to accommodate their future movements to the taste of the public; and if the Queen of Song is required next year at Covent Garden, nothing will be easier than for the ironmonger to forget to send home the scraper, or the bell-hanger to omit to hang the street-door bell. Of course it would be unreasonable to expect a public favourite to retire until everything is made perfectly comfortable for her reception, and it is even possible that if she should have finally taken leave, and the pipe of the cistern should burst, or the rain should come in at a loose slate in the roof, she might be induced to re-appear for a few nights during the completion of the necessary repairs. The only thing to be apprehended is the possibility that the lady herself may get a little damaged in her vocal machinery, and that before her villa is in every respect ready for her, the public may begin to feel that it is time to say Farewell! The time has not yet approached, but we recommend the still attractive favourite to keep her tradesmen up to the mark, if she wishes to have her villa in perfect order for her reception, when it is really time for her to take possession.-Punch.

PROVINCIAL.

MANCHESTER, Sept. 12th.-(From our own Correspondent.)— The second troupe, brought down from London by Messrs. Beale and Co., terminated their six nights of Italian Opera at our Theatre Royal, on Saturday evening. It is to be hoped the gross réceipts derived from the performances of the two parties -the Bosio-Tamberlik and the Grisi-Mario-will be sufficient to warrant a similar attempt at the close of the opera season next year. On the Norma night there was a full-dress circle, and the rest of the house was good. In the denunciation of Pollio Grisi shone with her wonted fire, and the audience were warmed into enthusiasm. She was encored in "Ah, non tremare," and was recalled unanimously after the first act, and again at the close of the opera. Il Barbiere was given on Thursday, imperfectly, since one of the chorus-singers had to "walk" the part of Basilio-[he could not sing it at all]-by which the concerted music suffered much; and "La Calunnia" was cut out. The part of the Count was too much for Sig. Lorini, who gave the first part only of "Ecco ridente." Under these circumstances it is a marvel the opera went off with such spirit. Sig. Susini's Doctor Bartolo, M. Gassier's Figaro, and Mad. Gassier's Rosina were all that could be wished for. The valse in the singing lesson electrified the house, and was loudly encored. Grisi and Mario afterwards appeared in the wellknown scene from the last act of the Huguenots, which was nearly spoiled by the chorus; and it took all the impassioned energy of the two great artists to redeem it. After that they were honoured by a recall. On Friday we had Don Pasquale, in which Sig. Susini still rose in the estimation of the Manchester public. M. Gassier was an excellent Doctor Malatesta, his wife, the most piquant of Norinas, and in Mario we had the original as Ernesto. The result was an exquisite performance. "Com'è gentil" of course was encored. Saturday, the last night, was a bumper-every part of the house being well filledto hear Grisi and Mario in Lucrezia Borgia. This was on all hands a great performance. The chorus was better than usual: even subordinate parts were well filled. Lucrezia was Grisi's most successful effort during the week; and in Gennaro the singing and acting of Mario were fine throughout, and his deathscene inimitable. Sig. Susini again did himself credit in Alfonso. The recalls were numerous, and there was a perfect furore at the end.

In abridging and condensing my article on the operas of last week and Tuesday, I was made to do injustice to two clever artists, which, in common fairness to them, ought not to be. Insert the lines put below in their proper place in the notice of the different operas. After the notice of Don Pasquale insert-"The curtain afterwards rose and Mdlle. Nantier-Didiée appeared in the last scene from Cenerentola. The operas during the week having had no contralto part for her she gave the 'Nacqui all' affanno' with great expression, sang the 'Non più mesta' charmingly, and had the honour of a recall." Next, in the notice of Lucrezia Borgia, say "Mdlle. Didiće gave great satisfaction in the part of Orsini, and was rapturously encored in the brindisi, Il segreto.' M. Gassier deserves a word of praise for taking so subordinate a part as that of Gubetto, in order to increase the general effect. His Assur, Count Rodolpho, Figaro, and Doctor

6

Malatesta, if not exactly after the Tamburini model, were all excellent pictures. Signor Mario introduced a song by Lulli, with recitative beginning Come soave,' which was encored. The singer returned to bow his acknowledgments, but the audience would and did have the song repeated." Charles Hallé leaves Manchester after all. He has given notice to the directors of the Concert Hall to give up the conductorship of their concerts in March next. Meantime the Classical Chamber Music Society will continue its meetings one more season, and the eight evenings are fixed for Nov. 22, Dec. 6th, 20th; Jan. 3rd, 17th, 31st; Feb. 7th and 21st. Messrs. Ernst, Sainton, Molique, and Piatti, are engaged.

THE GRAND-OPERA IN 1713.*

AN official document bearing date the 11th of February, 1713, runs as follows:

"List of the number of persons, men and women, of whom the King wishes and orders that the Académie Royale de Musique shall be always composed, without augmentation or diminution."

In this document we find that the basses, playing parts, received from 1,000 to 1,500 livres each. The counter-tenors the same.

With regard to the actresses, of those who played parts, the first received 1,500 livres, and, following a diminishing proportion, the sixth, 700 livres.

The men, as well as women, in the choruses, received 400 livres each.

The two first male dancers are put down at 1,000 livres each, and the others at 800, 600, and 400 respectively. The two first danseuses received 900 livres each, and the others from 500 to 400 each.

The batteur de mesure, conductor, received 1,000 livres. From this document we find that, in 1713, the personal staff of the Opera amounted to one hundred and twenty-six, artists and others, who cost, all together, sixty-seven thousand and fifty francs annually.

*From the Dictionnaire Administratif et Historique des Rues et Monuments de Paris, by MM. Louis and Félix Lazare. A livre is equivalent to a franc.

BEAU

ADVERTISEMENTS.

New Edition, price 1s. sewed, 1s. 6d. cloth. EAUVOISIN'S FRENCH VERBS in a few hours. Télémaque. With the English on transparent leaves. 4s 6d. "By this new method of conjugation the principle of all the verbs can be understood in an unprecedented short time." London: E. Wilson, Royal Exchange; Law, 131, Fleet-street.

Now ready, in 2 vols., 21s., with fine Portraits by Heath,

HE LIFE OF MARGUERITE D'ANGOULEME, Freer. "A good work well done. The author is quite equal in power and grace to Miss Strickland."-Standard. Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn.

THE
Queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I. From original sources. By Miss

THE

་་

Post free, price 2s. 6d., cloth gilt.

HE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF FRENCH SONGS (in French and English), being a careful collection of the most popular military, patriotic, saurical, sport ng, and romantic effusions of the best French writers, from the 16th to the 19th century, Illustrated with numerous highly finished and original Engravings Transhited and edited by JOHN OXENFORD, Esq. London: H. Ingram and Co., 198, Strand.

MURRAYS' BRITISH CLASSICS.-On the 30th inst. will be published Volume I, Svo., 7s. 6d., of

Bellini. Burgmüller. Richards.

Ravina.

Bellini.

Browne.

Arnaud.

Neuland. Rimbault. Donizetti. Himmel.

Hünten.

BOOSEY & SONS, 28, HOLLES-STREET.

8. Com' e gentil (Don Pasquale)

9. D'un pensiero (Sonnambula)

10. Suoni la tromba (Puritani)

11. Son vergin vezzosa 12. La donna è mobile (Rigoletto)

Boosey and Sons, 28, Holles-street.

Published by JOHN BOOSEY, of 27, Notting Hill-square, in the parish of Kensington, at the office of BoosEY & SONS, 28. Holles-street. Sold also by REED, 15, John-street, Great Portland-street; ALLEN, Warwick-lane; VICKERS, Holywell-street; KEITH, PROWSE, & Co., 48, Cheapside; G. SCHEURMANN, 86, Newgate-street; HARRY MAY, 11, Holborn-bars. Agents for Scotland, PATERSON & SONS, Edinburgh; for Ireland, H. BUSSELL, Dublin; and all Music-sellers.

Printed by WILLIAM SPENCER JOHNSON, "Nassau Steam Press," 60, St. Martin'slane, in the Parish of St. Martin's in the Fields, in the County of Middlesex — Saturday, September 15, 1855.

REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC

BEFORE MOZART.
(Continued from page 591).

BACH, Händel, and Gluck, three names, which no German pen will write down without pride, mark the entrance or ascendancy of a new people in the history of music. I say a new people, and not a new school, for where in the world are two men to be found who have less the appearance of brothers of one school than Bach and Gluck? They contrast in all things. What they have in common is that, at the same time with Händel, they arrived at definitive results in the art of composition. Before them, music had nothing definitive except the choral song of Palestrina. No sooner have the developments of any aesthetic striving reached their goal, than its creation, as the substance of the whole, and as the monument of the complete and finished beauties of the kind, pass out of the transition state, and grow strong in the classical stability of master-pieces, over which time can have no power. since there is nothing more in them to alter. Time will deal with the monumental scores precisely as with the Grecian statues, which other ravages besides its own have spared. It will lend them a somewhat darker colouring, to be sure, but it will leave untouched the forms, wherein artists, in spite of all their strivings to achieve the best, will always be compelled to recognise the type of true perfection. It was an immeasurable advantage for the Germans that they came last. They had always followed in the footsteps of the nations that gave the tone, the Belgians and Italians; they merely needed to take one leap forward, to go by these, and this leap brought them to the goal. All branches and endeavours of the art, excepting instrumental music, reached their perfection singly, towards the middle of the eighteenth century. The fugued and the melodic style, which some masters had failed in their efforts to amalgamate, now repelled each other the more vigorously, since each had produced genuine master-pieces in its way. A very strict division line separated the contrapuntist from the melodist, so that the composers formed two hostile camps. The head-quarters of the former were in Germany, of the latter in Italy. The rivalry and warm feeling that existed between them appears in the didactic and polemical writings of that time. Even the historians allowed themselves to be carried away by this party spirit. Burney inclines to the side of the opera, which, to the great disadvantage of the reader and the work, fills and appropriates to itself nearly his entire fourth volume (covering the whole of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries). Förkel's partiality to the contrapuntal style is even much more sensible. The theorist, J. J. Rousseau, despises the fugue as a relic of musical barbarism. The theorist, Marpurg, looks down pityingly upon the galante music. With our present views, a contrapuntist who should only regard counterpoint, or a melodist who should only regard melody in his art, would pass for only half of a composer; and should a controversy arise between them, founded on the difference in their occupation, their knowledge and their taste, we, who possess strong weapons lof attack against both, should know beforehand, that these incomplete musicians would be alike powerless to defend themselves. This is already proved by the exclusives of the last century, and is still proved by those of our own country, who have not the same grounds of excuse.

For ourselves, we have no concern in the controversy; on the contrary we are greatly concerned in instituting a close investigation as to how the contrapuntal and melodie styles maintained a state of utter separation, at a time immediately preceding the appearance of Mozart. Present considerations prompt this inquiry, which the purpose of this book, moreover, makes our duty. In answering a question of art, we undertake at the same time to solve a biographical problem of the highest interest. It is the following:

All the great composers who have passed in review before us since the origin of the art, shared in their own lifetime the honours they deserved; all enjoyed their fame, as well those whose claim posterity has confirmed as the much greater number whose talents had been overprized by their contemporaries. Palestrina saw

the eternal city bow before him, and, what was still more flattering, his very rivals, if any such he could have had. The inscription, "Musica Princeps," adorns his tomb, which was opened for him beneath the marble slabs of St. Peter's at the foot of the altar. Bird, court-organist and composer to Queen Elizabeth, received in his own country all to which he could lay claim. Carissimi and Scarlatti were honoured as the first teachers of their epoch, which joyfully derived profit from their instructions, and paid its teachers with recognition and enthusiasm, without forgetting the solid gold. Leo, too, the director of the Conservatory at Naples, saw himself recognised as the first musician on that classic soil of music. Bach passed always for an oracle in the circle of the initiated, whereof he strove to be the focus. Händel, for forty years long, ruled Old England; and France, also adopting a stranger as the national composer, was not less lavish of its honours and rewards towards Gluck, who left a fortune of three hundred thousand florins, as the material product of his laurels. These, if my memory does not deceive me, are about all the crowned heads in music until Haydn, and Haydn, like the others, met with recognition in his life-time.

After these comes a musician, the greatest of them all, since he includes all in himself, the universal heir of the centuries. This one is neglected by his fatherland, and left to himself; Europe scarcely knows him. Burney, in his history, which appeared in 1789, does not dwell upon Mozart, the son; he merely cites him among the German musicians, whose names he has collected. One solitary city lavishes its applause on Don Giovanni; one solitary man recognises the all-overtopping place, which the subject of this work assumes among the living and the dead. All the compensation, which the century believes itself to owe him, consists in a situation for life as supernumerary, with the right of burial in the common grave! Who can explain to us so singular a fate? Biographical facts can tell us nothing; musical scores alone make answer; but the answer will appear to us less clear, the more we are in a condition to understand it; and for its understanding we require, above all, a correct estimate of what is commonly called learned and light music. This will form the subject of our reflections, of which we have spoken, and which are now to follow. To arrive at satisfactory results in such matters, we must examine the fugued and the melodic style from a double point of view, both in themselves intrinsically and in their relative impression on their hearers, both on the objective and the subjective side. It is not my plan to decide between Peter and Paul, whose individual tastes, systematically adduced, would prove nothing; my purpose is, to show why a thing, which pleases and must please Paul, displeases and must please Peter. It is a fact proved by history, and proved by daily experience, that the contrapuntal forms sound naturally hostile to the ear; that they invariably repel the person who does not understand their mystery and who is not accustomed to them; and that, so long as they prevailed to the exclusion of melody, there were no amateurs or lovers of music in the present sense of the word. The men who loved music without having learned it, held to the music of the people. On the other hand it is also proved, that when the melodic style, and with it dilettantism, appeared, the most learned theorists and greatest composers, down to Händel and Bach inclusive, continued to regard the fugue as the most beautiful and noble product of the musical art.

Under these circumstances, it will be seen, that the contest between the learned musicians and the man who judges simply by the ear, must have had its beginning with Count Vernio and the madrigalists; which was, in fact, the case. All that was ever said about it may be summed up somewhat as follows:-"To whom does it belong to judge of music? to us, who made it the study of our lives, who number some of your own men under our standard, and who, some of us, have laid down the rules? or to you, who scarcely know the first elements of music, if, indeed, you know anything at all about it?" This was, and is, and ever will be the quintessence of the argument of the learned. This seems reasonable enough; but hear what the unlearned ones reply: "Yes; if the question was about the integral calculus, or the transcendental metaphysics, you would