cheapness of brass instruments compared with wood, their greater durability, and the little care demanded for their preservation, were not without their influence. Not to seek for further causes, sufficient has been shown to explain why mechanics and artizans should have preferred a band of brass instruments entire to one constituted of wood and

brass in combination. The men went to work with a good will; engaged competent teachers, and had music specially arranged for them. The facility of playing and facility of purchase thus afforded, together with instruction from without and application from within, soon displayed surprising results. Suddenly, throughout the length and Suddenly, throughout the length and breadth of Yorkshire, amateur bands started up as if by magic. All were composed of men attached to the factories or large "works." Other districts followed the example of the four Ridings, and the whole of the North of England resounded with tuneful brayings from myriads of brazen throats. Such music could not fail to speak loudly to authoritative ears. In a brief while some of these brass bands played so well as to obtain a certain amount of local reputation. Challenges were sent forth from county to county from riding to riding-from parish to parishnay, from factory to factory; contests took place; prizes were awarded. These meetings had their fine issues. Emulation and rivalry were established on a pacific footing, and much lusty wind was expended, not in vain, in the honourable struggle for executive superiority.

Mr. Enderby Jackson of Hull, a gentleman who has been for many years one of the most indefatigable and earnest promoters of popular music in the north of England, and who has done as much as any man of his day to introduce good music into village homes, was the first who thought he could employ these musical bodies to valuable purposes. He originated public contests between, brass bands, which were given at Bristol, Wolverhampton, Leicester, and numerous small towns, such as Doncaster, &c. When first these prize meetings were held, amateur bands were a rarity. Now, however, there are few large manufactories or workshops in the north of England without having their "musicians" attached to the establishment, The "Grand.

National Contest" about to come off at the Crystal Palace is the natural result of these minor gatherings, and, with a desire natural to enthusiasts in art, each body is anxious to assert its title to excellence in presence of the best constituted authorities in the kingdom.

Of the one hundred and fifteen bands entered to contend for the various prizes on the 10th proximo, many have obtained such special excellence as to give rise among their several supporters to a vast deal of speculation as to who are likely to become the victors. We do not wish to appear invidious, but a few of these bands have been so strongly recommended to us, that we think we shall only be doing an act of justice in recording their names. These are:-BlackDyke Mills (Yorkshire) Band, Beaumont's Holmfirth, Dewsbury, Darlington Sax-horn, Meltham Mills (Yorkshire), Baldon (Yorkshire), Chesterfield, Morley, Staley bridge Old Temperance, Ossett Temperance, Clerkheaton Victoria, Huddersfield, Saltaire (Bradford-Titus Salt's), Sunderland V. R. Artillery, and Lowmoor Ironworks. These at present are the favourites among the better acquainted and the more speculative; and in all probability to them one or more of the prizes will be awarded. Nevertheless, it has been whispered that there are several non-favourites among the competitors who stand a capital chance of coming in first, and who are all the rage in the coal and mining districts, where their policy is to keep things dark,

The following are the prizes to be distributed :1. An Euphonion, by Messrs. Boosey & Sons, electro-plated, valuo 30 guineas. 2. A Contra-Basso, by Messrs. Distin, electro-plated, value 35 guineas. 3. A Cornet-à-Pistons, by Courtois, electro-plated, value 18 guineas. 4. A set of Boosey's Brass Band Journal, bound, value 12 guineas. All music hath its intellectual uses, and even brass band performances, so far down in the scale of art, may exert an influence not to be disregarded by those who seek to make man better and wiser. Upon the poor labourer, sensitive to melody only, a simple home-tune, denuded of all but the barest harmony, may have an effect equal to that of one of the mighty symphonies of the giant of the orchestra upon an educated mind. "We gain a knowledge of heaven but by glimpses," and so the artless strain breathed through a few polished tubes, may convey to the untutored ear the first imaginings of that glorious art, the full enjoyment of which is a heaven to the proficient. The defined and beneficial. When the day's labour is past, the social effects of music upon illiterate minds are still more worker of iron or delver in the mine, instead of betaking himself to potations and boon-companions, seeks for recreation in the society of a chosen few, who with hearts at all events attuned to harmony, humbly strive for mastery in the gentlest and most refining of the arts. Can such a man be constituted for evil deeds, too often the consequence of a few hours hanging heavy on minds incapable of rethe true purposes of life-honest fellowship with his kind, Is not such a man rather befitting himself for and a determination to better his mental condition?

source ?

152

Let the brass bands therefore prosper. Let them continue to exercise their influence far and wide, and, after their manner, proclaim the supremacy of music in accomplishing good. With their sounding interpreters let them speak aloud in high places and in low places-let them become oracles and preachers of social regeneration to the lowly and untaught; and let their motto be

SUONI LA TROMBA.

PRINCE GALITZIN'S Russian Concert was success, though, to our disappointment, we found that the Prince had not brought with him to England his celebrated corps of singers; nor had he even adopted our suggestion of telegraphing for them to Tamboff, their ordinary residence. But he found highly efficient substitutes, as far as the execution of solos and concerted pieces was concerned. In Gaspaje, Louisa Pyneova, Saintonova-Dolbiska, and Arabella Goddarda; and in Gospodini, Santleyoff and Pateyski. The concert was conducted in excellent style by the Prince. -whose ancestors, by the way, have long been in the habit of leading; and the programme (as we have mentioned elsewhere) included several of his highness's own compositions. Of the variety of these, some notion may be formed, when we mention that among those performed on Wednesday were a deeply impressive "Santa Maria" for the choir, an arrangement of a Russian melody for two voices, and a very original waltz for the orchestra. The other Russian composers represented were Bortniansky and Glinka; a chorus from one of the religious services of the former, and several pieces from the operatic work of the latter, being executed. As we believe Prince Galitzin intends to give several more concerts of Russian music — and it is rumoured that he moreover intends to produce one of Glinka's operas in its entirety our readers will perhaps feel interested in hearing some details respecting

the lives and labours of the only two Russian composers, in addition to Prince Galitzin, with whose works the British public have yet made acquaintance.

In Russia, as in all other European countries, the earliest music is the music of the Church, and the most ancient musical document in Russia is a canticle composed in honour of two Russian princes who were canonised in the eleventh century. The manuscript of this canticle was discovered not very long since in the monastery of St. Sergius, near Moscow, and Count Dmitri Tolstoi, who has published a highly interesting work on the subject of early Russian music, argues with reason that it must have been written in Russia, inasmuch as uo one out of Russia would have taken any interest in the canonisation of two Russian princes. In the course of time the music of the Russian Church, which had originally been borrowed from Byzantium, lost much of its oriental character; and towards the end of the seventeenth century, the adoption of the European scale, together with the imitation of Italian models, had so transformed it, that the Patriarch of Constantinople felt it necessary to send a choir to Moscow, with the view of restoring the ancient Greek chants, of which the tradition had been lost. But the Constantinople choir did not succeed in their mission, and, indeed, the Russian Church music needed a reform of a very different nature from that contemplated by the Patriarch and his vocalists. Without going back to the antiquated and unsuitable Greek style, it was highly desirable not to continue the imitation of the Italians, which involved a complete sacrifice of words to music; for, in addition to the natural differences between the Russian and Italian languages, it must be remembered that the service of the Roman Church is in verse, whereas that of the Russian is in prose. Bortniansky was the first Russian composer who went seriously to work to harmonise and re-arrange the ancient and disorganised church music of his country. "The times were out of joint;" but it was not Bortniansky, it was Lvoff, the composer of the Russian national hymn, who was "born to set them right," and who in his twelve volumes of church-music, has adapted the ancient chants to the rhythm of the Russian words, so that they are now pronounced correctly, in the order in which they occur in the service, and without repetition. Bortniansky, how ever, after his return from Italy, where he spent eleven years, wrote for the Russian Church the first music that it possesses; among other things a Mass in three parts, and forty-five Psalms, in four and in eight parts. During his residence in Italy, Bortniansky appears to have composed operas, symphonies, sonatas, but no music of a strictly religious character; this, however, was the style in which he excelled, and to which he exclusively devoted himself after his appointment as Director of the Imperial Choiran office in which he was preceded by Salieri. Many who do not know the name of Bortniansky, are, nevertheless, familiar with some of his compositions, which have been adopted by the Roman Church, and may be heard in the churches of Paris, and, for all we know to the contrary, in those of Italy.

The name of Michael Glinka is not new to the constant and scrupulous readers of the Musical World. About a year ago we published an article from the pen of a highly esteemed contributor, on seventeen of his (Glinka's, not our contributor's) songs-being either detached compositions, or selections from the operas of Rooslan and Loodmila and Tizne za Tzarya. We also printed, a few months since, an article on the strange fortunes of the said Rooslan and Loodmila, of which the end was, that the scenery, costumes,

score, and orchestral parts of the work were burned in the fire that destroyed the Tsirk theatre last year. The charming trio by Glinka, performed at Prince Galitzin's concert, is from Tizne za Tzarya, or Life for the Tzar-an opera founded on the story of the peasant Ivan Soussannin, who, when Michael, the first of the Romanoffs, was being pursued by the Poles (at that time the oppressors, not the oppressed, of Russia), misled the invaders, so that the Czar was able to escape, and refused, though put to the torture, to inform them of the route the Czar had taken.

Doubtless, at one or more of the other concerts which it is Prince Galitzin's intention to give, some of the compositions of the contemporary song-writers of Russia will be performed. Songs in the Russian national style, and in that of the Russian gipsies, would be equally novel and acceptable to an English audience.

AS a specimen of the care with which M. Fétis has set about the task of remodelling his great work, La Biographie Universelle des Musiciens, by incorporating with the new edition everything that struck him as worth appropriating, we may cite (inter alia) the paragraph relating to Beethoven's celibacy, and the causes generally assigned for that self-imposed privation on the part of the illustrious composer. In the first edition the matter is disposed of in a few brief sentences: "Beethoven"-it informs usnever married; M. de Seyfried even asserts that he was never known to have had any tender attachment. The author of the present Biography, nevertheless, remembers being told by Joseph Woelf (the pianist and composeronce a pupil of Beethoven's), of a certain lady to whose house Beethoven used frequently to go in his youth, and to whom he was very much attached, though he never confessed it. He appeared stung with jealousy whenever compliments were addressed by any other persons to the object of his attachment. In such cases the pianoforte was the depository of his thoughts, and was made to reflect the storm that raged within him. A single look from the lady, however, accompanied by a few kind words, brought back tranquillity to his heart, and caused sweet melodies to succeed the harsh discords of his impetuous and passionate soul."

In the second edition, this paragraph is enriched with a quantity of new and valuable matter. Dr. Wegeler, the friend of Beethoven's childhood and youth, never recollected him without some attachment, and generally one which exercised a great influence on his thoughts and actions. (" Beethoven war nie ohne Liebe, und meistens von ihr im hohem Grade ergriffen.") Schindler, "Ami di Beethoven," (also his Boswell and biographer), not only admits this assertion to be correct, but furnishes confirmatory details of considerable interest. The objects of Beethoven's regard were always, it seems, persons of high rank, a circumstance accounted for by the nobleness of his disposition, and his frequent intercourse with the upper classes of society. His love, however, was always Platonic; the heart and the imagination were chiefly concerned, the senses playing but a subordinate part in the drama. For several years, Beethoven was attached to Mlle. Julie de Guicciardi, who afterwards married the Count de Yallenberg, and to whom he dedicated his sonata in C sharp minor, (the well-known Mondscheins, or "Moonlight sonata.") Some letters written in the summer of 1806, from a watering-place in Hungary, whither the great composer had repaired in the hopes of finding a remedy for his deafness, and published in

Schindler's Biography, tend to show that in this instance, at least, Beethoven's love was reciprocated. Schindler mentions also an affaire de cœur between Beethoven and the Countess Marie d'Erdâdy, to whom he dedicated the grand trios in E flat and D, Op. 70. Ferdinand Ries, too-Beethoven's favourite pupil, and who lived with him for a long time on the most intimate terms says, that his master's love-fits were seldom of very long duration, and that the most lasting evidence of constancy he could cite did not outlive seven months! Beethoven's passion for Mlle. de Guicciardi, nevertheless-with deference to Ries and Wegeler-retained its hold on him for years. These additions to the chapter of love in Beethoven's "Life" greatly enhance its value. Not satisfied with these, how ever, M. Fétis touches on the subject of Beethoven's friendships, about which the first edition of the Biographie Universelle was altogether silent. The illustrious musician seems to have been no less sensible to friendship than to love, but was so extremely sensitive, even on the most trifling points, that his self-esteem was easily wounded, and he would quarrel with his best friends. His brothers, who frequently disturbed his tranquillity, and were the cause of his greatest annoyances, took delight in poisoning his mind with doubts about those for whom he entertained the sincerest affection, in order themselves to sway him the more completely to their purposes. Beethoven used to listen too readily to their insinuations, and instead of demanding a frank explanation, would sulk and repel by his coolness those against whom he fancied he had grounds of complaint. If, however, any one succeeded in persuading him of his error, he at once hastened to confess he had done wrong, implore forgiveness, and make every atonement in his. power, with cheerfulness and alacrity. Although exceedingly attached to the friends of his youth, years sometimes elapsed without his even thinking

of them.

One of his letters to M. Wegeler, the companion of his infancy, involves a confession that he had not written to that intimate friend even once during the space of seven years. Although almost as intimate with Schenk, the first who explained to him the defects of his musical education, he would appear to have forgotten his mentor altogether, when, one day, walking with Schindler on the Boulevards at Vienna, he met Schenk, of whom he had lost sight for nearly twenty years. Mad with joy at once more meeting so old and true a friend, who for ought he knew might have been already in the grave, Beethoven dragged him into a neighbouring wine-shop (at the sign of the Hunter's Horn), and, calling for wine, with a gushing outburst of feeling, as of youth, the generally taciturn and abstracted artist abandoned himself to uncontrollable gaiety, and narrated, in uninterrupted succession, an almost endless series of stories and anecdotes. After an hour thus spent in mutual unconstrained expansion, Schenk and Beethoven separated, never to meet again. This took place in 1824, in less than three years after which period the great "tone-poet" had ceased to exist,

The chapters on love and friendship are followed by one devoted to Beethoven's family relations. The characteristic anecdotes follow-of which, by the way, M. Fétis has made a most discreet and appropriate selection; and finally, we have a chronological catalogue of Beethoven's works, followed by an examination of the biographies, essays, appreciations, and other writings on the subject. If the rest of the new edition of La Biographie Universelle des Musiciens be on a par with the article "Beethoven," it

will be no less a book of inestimable value than of unexampled labour and research,

OME seven years ago every London play-goer was astonished by the marks of genius displayed by a comedian of small stature, named Robson, in a burlesque on the Merchant of Venice entitled Shylock. There was no lack of comic actors at the time, and the world had been completely surfeited with burlesque. Nevertheless, this same Robson displayed so much tragic earnestness in the midst of his grotesque whimsicalities that the critics were puzzled altogether, and began to ask themselves whether a first-rate tragedian, suspecting that the age for "legitimacy" was gone, was not impudently palming himself off as a low comedian.

The puzzle is now at an end. Most people are at present aware that Mr. Robson is not a tragedian, but a genius of a peculiar sort, who has carved out a path for himself. The merely comic is not his element, save when it consists in a strongly coloured representation of marked character; but in the art of infusing a drop of pathos into a goblet of fun, Mr. Robson is unrivalled. To make people check themselves in the midst of laughter, to wipe a tear from their eyes, to startle them with a serious unction, when they are idly listening to a parody on some popular song,— this is the mission of Mr. Robson. Of modern actors, he is the real humorist, in the Thackeray sense of the word,-the man with an instinctive knowledge of human nature, of that strange region in which smiles and tears are contending for supremacy. Of modern actors, he is the one man who, undertaking a new part, awakens the curiosity of the whole metropolis.

On Tuesday next, Mr. Robson will revive the burlesque, Shylock, and also perform in the Porter's Knot. These two pieces are the respective types of the two departments to which he devotes his talent. In the burlesque he is a creature of conceits and oddities, through which a deep earnest nature is constantly apparent. In the diminutive drama he is the fond father, and the man of unblemished in tegrity, rendered comic by the results of a vulgar training, but pathetic in the extreme, when the intrinsic worth of the man rises above the effect of circumstances. Those who visit the Olympic Theatre, on Tuesday next, will witness two of the greatest histrionic creations of which the present day can boast.

*

MR. BENEDICT AS COMPOSER AND PIANIST. "The most remarkable feature in the first part was Mr. Benedict's masterly and beautiful execution of his own admirable concertino for piano, with orchestral accompaniment one of the very best works del genere which the modern school can boast. The unaffected sympathy and genuine affinity of mind which connect Mr. Benedict unmistakably with his instructor and model, Carl Maria compositions) very strikingly exhibited. To resemble so great a von Weber, are here (as in all Mr. Benedict's most important reproach of plagiarisin, is praise indeed; for nothing less than a writer as the author of Der Freischütz, without incurring the kindred genius could accomplish so much. Mr. Benedict's playing was worthy of his music. The delicate and beautiful touch, symmetrical phrasing, chiaro-oscuro, and perfectly neat and finished "execution" (taking this word in its special sense) which pianoforte, were never more delightfully exemplified than in his have ever characterised Mr. Benedict's performances on the rendering of the concertino, which was enthusiastically applauded,

* In allusion to Mr. Benedict's concert, on Monday last.