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WORCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

(From our own Correspondent.)

WORCESTER, Sept. 15, 1860.

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pants; Worcestershire being remarkably rich in county families and aristocratic residents. We missed, however, the presence of Earl Dudley, who, as Lord Ward, has made himself so well known a supporter of matters musical, and we should have thought would have made a point of attending, or if not, at least of sending a handsome donation, considering his large possessions in the county. We do not at present see his name amongst the donors to the charity, but hope we may yet hear of a cheque being forwarded from North Britain, where his lordship is at present enjoying himself in Grouseland.

With one exception (the chorus "Let us break their bonds," which opened unsteadily,) the execution of Messiah was irreproachable, and the effect such as it is impossible to obtain elsewhere. Mad. Clara Novello seemed determined to leave an impression on her hearers which should not easily be forgotten, and the emotion was manifest not only among the audience, but also in the orchestra, when she had finished her last air, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." We could not be surprised at this being re-demanded by the Dean; and although we have elsewhere expressed our opinion as to the propriety, or rather impropriety, of encores, knowing that this was the last time we should ever have an opportunity of hearing Mad. Novello, we felt that this was an exceptional case, and shared in the general satisfaction when the song was repeated. As an instance of the superior capabilities of a cathedral for sound, we may state that the most delicate note of the pianissimo shake with which the air concludes was distinctly heard at the furthest end of the building. Mr. Sims Reeves sang "Comfort ye," with all his accustomed pathos, and "Thou shalt break them," with almost more than his usual vigour and impassioned energy. Not less admirable was his delivery of the recitative air, "Behold and see." "How beautiful are the feet," fell to Mad. Weiss, who again sang with the care and skill of a true artist, while Mad. Sainton-Dolby, in the airs "He shall feed his flock," and "He was despised," as usual left nothing to be desired. Mr. Weiss and Signor Belletti divided the bass music-the Englishman taking the first, and the Italian the second part, and both singing their best. Of course Mr. T. Harper played the trumpet obbligato to "The trumpet shall sound." The entire audience remained standing during the choruses, "For unto us a child is born," "Lift up your heads," and the "Hallelujah," and it was a fair sight to see the multitude rising up as if by general assent. In no country but England can such a spectacle be witnessed. The collection on Friday amounted to £290 11s. 8d; the corresponding day at the last Festival realised £247 11s. 8d. Mr. Sims Reeves, we learn, gave ten guineas, and the total of the collections, including the sums obtained at the early services, amounted to £1124 18s. 4d. We understand that there are yet other donations to come in-Worcester, with commendable rivalry, being determined to exceed Gloucester in the sum gathered for the charity. In 1857, £999 11s. 7d. was the total of the four days' collection.

We were necessarily compelled to close our notice at the termination of the Thursday morning's performance. The concert the same evening, being the last, was attended by an audience which not only filled the hall to suffocation even standing room being unobtainable, – but overflowed into lobbies and staircase, and necessitated the refusal of upwards of 300 persons, who had unwisely deferred taking tickets until the last moment, and so had only themselves to thank for the disappointment. A selection from Vincent Wallace's Lurline, including the overture, the songs, "Flow on, O silver Rhine," by Miss Parepa; "Sweet Form," by Mr. Sims Reeves; the quartet, Through the world;" and chorus, "Sail, sail on the midnight gale;" inaugurated the first part. Mad. Novello's reading of "Robert toi que j'aime," although somewhat deficient in energy, was much applauded, as were also Mad. Sainton-Dolby and Mad. Rudersdorff-the first, in Handel's " Cangio d'aspetto; "the last, in Ferdinand Hiller's "Wanderer's night hymn," and "The Lark." Arnold's old song, "Flow, thou regal purple stream," originally sung in The Castle of Andalusia, was forcibly given by Mr. Weiss; and a fine performance by Mr. Blagrove of his own violin fantasia on Luisa Miller, brought the first part to a close. That the overture to William Tell should be received with enthusiasm and encored (the last movement being repeated), was not surprising; and, if we had occasion in the opening of our article to take exception to the local conductors generally, we must make the amende to Mr. Dove, whom we congratulate upon his direction in both the sacred and secular music. Mr Sims Reeves was encored in a new ballad, by Mr. Henry Oakeley (an amateur of the neighbourhood), to Lord Byron's "Farewell, if ever fondest prayer." Mozart's duet, “La dove prende," by Mr. and Mad. Weiss; the familiar "La biondina in gondoletta," executed by Mlle. Parepa; two national airs by Mad. Clara Novello, and a third upon a vociferous recall; Balfe's "Green trees," by Mad. Sainton-Dolby; "Il mio piano," by Signor Belletti; Mendelssohn's "O hills, O vales," with a bolero of Randegger, sung by Mad. Rudersdorff; and "God save the Queen," solos by Mlle. Parepa, brought the concert to an end at eleven o'clock. By some want of arrangement the windows, which on Tuesday night, with less than 600 persons, and a very cold north-east wind blowing, were kept open to the manifest discomfort of the audience, as already mentioned, were this time carefully closed; the external temperature being decidedly mild. The consequence was, that the densely crowded room was warm to an unpleasant degree, an evil admitting of a very simple remedy, to which it seemed nobody's business to attend. An improvement has been effected since the last meeting in the lighting of the orchestra-a semicircular line of gas jets throwing an ample flood of light on the music-desks. The weather, which up to this point had been magnificent, took a turn, and Friday morning broke with heavy clouds and a generally lowering look, foreboding rain, which soon came down in cold driving showers. Fortunately, before eleven o'clock the sun burst forth, and all looked bright again by the time that the stream of people and carriages had set in towards the Cathedral. Here, as elsewhere, the Messiah is sure to attract the largest attendance, and nearly 2500 persons were assembled in the Cathedral, an increase of 700 on the Festival of '57. As every reserved seat had been taken for some days, an additional space was made in the aisles, and several found seats in the choir, where the effect is, perhaps, finer than in any other part. From an early hour numbers of vehicles from the country poured the spring-cart and old-fashioned gig, evidently accustomed to do duty on ordinary market days, for the conveyance of the sturdy farmer and his thrifty wife, now carried the roseate daughters, dressed in their best, and bearing that glow of health in their faces which residence in fresh air and among green fields alone can give. Numbers too came in by trains from Gloucester and the neighbouring towns, and speedily made their way to the Cathedral, anxious to secure a good position as early as possible. Later in the morning came one unbroken line of elegant equipages, many of the unquestionable Long-Acre stamp, and showing by their emblazoned coats-of-arms the style and title of the occu

in;

A grand full-dress ball at the Guildhall brought the Festival to a brilliant termination. Dancing was kept up with unflagging spirit to the strains of Adams's band until four in the morning, and even then many evinced no desire to depart. The supper was on the most liberal scale, the comestibles of the highest order of excellence, and the champagne of undeniable quality. The stewards, however, should be reminded that their duty consists in something more than wearing a distinguishing mark in their button-hole, and taking all the best partners for themselves, as many strangers were present who had to remain as unwilling "wall-flowers" the whole of the evening. Before concluding our notice, special mention must be made of the excellent example set by the Dean-the Rev. Dr. Peel (brother of the late Sir Robert Peel)—who kept open house throughout the week. The duties of secretary are not merely confined to the actual week of the Festival, but extend over several months beforehand, and are not concluded until some time after the meeting is over, involving a correspondence of much extent, and an amount of labour and knowledge of details incredible to the uninitiated. To the Rev. Robert Sargeant, who has now fulfilled this arduous post for the last three meetings, all credit must be given for the admirable way in which he has acquitted himself; and to his pesevering activity the unprecedented success of the Festival is in great measure due.

THE ORGAN.*

TENTH STUDY. -ON QUALITY OF TONE (timbre) AND ITS THREE PRINCIPAL CAUSES. FIRST PRINCIPAL CAUSE,-SCALE.

Ir is undoubtedly the duty of every pipe in the organ to give the sound of some one note of the gamut with the greatest possible perfection; but this one note may be given with equal perfection in an almost infinite variety of qualities of tone, and in as many different shades of the same. This one note may remain the same, without varying in the slightest degree as regards the pitch, in a hundred different pipes, but its special quality of tone may be different in every one of them. To take an example in illustration of this matter, in the works of two piano-makers whose works are everywhere most justly celebrated, Erard and Pleyel; how striking is the difference between the pianos of one and the other! The latter aims at giving to his instruments all those qualities of tone which are tender, delicate, and refined, though nervous; and in this the quality of his instruments approaches, generally speaking, more nearly of the two to that of the German and English makers. The first, on the contrary, gives to his pianos, both grand and cottage, a brilliancy, a roundness, and an elasticity of tone, which accompanies all the modifications of their sound without causing it to lose its chief characteristic—namely, roundness; and, what is not a little remarkable, from father to son, from uncle to nephew, the respective qualities of the two makers are perpetuated in such a way that, as we still find in the pianos by Pleyel a reflection of that grace and elegance which may be met with in the still musical, though now perhaps somewhat antiquated ideas of a composer of the same name, so we may find in the pianos of Peter Erard the vigorous, brilliant, and flexible organisation of his great uncle Sebastian. With these two pianomakers the notes may be the same in each, the pitch may not vary; what is fa with one may be fa with the other, what is do, do; and yet, for all that, the do and fa of Pleyel are no more the do and fa of Erard, as regards quality of tone, than the do and fa of Erard are those of Pleyel. Any maker, any pianist, of even the most moderate experience in such matters, would detect at once the difference between the qualities of tone of both these makers. Quality of tone, then, may be described as this or that particular shade out of those unnumbered shades which it is possible to give to one and the same note. Thus, a note or pipe of an organ may have this or that shade of tone-it may be delicate or cutting, sweet or tender, and still be the same note in the scale. For example, the note do of the scale may be given in any of these different qualities of tone in as many different organ-pipes, and still be the note do; for, without any change at all in the note, quality of tone may vary infinitely, and quality of tone alone.

This quality of tone depends mostly on three things namely, on scale, form, and material. Scale is not that which is usually understood by this word, but is the greater or less distance from one another of the sides of the pipes; in other words, scale is the same thing as the diameter of the pipe. The Germans call it measure, mensur. From this it may be seen that the very same note may be expressed by pipes of different diameters. There are also a great many varieties of scale or measure; but they may be all reduced to three principal ones, to the full scale, the fine scale, and the mean scale. The arithmetic proportions between three pipes made to sound the same note, but each in a different scale, is thus given by Dom Bedos:-" Let us take," he says, "a pipe, the height of which is six inches: if it is made to the fine scale, its diameter should be six lines; if made to the mean scale, and an open pipe, its diameter should be nine lines; and if to the full scale, and an open pipe, it should be twelve lines; if a stopped pipe, and made to this last scale, its diameter should be by fourteen lines." This writer takes care to observe that these measures are not absolute, and allows to builders, as we should also do, considerable freedom in every case. He would also grant that, besides the fine scale, there is another, the very fine, and, in a word, that the scale of organ pipes varies according to their situation, the special duties they have to perform, and the effect they are intended to produce. Thus," he says, "the do of four feet,

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which is the third do of a series of pipes, the longest of which is sixteen feet, should not be more than three inches in diameter; but that, if this do of four feet is intended to be itself the first of a series of pipes, and therefore the largest of them, then its diameter should be increased to three inches and a half." In fact, the comparative shrillness in the tone of the pipes of this series must be compensated for by the vigour of their sounds. Now the more the scale enlarges the size of a pipe, the greater does the vibrating column of air become which is gathered within its walls; the more the scale is narrowed, so much the more also is the sound resulting from it diminished, so much the more refined does it become in the quality of its tone.

Pipes of the full scale, which absorb a great quantity of wind, are suited to the largest organs only, to sound-boards only of the largest dimensions. These sounds ought to be at the very greatest degree of roundness and force." The very fine scale, on the contrary, is a luxury in the way of sound that a bare sufficiency of means alone does not admit of. It is that sort of quality which represents the delicate and rather meagre sounds of the viol, and which gives point to certain foundation open pipes, which are indispensable to the general body of organ tone in its more perfect state. Pipes of this quality of tone are, in matter of fact, put upon all the clarions in greater or less quantity, and with good reason, because of the effect of this kind of pipes, which is sweet, though penetrating, and very useful as an accompaniment to the voice.

Pipes of mean scale have generally more sweetness than delicacy as compared with the others, though they are not deficient either in a certain amount of brightness. Like everything else of a mixed characte, they do not at all times take after the stock from which they first drew their origin. Thus deprived, as they are, of the strength and mellowness of pipes of the full scale, they partake of the infirmities of the fine scale, without possessing, at the same time, the delicacy, the refined and pleasing quality of tone, which is its distinguishing characteristic. In a large organ they are placed on the choir sound-board, or, when their number is very considerable, on some subordinate sound-board, for it is usual to place some series of them on each of the key-boards. Regard, however, must at all times be had to the place for which the organ is being built. In a small church, where a large number of pipes of full scale would be simply deafening, it would be found very useful to combine with a sufficient number of those, pipes of the mean, and even the fine scale; but within the walls of a vast cathedral, all the efforts of pipes, more especially of this last scale, would be utterly abortive and without effect. Pipes of both the mean and fine scale do certainly occupy a most necessary place in organ building, but they should not prevail in it to such a degree as is too often found to be the case in those sham organ schemes to which poor congregations, and other good but simple persons, are asked to put their names by dishonourable organ-builders.

Writers on this subject do not find it difficult to give some notions of comparison between scale and scale as long as the question is only about open flue pipes, because these pipes are for the most part made in the form of a cylinder, the apex of which is the same size in diameter as the base. But the pipes of reed-stops being conical in shape and wider above than below, their diameter and their length depend on one another, and it is not therefore easy to establish so exactly in their case an arithmetic proportion between one scale and the other. Nevertheless, Dom Bedos gives some measures by which the lengths of reed-pipes as compared with their diameters may be approximately determined, and these are the measures commonly in use amongst builders. Following him, then, they speak of a trumpet of 6 inches, of 5, or of 4 inches for the three scales of the trumpets, which corresponds in its notes with the do of eight feet in the open flue pipes. Dom Bedos himself gives three different measures for the scale of the trumpet, and says that the first measure or full scale should be five inches and nine lines; the second, or mean scale, should be four inches and nine lines; and the third, or fine scale, should be four inches and two lines.* This is a matter which it is impor

*It will, of course, be borne in mind that the French inches are * From L'Orgue, sa Connaissance, son Administration, et son Jeu, by rather longer than the English, and that the ligne is rather less than Joseph Regnier. the English 16th. N. Tr.

tant to study, and the comparison is one that should often be made, with the compass in the eye, if not in the hand, for the diameters and speaking lengths of the pipes for reed-stops are some of those many things on which dishonourable builders speculate with cruel impunity, making use of far too many pipes of fine and mean scale where they should place pipes of full scale, and this even in large churches, and without any regard to what may be the importance of the instrument which they are employed to build.

As regards organs for accompaniment only, commonly called choir organs, and, indeed, as regards great organs for small churches, this class of builders always find an excuse for their avarice in the smallness of the locality and the position of the organ; and hence, if possible, we intend to give a graduated table of the scale of one note as compared with another for each scale of the three kinds, and for every note of the key-board. By this means, on inspecting an organ, the eye, however little practised, will detect at once the scale which the builder has chosen as his starting point, and the greater or less exactness with which, in the same series of pipes, he has observed the proportions of one note to another throughout this scale so chosen. I say the proportions, and not the progression, for a strict logical progression would be the cause of such magnitude in the largest pipes made to the full scale, that it would not be possible either to find a place for them, or if such a place could be found, to supply them with a sufficient quantity of wind. But still there are proportions for the lowest bass pipes of the full scale, which are not the proportions for the corresponding pipes of the mean scale; as there is also a means by which the size of the lowest bass pipes of the mean scale may be distinguished from that of the lowest bass pipes of the fine scale. Where these proportions are not attended to, there is not only the difference between what the diameters really are, and what they ought to be, but there is also the very great difference between the quality of the sound in such pipes from what it really ought to be; a difference which amidst the general body of full-organ tone may possibly escape the notice of the ordinary unpractical hearer, but cannot escape that of either the inspector of the organ-if he knows his business-or of the builder himself, who cannot be supposed to be ignorant of such matters, or of the professed musician.

Supposing for a moment that there was no difference in the quality of the sounds produced by pipes of different scales, the builder would no doubt do most wisely in choosing for his standard the smallest scale of the three, as being for him the least expensive; but when he does so, well knowing that there is this difference, then he takes you in. Not only does he do so by taking metal from your pipes and money from your purse, but also by taking the soul out of your organ, in depriving it of all its most pure qualities of tone, and leaving it with such qualities only as are for the most part dull and veiled in the open flue pipes, thin and cutting and without body in the reed pipes. Or, if your organ has not all these defects, it still has one which is no less intolerable than these, and that is, that it is not the organ as at first contracted for between the purchaser and the builder, an organ that is of such and such a scale in all its parts, and consequently of such and such a quality of tone. When we consider, and we know it to be the fact, that a reed-pipe will speak just passably at three-fourths of that length which is necessary for it in order that it may produce its better tones, we shall more easily understand what the injustice is which is committed by a fraudulent builder, who thus murderously cuts off the heads of his pipes. To such an one of course the more perfect quality of tone in his pipes is as nothing, so long as he can reckon with any amount of certainty, either on the profit he is about to make out of you upon his instrument, or on the fact that it will be placed in a church where there is no lack of resonance, or, more than all, on the ignorance of those who are to hear it.

A few words only remain to be said on the relations between the scale and the length of the speaking part of the pipe. As a general rule, this latter may be diminished in proportion as the former is increased, and, vice versa, the length of the pipe may be increased if its diameter is very considerably diminished. Thus an open flue pipe of fine scale sounding the eight-feet do, ought certainly to be more than eight feet long, because the amount of

air necessary for the production of this note will be very considerably diminished by the narrowness of the diameter of the pipe. But this increase in the length of a pipe is only found to be necessary in the very fine scale, when it is used as a starting point; in the fine and mean scales the pipe of eight feet is cut to the same length as the pipe which produces the same note in the full scale; and the reason of this is, that these three scales, fine, mean, and full, are calculated upon a sufficient quantity of vibrating air; with this only difference, that the fuller the scale of a pipe, the fuller also will be the tone produced by it. For it is clear that the full scale causing the air to vibrate in a greater space, and being provided with a vibrating apparatus in proportion to the size of this space, will produce much more powerful sounds than the other two.

To conclude: after having made these observations on the differences between the three chief scales, it would remain for us to consider the quality of tone in pipes which, owing to the directions taken by their sides, unite to themselves the characteristics now of one now of another scale, as is the case with some flue pipes, and the bodies of those trumpet pipes, which begin with being of fine scale, enlarge themselves gradually into full scale, and end oft with being no larger than the very fine scale. But this is less a question of diameter than of form, and as such it is more fitted to become the subject for another chapter.

THE LONDON CONCERT SEASON.* WITH the close of the operatic season came also the termination of the concert-giving period in London, or, to speak more correctly and generally, the period when the aristocratic and more especially art-loving world is in town.

Most of the concerts given by the various musical associations, as well as the morning and evening concerts of individual artists, took place between the 1st May and the 1st August. It is almost incredible what a number of musical entertainments there have been in the course of these three months, and what patronage what love of for without patronage there is nothing to be done. the art, and also what fashion and bon ton are brought into play to procure a full attendance for each concert. Filling a concertroom here is a very different thing to what it is in Paris, where two-thirds of the audience enter with free admissions, and the real profit of the concert-giver is next to nothing. In London there is a large subscription list for all the oratorios and orchestral while the artists who lend their assistance, and likewise those who, concerts, as well as for the Associations for chamber-music, relying upon their reputation and the distinguished patronage they enjoy, give concerts of their own, find it worth their while to do so a state of things long since passed away in Paris. Like everything else in London, the orchestral and vocal as

sociations are colossal and innumerable.

After naming the Sacred Harmonic, the Musical Society of London, the Amateur Musical, the Philharmonic, and the New Phiharmonic Societies, the Vocal Association, the Tonic Sol-Fa Association, Leslie's Choir, the Society of British Musicians, the Concerts, the Monday Popular Concerts, the London Glee and London Orchestral Association, the Bach Society, Hullah's Madrigal Society, the English Glee and Madrigal Union, the Choral Society, the Arion, Robinson's Choir, the Musical Union, Wilby's Quartet Union, and Dando's Quartet Concerts, I have by no means exhausted the entire list. As we see, Paris, despite all its vapouring about art, is nothing in comparison. In that city while the two or three orchestral associations to be found in associations for oratorios and choral works are out of the question, addition to the Concert-Society of the Conservatory, drag on their existence with difficulty.

The Monday Popular Concerts, a new institution, have been fortunate enough to secure the continuous favour of the public, and that, too, from the beginning of November to the beginning of July. And what do we hear at them? Waltzes by Strauss, polkas by Wallerstein, and selections from operas? Not a bit of

From the Niederrheinische Musik-Zeitung.

it, but, instead of this, sterling chamber music, especially for the stringed quartet, although there is no deficiency of pianoforte and vocal music. I will give you a few samples from the programmes; such, for instance, are a quintet by Boccherini, sonata for two violoncellos by the same (played by Piatti and Schröder), quartet, in D minor, by Cherubini (played in conjunction with Messrs. Reis, Blagrove, and Piatti, by Herr Becker, from Mannheim, who has always met with extraordinary success wherever he has appeared); Clementi's pianoforte sonata in C, Op. 34, and three pieces by Scarlatti (Miss Arabella Goddard). In addition, we had vocal compositions by Paesiello, Jomelli, Salvator Rosa (whose landscapes, however, I admire more than his musical compositions), Salieri, and Mozart.

The concert of the 24th June was devoted entirely to Mozart. It began with the quintet in A, for clarionet and stringed instruments. Miss Goddard and Herr Becker then played the sonata in F (with the variations), for pianoforte and violin, the lady playing also the solo sonata in B flat. As a wind-up, we had a most admirable performance of the violin-quartet in G. Mad. de Paez (a German lady) made her first appearance at these concerts as a vocalist, in the airs "Parto" from Titus, and "Voi che sapete" from Figaro. A German bass, Herr Hermanns, sang two of Osman's songs from Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He created a sensation, and was obliged to repeat the last air. Sims Reeves sang Don Ottavio's "Della sua pace," in his usual artistic and highly finished manner.

The previous concert was dedicated to Beethoven, and the following, and last, "to all the great masters," as the bills expressed it. This concert was the twenty-seventh since November, and took place on the 2nd July. St. James's Hall, large as it is, could scarcely contain those who flocked to obtain admission. The lowest number of persons present at one of these concerts was 1500, and the highest 2500. On the occasion in question about 1600 persons paid their shilling each to the cheapest places, while the other part of the hall and the three-shilling galleries were filled by subscribers. And what was the music such numbers flocked to hear? Subjoined is the programme:

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Spohr

F. Schubert Scarlatti Beethoven Bach

Mendelssohn Meyerbeer Handel

Haydn

Rossini

Mozart

Is it not something astonishing that such chamber music as this should attract thousands of persons to seven-and-twenty concerts during a period of eight months?

The quartet performers were Sainton, Goffrie, Doyle, and Piatti. Herr Hallé was the pianist in the first, and Miss Goddard in the second part. To hear them both in Mozart's double sonata by far the greater portion of the audience remained to the end; indeed, as a general rule, the rudeness of leaving the hall before or during the last piece is far less usual at these concerts than at those exclusively patronised by the aristocratic world.

The projectors and directors of these concerts, the popularity of which increased wonderfully in the second season just terminated, are the Messrs. Chappell; and they have made a very good thing of them. These gentlemen have avoided all interested praise of the artists engaged, and most particularly eschewed anything approaching boastfulness or humbug; a plan which is all the more praiseworthy because it is so rare here.

The regular concerts at the Crystal Palace are still under the direction of Herr Manns. In addition to these, several monster concerts have been given in the immense building. Such, for instance, was a performance of Elijah, on the 4th of May, by 2500 persons; a concert of the Vocal Association, with 1000 voices, &c. That nothing is gained for art by performances on so

gigantic a scale even artists here concur in thinking; but speculation and trade find their profit in them.

I am sure you will spare me the task of giving you a list of the hundred and odd artists who have given concerts at their own risk. These persons are, with very few exceptions, all musicians and vocalists, male and female, who reside and teach in London. Non-resident professionals play, as a rule, only at the concerts of the musical societies and associations for chamber music. It is still impossible for any operatic speculation to succeed side by side with the two Italian operas. An English opera was started at Drury Lane, but lasted only a week; a French company at the Lyceum stood its ground somewhat longer, thanks to Offenbach's operettas, but, like its English predecessor, could not establish itself on a firm basis.

We have here facts which are scarcely comprehensible opposed to each other. 2500 persons listen applaudingly to quartets and pianoforte pieces by Scarlatti, Bach, and Handel, and do not expend a shilling for English, French, or German opera. Such contrasts can be found only in England.

MUSIC AND THEATRES IN PARIS. (From our own Correspondent.)

Sept. 20, 1860.

THE spirit of musical and theatrical activity last week has left us languid again. I have nothing more important to inform you of than the production of the Trouvère (Trovatore) at the Grand Opera, with M. Michot for the first time in the part of Manrique, and Mlle. Barbara Marchisio in that of Azucena, also for the first time. Both debuts were successful, but especially the latter. The fine contralto voice of Mlle. Barbara, and her power of expressing deep emotion, brought out the characteristics of the gipsy mother with great force. M. Michot was much applauded in such passages as demand feeling and tenderness, but in the more vigorous portions he was not quite up to the mark. The Opera Comique gave last Monday a réprésentation extraordinaire for the benefit of the Christians in Syria. The bill was of the most miscellaneous composition, commencing with the Chaises à porteurs, followed by L'Etoile du Nord (first act), Ma Tante Dort (transplanted from the Théâtre Lyrique), the second act of Fra Diavolo, a scena and duo from Chateau Trompette, and three pieces from the Pardon. A new opera in three acts is about to be put into rehearsal at this house. The music is by M. Victor Massé, and the book by M. Dumanoir, who gives to his work the title of Le Lutrin. At the Théâtre Français, Mlle. Marie Royer, a recent acquisition from the Conservatoire, has been trying her strength in Mlle. de Belle-Isle, and has won very favourable opinions from the critics. At the same time another pupil from the Conservatoire has been making a brilliant debut at the Odéon in the part of Camille in Horace. There is, therefore, some chance that the vacant niches of Melpomene and Thalia may once more be filled up in the National Theatre. The new comedy by M. Octave Feuillet (author of Le Roman d'un Jeune Homme Pauvre), which has been so much talked of, and is entitled Redemption, is in active rehearsal at the Vaudeville. The principal parts will be played by MM. Brindeau, Felix, Ribes, and Mlle. Fargaiol. The Porte St. Martin Theatre had been known to be labouring for some time past with a new edition of the celebrated fairy-spectacle Pied de Monton, and it has at last burst upon the world in the full splendour of new scenery, dresses, and decorations, and bespangled with fresh jokes by M. Hector Cremieux. I have not yet seen it, but it is said to be drawing nightly crowds.

The patriarch of song, Rossini, has been giving a series of musical soirées at his villa in Passy, and among the artists who have had the honour of exhibiting their savoir faire before the venerable maestro, were the sisters Marchisio. It was their second appearance in a private arena since their debut in the salons of Mad. Orfila, and was no less brilliantly successful than the first. They sang the duo in Semiramis, and also that in Mathilda di Shabran, in which they never fail to produce the most captivating effect by the admirable blending of their fine voices, and the brilliancy and perfection of their execution. On the same evening M. de Braga, the violoncellist, gave a touch of his quality

by playing, with a very pure tone and exquisite expression, a melody composed by the maestro expressly for him, and called Une larme. M. Rubinstein the younger also displayed his powers on the piano. He appears to aim exclusively at brilliancy, rapidity, and feats of execution. M. Huerta, the guitarist, whom every one supposed to be dead, has appeared in the flesh at these soirées, as also have Ronconi, M. Castellani the buffo, M. and Mad. Tiberini, Mad. Borghi-Mamo, and M. Delle Sedie, an accomplished baritone, whom the Victoria Theatre at Berlin has just carried off from the Scala at Milan. Apropos of the "swan of Pesaro," it is said that he has been very angry with the author of the programme of the festival-concert given at Boulogne the other day under the direction of M. Venoitte, in which one of the items (No. 10 in the 2nd part) was "Un air classique par Rossini." This excited the wrath of the maestro, who, it must be here related, that the sequel may be understood, has been lately presented with a copy of his ancestral coat of arms, as recently discovered, engraved on a bell in the church of Cotignola. They were engraved on a seal, and accompanied by a pedigree drawn up by M. Luigi Cosmo Ferrucci, the learned librarian of Florence. The crest consists of a branch of a rose tree, on which is perched a nightingale, surmounted by three stars and a wreath of "palms." Alluding to this proof of the antiquity of his family, the maestro is said to have expressed his dissatisfaction with the Boulogne programme in these terms: -"Va pour le rossignol, les trois étoiles et les palmes de l'immortalité; je consens à les léguer à la postérité; mais je me refuse, et me refuserai de mon vivant comme outre tombe, au titre de classique et à tous les honneurs y attachés." ("The nightingale, the three stars, and the palms of immortality are all very well; I consent to bequeath them to posterity; but I refuse, and always shall refuse while I am alive and from beyond the grave, the title of a classic, together with all the honours thereunto belonging.")

I have already informed you how the company of the forthcoming Italian Opera here is composed. The opening night is fixed for the 2nd of October, and the first opera produced will be La Sonnambula, with Mlle. Batta and Signor Gardoni in the principal parts. The next opera will be Flotow's Marta, in which Mario, Graziani, and Mlle. Édenska, the new contralto, will sing. I hear from Milan that M. Bottesini's opera, Il Assedio di Firenza, has at length been produced there, but did not meet with a very enthusiastic reception. The composer was applauded, but not called for at the end of the performance. The blame is kindly laid by my informant on the feebleness of the execution. Another young composer, M. Cagnori, author of the famous Don Bucefalo, has had a new opera performed at the Scala with great success. It is entitled Il Vecchio della Montagna. Mad. Carvalho has made her first appearance at Berlin in Il Barbiere, and she has made such an impression on the German critics that they proclaim her the Jenny Lind of France. It is a proof with how little disturb ance of the ordinary course of things the Neapolitan revolution has been effected, that in the midst of the Liberator's triumph and the king's flight, a new opera has been produced by Signor Petrella. It is called Il folletto di Gresy, and met with the most brilliant success, the composer being called before the curtain, I am told, at least twenty times.

I generally favour you with the matrimonial rumours that cross my path connected with the artistic world, because I know that, whether true or false, they always cause a little flutter of agreeable excitement among your lady readers. Here is one which has all the requisite ingredients of interest, more especially its uncertainty:-Mlle. Louise de la Rochefoucault, daughter of Count Wilfrid de la Rochefoucault, granddaughter of the Duke de la Rochefoucault, some time ambassador at the Court of Prussia, will exchange the illustrious name of her ancestors for the somewhat less distinguished patronymic of M. Henri Litolff.

From Brussels, I hear that the opening of the new theatre, styled "Du Parc," has taken place, and was honoured by the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Brabant. The alterations in the body of the theatre are said to be a great improvement, and the decorations are very tasteful. The first opera which will be got up this season at the Royal Theatre is Herculanum, by Felicien David. It will be followed by a grand opera, the music of which is composed by M. Hanssens, the director of the orchestra.

now.

A Brussels paper announces the curious fact that Mr. Lumley has obtained the management of the national theatre, the Cirque, of that capital, and that he is about to open it with a company of Italian singers, wherein will be found more than one name of distinction. If this be true, and there is no particular reason to doubt it, we have another proof of the indefatigable spirit of the celebrated impresario, and if ever energy against adverse fortune deserved the favour of the gods, they should smile on him The salons of Erard have been the scene of a grand congress, or rather, the preliminary meetings for one, the object of which is the restoration of plain song and church music. An article in a class paper, called La Maitrise, under the title of L'Idée Mère du Congrès, has appeared, explaining fully the intentions of the association, which has received the patronage of the chief ecclesiastical dignitaries of the country. The first regular meeting of the congress will be held at the end of November in the premises of the Société d'Encouragement pour les Beaux Arts et l'Industrie; and the editors of the above-mentioned journal have presented the association with a series of medals in gold, silver, and bronze, to be distributed as prizes for the best missa brevis, the best compositions for the voice and organ applicable to the celebration of divine service, of a simple and severe style, and easy of execution. A grand competition of Orpheonists, organised by the instrumental and choral societies of the department of the Seine, is announced to take place next Sunday at Livry-Sévigné. The competition will be preceded by a solemn mass, which will be sung by one of the choral societies of the upper division.

An interesting discovery has just been made in the royal library of Munich, consisting of an autograph piece by Mozart, not hitherto known to exist, and of which there is no mention in any list of his compositions. It is an Italian air for a soprano to words commencing Fra cento affanni e cento. From the inscription it bears, this air would appear to have been written by Mozart while at Milan, in the year 1770, when he was only fourteen years of age, and while his fourth dramatic composition, Mitridate re di Ponto, was being played with striking success.

The Paris correspondent of a Belgian paper relates how a considerable stir is being made in diplomatic circles here, in order to have another posthumous work of the Russian composer Bortniansky performed. The Prince W———— is said to be at the head of this movement, and in order to popularise the music of this composer he is about to organise a number of concerts; to which end he has sent for a Russian choral society composed of artists whose execution is said to be unrivalled throughout the world. The Greek Church allows no musical instrument to be used in its religious services, and the choristers are therefore accustomed to execute pieces without accompaniment. It is only in Russian churches that the contra basso voice, less rare in Russia than elsewhere, is employed, the compass of which extends to the lower A, two notes below the c à vide of the violoncello. The effect of these voices singing an octave below the basses is beyond conception. They are, in fact, human double basses. In the choral troop brought to Paris by Prince W. are several of these contra bassi, among whom one in particular, M. Ivan Norrowine, enjoys a high reputation, and is destined, it is said, to make quite a sensation. The opera of Bortniansky, which it is sought to get performed in Paris, was found, it is said, among his papers. The libretto is by the celebrated Russian poet, Ponschkin. Several unaccompanied choruses occur in this opera, and these are the choruses which will be performed at the concert in question. Bortniansky occupied the post of chapel-master to the Emperor of Russia from 1782 to 1826, when he died. His music is chiefly dependent for its effect on the employment of choral masses, with all the resources of which he was thoroughly acquainted.

In your record of the movements of the nomad tribe of musical artists, note that Joseph Wieniawski has returned to Paris from Hamburg and elsewhere.

In your obituary, since the bills of mortality in art know of no geographical limit, set down that Jean Louis Heiberg, the "creator of the Danish vaudeville," whatever that may be, has himself lapsed from the number of living created beings. At Copenhagen his eyes first saw the light, and in Iceland the curtain of death was drawn over them. In the interval he had studied

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