Most sincerely do we trust that the great exertions which have been, and which still are used, may be successful, and that so noble a charity may derive the liberal support it deserves. It is impossible not to rejoice at the immense attraction we have in the oratorios, compared with Birmingham; all will admit that Clara Novello is vastly superior to any singer in the world for sacred music: we have nothing to do with the reason why she is not employed steady progress of the Festivals of the three choirs is most cheering; at Birmingham, it is sufficient to know that she is engaged here. The the success at Gloucester and Worcester will, we hope, be followed at Hereford, and the losses of the stewards be a thing of the past. We are glad to find the excellence of the programme has been favourably noticed by the press generally. On the first morning we have two new works-Mr. Townshend Smith's Jubilate, and Mendelssohn's 98th Psalm. The "Hymn of Praise" is also a novelty here; and the revival of Spohr's exquisite composition, "The Christian's Prayer," deserves praise. The selection as a whole is of the most popular character we ever remember. At the Shirehall great improvements have been made as regards ventilation; the advantage of retiringrooms for the performers, and an enlarged orchestra, have also been secured."

This is not the way to help the cause for which the annual meetings of the three choirs were established at Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester. On the contrary, it is calculated to lower their status in public estimation; and we urgently recommend Mr. Townshend Smith, and the stewards and managers pro tem., to desist from all further attempts to extol their own virtues while giving their neighbour a sly poke in the ribs. Depend upon it it is unworthy of the object for the accomplishment of which they are united. The affair between Mad, Clara Novello and the Committee of the Birmingham Festival has nothing whatever to do with the public. If the gentlemen of Warwickshire, and the counties adjacent, cannot, or will not, pay 350 guineas for the services of a single vocalist, it is their own affair. For our own parts, considering that the festivals are in aid of charities, we are of opinion that all the singers, 'principals" especially, are absurdly over-paid; while other performers, including the members of the band and the professional choristers, are just as absurdly under-paid. It is notorious that the exorbitant terms granted to the singers, last autumn, were utterly ruinous to the Norwich

festival, and the inauguration of St. George's Hall at John Field made his way in St. Petersburg, or Mr. Balfe in Liverpool.

OUR contemporary, The Athenæum, appears satisfied with the result of the last general meeting of the members of the Philharmonic Society at least the following paragraph, which appeared in his last number, would lead to that impression:

"PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY.-We are glad to learn that the General Meeting of the members of the Philharmonic Society did not pass over without some measures of reform being set in motion. The Directors elected for the ensuing year are, Messrs. Sterndale Bennett, Anderson, Lucas, M‘Murdie, Blagrove, Chatterton, and Griesbach. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Hogarth were re-elected as Honorary Treasurer and Secretary. A Committee was appointed (with powers to call a Special General Meeting when their Report is prepared) to take into consideration the revision of the laws, etc. This Committee consists of Messrs. Lindsay Sloper, Ayrton, Griffin, Potter, W. S. Bennett, Benedict, and Griesbach, with the Honorary Treasurer in office. It was further carried, "That the Directors shall not appoint any person as Conductor for the ensuing year without the sanction of a General Meeting.' The election of new Members and Associates was, under existing circumstances,

postponed. On the proceedings of this revising Committee depends, we conceive, the future of the Philharmonic Society. We trust that they will be based on views and principles of art alike liberal and stringent; that the best music, and the best execution of music, will be the points kept in view, and not any party desire to bring forward mediocrity, with the fancy of encouraging native talent,' or of importing monstrosity under the idea that, being of foreign origin, it must therefore be something wonderful, and worthy of being stared at. The Philharmonic Society was founded under no class conditions, and if it is to be kept alive, it must be as a European-not an English

institution."

With the concluding sentences we entirely agree; but the names of the new directors, and those of the special committee, among whom only one foreigner is to be found, give little cause to hope for anything like cosmopolitan policy. All that is most pernicious in routine and past-worship is suggested by a perusal of those two lists. The abuses which have almost laid the Philharmonic Society prostrate have invariably sprung from, or been sanctioned by the very men to whose wisdom and energy we are now to look for reform. Why, they are Gladstones, Sidney Herberts, Grahams, and Russells, with scarcely an exception. Nothing will be done, depend upon it; and, what is worse, nothing was ever intended to be done.

We have no inclination to hail the return to office of a parcel of old women-since, metaphorically, the majority of these directors and special committee-men are nothing better. We remember a great fuss being made, some years ago, about the appointment of M. Sainton as leader-one of the few steps for which Messrs. Anderson and tail deserved credit. This came out of the "native talent" cry, which simply embodies a dangerous sophism, and offers a sop to the Cerberus of common-place. "Help yourself or nobody will help you," is a wholesome maxim, the neglect of which has had no small share in the undignified position which, as a class, our own musicians maintain in the face of Europe. We learn from foreigners, steal from foreigners, and in return abuse them and lay plans to get rid of them. We are not alluding to the "locusts" of whom we spoke some time ago—the small and ravenous "fry," that swim across the Channel like the Danes and other fishy barbarians of the early ages, burdening the land with a veritable glut of mediocrity and commonplace-but to foreigners who are really distinguished for their ability, among whom such a professor as M. Sainton is justly entitled to rank. M. Sainton has as much a right to make his way in England, as Mr.

Vienna, and as Mr. Sterndale Bennett can make his way, if he pleases, in any part of the Continent. It is worth noting, however, that the only two men who have acted consistently in this disgraceful business of the Philharmonic, by declining to serve as directors under the despotic rule of the chief offender, are M.M. Benedict and Sainton-foreigners. We do not share the apprehensions of The Athenæum about "imported monstrosities," but we stand greatly in fear of the national "mediocrity" to which he alludes. He may rest assured that the Philharmonic Society, although, as he rightly says, it was founded on "no class conditions," will not be the "European" institution he recommends, under the régime of the seven English directors appointed at the last general meeting. We hate the encroachments of incapable foreigners; but we have no sympathy for equally incapable Britons. Our patriotism stops suddenly short at that point.

A BILL is now flying through the House of Commons, of immeasurable importance to composers of music. We allude to the "Limited Liability Bill." True, it is opposed by all the capitalists; but, being under the protection of our pugnacious Premier, the composers need have no fear of its falling to the ground. What wonderful results may spring from the passing of this measure they only can divine who have their escritoires filled with original inspirations. The "Limited Liability Bill" places English musicians on the same footing as their foreign contemporaries, and ensures them a position of which blind prejudice has so long deprived them. No earthly reason will exist for English musicians being imitators and adulators of their rivals, and none why English music-publishers should import foreign operas for our theatres, or foreign artists to perform in them, when once the happy day has arrived, and the "Limited Liability Bill" becomes the law of the land.

It is notorious that an unfair and immoveable prejudice has always existed against English music in the very country which should nourish it; and it is equally well known that the main cause of this antipathy to "native talent" may be traced to the illiberality of managers and publishers, who turn their backs invariably on everything to which the name of a "British" composer is attached.

But the effect of the "Limited Liability" will be to emancipate men of genius from the hands of those selfish and unnational despots. English musicians have now but to co-operate, and the world will become shortly possessed of those countless treasures which for so many years, in dignified silence, they have retained in their portfolios. An association should be formed for the publication of untried works at the general expense. the general expense. Eight hundred shareholders, with £25 shares (according to the new Act), would give a capital of £20,000 to begin with. The principle should be at once invested in the compositions of shareholders, and the interest arising from the profits paid them in the form of dividend.

If our English musicians are the men we take them for, the shares would soon rise to a premium of at least 100 per cent. Every shareholder would then be entitled to a certain number of publishing warrants, which he might employ in the manner that pleased him best-in bringing out, for example, half-a-dozen ballads or polkas, a short oratorio, a funeral anthem, a treatise on counterpoint, a stringed quartet, the first act of an opera, no matter what-according to the bent of his taste and genius. A proprietor of four shares might

have the right to engrave a five-act opera in pianoforte

score.

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. THE second, third, and fourth representations of L'Etoile du The liberty of giving full rein to their imagination, without Nord-on Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday-were highly the influence of an odious man of business constantly shaking favourable to the opera, which is better liked the oftener it is his head incredulously at their most beautiful ideas, will heard. One eminent characteristic of Meyerbeer's music is, that open a new world to our musicians. it improves on acquaintance and never cloys. It may not What changes will be always be appreciated at first-the composer carefully avoidwitnessed! Composers of talent, now scattered about Lon-ing, on almost every occasion, the merely « ad captandum" don, unacknowledged, under the various masks of teachers, style of tune-but it grows upon the ear and is not easily players, critics, and what not, will henceforth stand openly forgotten. We could name many pieces in the Etoile du revealed as benefactors of mankind-as "immeasurably" enNord which failed to arrest admiration on the first night, dowed minstrels. He who before would transact the while their beauties became manifest on the second. There laborious affairs of a society for the mere satisfaction of hearing a single overture of his own composition performed before a charitably disposed audience, will now no longer have to undergo this probationary and unprofitable drudgery. At home, and at his ease, he may write as fast as his pen and his ideas can flow, certain of being heard and appreciated by an impatiently admiring public. He who has hitherto vented his disappointment in the columns of a newspaper may now raise up his head and smilingly exchange congratulations with the very men he has "pitched into." Masterly symphonies, lengthy and original concertos, musicianlike overtures and other "classical" productions, once (exclusively) known to doting wives and select circles of friends and relations, but long since shelved in oblivion, will be dusted and brought to light for the advantage of a world previously neglectful, but now ashamed that it ever allowed the dust to accumulate and bury such chefsd'œuvre. The applause of successive generations will establish a new era for the art, and the "Future" of Richard Wagner no longer be a chimera.

In short, the "Limited Liability Bill" is just the measure calculated to vindicate the undoubted-though until now unrecognised-musical talent of our compatriots; and we hail its passage with sincere satisfaction. Our own labours will not be the less agreeable, since we shall no longer have to address a class of ill-used and unrewarded men of genius. May it pass -but not without the whole results anticipated! Be chesm! Our eyes upon it!

MR. HOWARD GLOVER'S "TAM O'SHANTER."-In consequence of the great success which attended the production of this work by the New Philharmonic Society, it has been added to the programme of the approaching Birmingham Festival. Mr. Sims Reeves will sing the principal tenor part.

M. JULLIEN-The Surrey Gardens have been continually crowded in the course of the week. M. Jullien's patrons (the public at large) are not deterred from following him by wind, hail, or any other form of bad weather. Whenever his name is attached to a musical entertainment success follows as a logical sequitur.

WO UND WANN.-In der Londoner Musical World ist eine neue Composition von Ferdinand Praeger "Elfenmährchen" mit der Bemerkung angezeigt, das der Componist solche in allen seinen Concerten auf dem Continent und auch im GewandhausConcert in Leipzig gespielt. Wo gab Herr Praeger denn Concerte und wann spielte er in Leipzig? (From the Rheinische Musik-Zeitung-edited by Herr Schloss (not Albert Schloss), at

Cologne.)

THE MOZART INSTITUTION ("Mozarteum") at Salzburg intends to celebrate Mozart's centenary birthday (September 7, 1856) by a musical festival on the largest scale, the conductorship of which will be entrusted to Herr Franz Lachner, of Munich. The Committee, we read in the Cologne Gazette, requests all musical authorities, at home and abroad, to assist at the festival, and to announce their intention of doing so before the end of May, 1856, to the Committee of the "Mozarteum." Special invitations, it is said, will not be sent out.-Athenæum.

are, however, some passages so melodious and captivating,
that, in spite of their entire originality, are understood at once.
Among them are the graceful cavatina at the end of the first
act, sung by Catherine, which also forms one of the subjects of
the overture, and is subsequently introduced in the course of the
opera; the pastry cook's song, so tuneful and full of character;
the exquisite duet for Catherine and Prascovia, so peculiarly
quaint and French; the morceau de danse which opens the second
act;
the song of Danilowitz in the third (a genuine inspiration);
the lovely duet between Peter and Catherine in the first act; and
the piquant and thoroughly original duet for the Vivandières.
These are among the beauties which at once strike the ear. But
to understand the deeper and more recondite beauties of the work
demands a frequent hearing-the more frequent the better.
The music of the Etoile du Nord is in no instance light or
of the opera on the first night was merely the prelude to an
trivial, though always sparkling and characteristic. The success
enduring triumph, which we feel confident awaits it, in fellowship
with Robert le Diable, the Prophète, and the Huguenots. That
L'Etoile du Nord, in spite of an occasional want of interest
in the libretto, will become one of the most popular works
in the répertoire of the Royal Italian Opera, there is no
reason whatever to doubt. It has alreaay made a conquest
of the public, and its vogue increases nightly. Meyerbeer him-
self is perfootly satisfied with its reception, how much more so
than his less exacting admirers. The extraordinary popularity
enjoyed by the L'Etoile du Nord in the French capital is now
a matter of history, and we have no doubt whatever that the
British public is quite as capable of estimating, at its full value,
the great work of a great master, as the French. France and
England are allies in war, and why not in art?

The performances improve with each repetition. The slight tremulousness observable in Mad. Bosio the first night has entirely vanished, and the Catterina of that admirable artist may now be pronounced a masterpiece. Indeed, more exquisite singing it would be almost impossible to hear, and Mad. Bosio must be signalised as one of the main causes of the eminent success of the opera. Meyerbeer, too, owes no little to Mdlle. Marai-whose execution of the music of Prascovia has materially raised her reputation in this country. Signors Gardoni, Lablache, Tagliafico, and Polonini, M. Zelger, and Herr Formes Italians, French, and German-continue to vie in praiseworthy rivalry in making the performance complete and satiefactory. Lablache is greater every night; "stupendous" is the only term to apply to his personification of the Tartar chief. Herr Formes presents a still more elaborate portraiture of the mighty selfwilled Czar; and Gardoni's singing in Danilowitz is perfect. On Thursday the charming romance in the third act, describing the approach of Catterina, was given by this gentleman in so finished a manner, that although it was close to midnight, the audience insisted upon its being repeated, and Sig. Gardoni was obliged to comply.

The chorus, too, and the corps de ballet, to say nothing of the band, whose task is evidently a labour of love," are all entitled to unqualified praise. We have already paid our tribute of admiration-so justly due to Mr. Costa for the zeal and energy he displayed both in getting up the opera and conducting the performance. Meyerbeer is keenly sensible of the invaluable services rendered by the eminent chef-d'orchestre, and has expressed his gratitude and satisfaction repeatedly, and in the warmest possible terms. Such a feat, indeed, accomplished in so short a time, is without precedent.

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