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so near and yet so far." Reichardt's popular song transcribed for the Harp by C. Oberthür, is just published, price 3s., by Duncan Davison & Co., 244 Regent Street, W.

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"I love you" (Sung by Sims Reeves) "Fresh as a Rose" (Ditto) "If I could change as others change" (Sung by Laura Baxter) "I'm not in love, remember" (Sung by Miss Parepa) "Oh! take me to thy heart again" (Sung by Miss Poole) Published by Duncan Davison & Co., 244 Regent Street, W.; where "I love you' may be obtained, transcribed for the Pianofore by Emile Berger, price 3s.

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AULD LANG SYNE," varied for the Pianoforte by

gent Street, W.

ALBERT DAWES, price 5s., is published by Duncan Davison & Co., 244 Re"This is a series of nine variations on the above popular air, and possesses a beauty seldom found in this class of music, namely, that the air is heard in all the variations. It is a good piece for practice, and not too difficult for the generality of players. We heartily recommend it to our musical friends, to many of whom Mr. Dawes is already favourably known as a composer."-Hastings and St. Leonard's News.

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DAWES'S MOST POPULAR COM

POSITIONS, "Auld Lang Syne" (with variations) "Hastings Waltzes"

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"Anacreontic Quadrille" (on popular Glees) "Hastings Polka". "Southdown Polka"

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posed by ALEXANDER REICHARDT, price 2s. 6d. Duncan Davison & Co., 244 Regent Street, W.

The day, pretty darling, draws.near to its close,
Come, cease from your play, on your pillow repose,
You peep from the cradle still laughing and bright,
Kind angels for ever preserve you, good night.
With freedom from sorrow, dear child, you are blest,
To you a pure heaven is your fond mother's breast;
Wild passion some day will your happiness blight,
Kind angels preserve you, my darling, good night.
Ah! happy is he who can slumber like you,'
Be ever, dear child, to your innocence true,
The righteous are watched by the spirits of light,

Who guard them while sleeping, my darling, good night.

"Few songs of modern days have achieved a more decided or better merited success than Herr Reichardt's charming lied, "Thou art so near and yet so far," which has for the last two years been the delight of all concert-goers and drawing-room vocalists of more than ordinary pretensions. Messrs. Duncan Davison and Co. have just published a new composition, from the same original and elegant pen, entitled "Good Night" (a cradle song). The words are exquisitely simple and unaffected, being the address of a mother to her sleeping babe; and it is but justice to Herr Reichardt to say that he has wedded an exquisite domestic poem to a most graceful, unaffected melody, which breathes the very spirit of maternal tenderness. The song, which is written for a tenor voice-the composer being, as our readers know, one of the first of living German vocalists-is in the key of F major; and to amateurs of taste we can cordially recom. mend "The Cradle Song" as a composition worthy of their attention."-Liverpool

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BACH AND MENDELSSOHN.*

FROM A SOCIAL POINT OF VIEW.

He who would praise Mendelssohn as he merits, must not forget how many thousands have been attracted to the study of Handel and Bach, through him, and how, with his works, he opened out, for the whole nation, a new appreciation of these men, whose immortal fame will always be ours, yet whom we seemed for a time to have forgotten. Many, even, who cared to hear little else save Parisian and Italian music, have had new pleasure in German musical art awakened in them by Mendelssohn. Here we may plainly see how much more effectual is artistic creation, than all the preaching and theorising in the world. Zealous critics had long thought to direct attention, with words, to the sublime models Bach and Handel offered us;

but as soon as Mendelssohn set his exhortation to notes-or in notes-it succeeded at one blow.

Mendelssohn never betrayed his nationality; how few German masters there are, who can be placed side by side with him in this! Many write in an un-German spirit, and know not what they do. For of all arts, music is the oftenest pursued without thought, while poetry, painting and sculpture allow the changeful conditions of national life to flow in upon them, the majority of composers create according to chance, or, at best, as a happy instinct guides them.

This is the principal reason why music, that otherwise might become so extraordinary a power, rarely works practically upon the spiritual life of the nation. Mendelssohn chose, consciously, the stand-point of national effectuality. There are some musicians who can forgive him all but this!

With such a view of the case, it seems a rare accident of destiny-if not something more-that Mendelssohn did not produce an opera. Formerly, an opera might have been carelessly enough composed, and, for all that, it might succeed famously; but the case is altered now. Half a musical generation asked a deep, artistic completion for the opera; and Mendelssohn, the very man of men for this, the only man, perhaps, who could have entirely forced German opera from its incompletion-must die, when the first act of his opera was yet scarcely finished.

That restorative tendency, by means of which German historical paintings has lately gained such triumphs, naturalised itself with music, in Mendelssohn; indeed, it is a characteristic sign of the musical present. As Overbech, Veit, and Steinle painted the sacred histories, of which people did not want to hear anything more, in the serious old style, so Mendelssohn wrote his oratorios and church compositions; but he did not stand still at the ecclesiastical, though he clung as obstinately as the painters to the antiquated; and his circle of view become wide as the world itself, his works more full of life, and more in accordance with the spirit of our own age, although he did not always succeed in making himself fully master of his powers. When a good historic school is founded in our music-and we may safely predict that the near future will see it-Mendelssohn will be named the precursor of that school. We would have the young generation swear at the Master's grave, not to forget that this is the great heritage he has left to us: and to see to it, that to such an inheritance an heir is raised up.

Mendelssohn's position in the history of music, may be compared with that which the Caracci occupy in the history of Italian painting. They also purified degenerate art, and returned to the study of the old classic masters, while, sustained by theoretic knowledge-like Mendelssohn they created thoughtfully conceived works. Their aim has been styled an eclectic one. The same may be truly said of Mendelssohn, who with studied consciousness united in one whole the prominent characteristic of earlier schools; a union, which is new in its combination, if not in its parts. It betokens a season of decay, when artists feel themselves obliged to look backward, in order to gather inspiration for new creations, from the study of more fortunate predecessors. this also the case in the history of music? Does not the overabundance of merely technical effects, the abuse of form, look desperately like the degenerate time of historie painting? the Caracci

*(From Riehl's Musikalische Charakterköpfe.)

Is

were not able to dam the in-breaking flood of destruction; will the Mendelssohnian school permanently succeed?

When Mendelssohn placed Handel, Bach, and Beethoven, as great changes, not only into production, but even into the current foundation posts of all further progress in modern music, he brought traditional aspect of things. The masters who were looked upon at that time, as peculiarly classic, namely Mozart and Haydn, have delssohn. His entire direction is, in fact, an indirect polemic been-and especially the last named-practically ignored by Menagainst theirs. This is easy to understand; for that very degeneration in modern music, against which Mendelssohn fought so manfully, is rooted, partly in a misunderstanding of Beethoven, and partly in the spiritless superficiality, which may be traced back, in Haydn. It is plain that such music, running into the sand of the a direct line, to the stupidly mechanical imitators of Mozart and driest triviality, must have been a peculiar horror to a man like Mendelssohn; and when the silly tone-play decorated itself with the spangles of German and French new-romanticism, it was difficult to subdue-for the Philister is immortal. But Mendelssohn tone-school in Handel, Bach, and Beethoven. was a re-action in himself; he caused us to forget the Viennese And we must acknowledge, besides, that, in spite of his classic spirit, he knew better how to set off the clear, delicately sensuous geniality of Haydn and Mozart, than all young Germany and the new romanticists together. (To be continued).

OTTO JAHN'S "MOZART."

(From the Morning Post.)

MOZART! Such is the brief and compendious title of Mr. Otto Jahn's very long, elaborate, and scrupulously careful work, the fourth and last volume of which is just out; the first having appeared in 1856, more than four years ago. Mr. Jahn was obviously in no hurry to complete his labours, but he has proceeded surely as well as slowly; and so vast is the amount of facts accumulated, so valuable the information acquired, that those who have the courage to read the production from end to Of Mozart the end will doubtless be more than satisfied. composer-a being whom all civilised creatures know, or think they know-there remained, perhaps, but little to tell; but about Mozart the man it appears that a good deal was left for Mr. Jahn to communicate, and he has told it with a disregard to brevity and concentration quite astonishing even in a German writer. Such a book, the first volume of which is alone longer than Johnson's "Lives of the British Poets," should have been published in the age of the patriarchs; for the present exceedingly curtailed duration of human life it is far too long. Methuselah might possibly have found it light reading.

Our objection, however, applies only to Mr. Jahn's method of treating his subject; to his extreme prolixity and verbosity; his unhappy fondness for dwelling upon merely subordinate matters and trifling events, which throw no new light upon the character or genius of his hero, and are therefore of no use to the world; and must not be understood to call in question the importance of the subject itself-to involve any insinuation that Mozart did not deserve the greatest possible amount of attention which enlightened criticism can bestow; for we consider him to have been one of the greatest men that ever lived; and as there is even now a tendency to believe that music is a peculiar faculty, and that a composer may be superlative in his own particular art without possessing generally any intellectual supremacy-an opinion supported by certain literary men who influence the public mind, but which we reject as utterly false and ridiculous-it may, perhaps, be permitted us to observe that when we trace in a musical composition the operation of precisely the same principles which would constitute the greatness of a first-class poem, or any other noble work of art, we cannot help recognising the same grand qualities of intellect applied to different objects; and if further comparisons be needed, we can add that when we have to note the absence of these great qualities in a small literary work, we naturally conclude that it is decidedly inferior as an intellectual production to the musical composition which does possess them; and thus, for example,

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we find Mozart's Jupiter symphony very much more intellectual than the Godolphin of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who says, become very stupid people often very musical; it is a sort of pretension to intellect that suits their capacities. Plutarch says somewhere that the best musical instruments are made from the jaw-bones of asses. Plutarch never made a more sensible observation." And we also consider Handel's "Messiah" to be a very much greater illustration of human genius than the "Biography of the Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli," in which music is again treated with contempt, or even the "Coningsby" of this anonymous author's hero. The fact is, that such littérateurs are not in a condition to feel or understand great intellectual achievements of any kind, simply because the smaller cannot contain the greater. If they could comprehend the principles upon which noble works are wrought, they would necessarily recognise them in whatever form they might appear, and write much better than they do, or not at all.

Beside the musical composition, which exhibits with soulsearching power the sublime and beautiful of human feeling, the loftiest and purest ideality, expressed by such scientific means as can only be acquired through the exercise of reason in its highest state of development, surely the modern novel-the mere minute copy of manners, and sometimes very silly manners--or the "brilliant fantasia" upon history, in which the description of dresses, scenery, or social customs constitutes the chief attraction, dwindles into hopeless insignificance, just as it would before the Iliad, the Laocoon, or the Last Judgment.

We can thus easily understand and sympathise with the enthusiasm that led Mr. Jahn to write so long a book, and can likewise applaud him for leaving nothing untold with respect to the private career of his immortal hero. Some think that it lessens our admiration for a creative artist-for the poet "hidden in the light of thought"-to see him brought before the world" in his habits as he lived;" to be made acquainted with what he said, and wrote, and did, and suffered as a private citizen. In certain instances it may do so; but we are nevertheless of opinion that the humanity which would throw a veil over the errors of genius is at best but an amiable weakness, and the fastidiousness that would exclude the knowledge of what are termed "every day occurrences" (how poetical are many of them!) for fear of disturbing some aesthetical impression, is a refinement of selfishness, and an unwholesome squeamishness worthy only the Sybarites of sentiment. Even where revelations of the private life of genius afford more pain than pleasure, it is of the utmost importance that the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, should be spoken, that the heart of the divinely-gifted should be laid palpitating before the world, that the secret springs of thought and action should be unveiled, the causes and influences which can act upon immortal mind be noted and remembered. But where, as in the case of that beautiful, bright, and loving spirit, Mozart, there is no vice to describe that is not covered by a hundred virtues, no tares to be detected that are not inextricably entangled with the wholesome wheat, it were difficult indeed to find even the shadow of a reason why any one thing relating to him should be kept from the public.

This copious, conscientious, and excellent biography of Mozart, who combined in his own works the greatest qualities of all previously existing schools, and looked far into the future; who, commingled the sensuous beauty of Italian melody, the deep expression of German harmony, and the dramatic truth of the socalled French manner; of him who rendered the rigid contrapuntal science of the ancient masters completely subservient to the purposes of poetical thought and emotion; who could sing as spontaneously and sweetly in fugue or canon as in the simplest composition; who, in short, carried musical art to the highest perfection, and is the "model master," if ever there was one-this carefully written record of all that Mozart did and suffered-this elaborate philosophical disquisition upon his merits, both as a man and as an artist, is certainly not to be disposed of satisfactorily in one brief notice. Mr. Otto Jahn was more than four years writing the work, and a few days must be conceded us for reviewing it. Meanwhile we recommend the biography strongly to the attention of the musical public.

VIENNA.

(From our own Correspondent.)

THE musical event of the week has been the per ormance of Ernani at the Kärntnerthor Theatre. Mad. Csillag most eminently distinguished herself as the heroine of the evening, and by her energetic singing and acting achieved a great success. Herr Wachtel sang the tenor part admirably. An opera by Rubenstein, the pianist, is in active rehearsal, and will probably be produced early next month. It is spoken of by the friends of the composer as a work of merit, and great hopes are entertained of its success, Nous verrons.

HOW IS IT?

TO HORACE (ESQ.) MAYHEW.

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MY DEAR HORACE,-How many of the present generation, who really have given any time and attention to music, have felt this thought pass through their minds: How is it? The operas of the present day, with few exceptions, are written for money, and money only. Did the great "tone poet" write for money only? Examine his works, and then say if what you find there waited for a price, or was written to order. We will not dispute that he did write for money, because money procured that without which he could not live, and consequently could not write; but, see his house, his furniture, his dress-all that belonged to him. Did be look as if he wrote for money. Would his nine great symphonies have remained pent up in that wonderful soul of his, never to have come out, except for money? How is it? Was Mozart's only idea to gain money? How is it that nearly all musicians, or rather great writers, die poor? They make a great deal of money most of them. Money, as I said before, is a necessary evil; but look at our writers of the present day-money is all they care about! They write operas to order; so much an air-so much an act-so much more for an overture.* Do ever any of our great writers of the present day write three overtures to their operas, as we find for Fidelio? Why, a good overture in the present day is as rara an "avis" as a dead donkey. We do occasionally get a tune that has the honour of reaching a barrelled organ. Its composer, no doubt, as he wends his way through otherwise silent squares, wraps his cloak around him, and hears with great satisfaction his production dinned, in the most objectionable way possible, into the ears of his fellow-citizens. What is more objectionable or sickening than a constant quoter of Shakspeare? And how many other luxuries become nuisances by being served up when they are not wanted. The English Opera, which is making gigantic struggles to obtain a permanent footing in London, is all written to order. How is it? Music cannot be written to order; neither can anything which involves a high order of inspiration. On the contrary, it mars and mutilates, very frequently, ideas which are unripe, and which, if allowed to bud and bloom without being forced, bring forth good fruit, which might live for posterity to delight in; but now you see we have our monthly roses, which we take a passing smell of, and they wither and die. How is it? They are written to order! Is that a correct and final answer, or not? Would these composers write immortal works if they did not write for money? Perhaps there are some sufficiently interested to endeavour to solve this question. One thing is quite certain, that the operas of the present day are written to order, and like most things written to order, soon wear out. How is it? What, my dear Horace, has become of the "tone poet" genus? As ever, your faithful CRUMB.

Rolls Alley, Loaf Circus, Bread Street, Dec. 5. Horace Mayhew very well knows, and could have told [* Beethoven wrote four overtures to Fidelio as Mr. "Crumb" had he seen "Crumb" before "Crumb" committed his letter to paper;-four overtures, three in C, and one-as Mr. Horace Mayhew very well knows, and could have told "Crumb," &c.-in E.-PETIPACE.]

MR. GYE, lessee and manager of the Royal Italian Opera, has returned from the continent.

THE ENTERPRISING IMPRESARIO.

CHAPTER I.

IIE is an anomaly. Never at rest and yet an idle man. Selfish, but continually promoting the success of others. Worshipped when sought after, to be, when found, remorselessly tormented. He leads the most anxious life, and can, nevertheless, indulge in venison and champagne while others make his fortune. He is at once the most despotic ruler and submissive slave. The "super" trembles at his nod while he is kneeling at the prima donna's feet. He is the impersonation of unlimited liability. He is liable to the public, liable to the artists, liable to government, liable to proprietors, in short, liable to everything and everybody except himself.

By nature amphibious; at times strutting proudly upon the high and dry land of prosperity; at others wallowing in the muddy waters of misfortune; equally familiar with both-a philosopher-he is indifferent to either. His habits are luxurious, even to extravagance. Whether fortune frown or smile, he keeps his carriages and horses, is a good whip, and, if not gouty, riding is his favourite exercise. I have studied the "enterprising Impresario," carefully in every phase of his existence, and confess my inability to understand him thoroughly. He varies in some respects from every other member of the community. I purpose giving an account of my experiences and observations of the race, in order that others may form some notion of their anomalous characteristics.

I recal with pleasure that I was of service to the first "enterprising Impresario" with whom I became acquainted. The incident is fresh in my memory. I still hear the shrill angry voices; but let me tell the story.

It was some years ago, in a London theatre late at night. The performance of the evening had terminated; the audience had dispersed; the gas was extinguished-all was dark and silent. I had occasion to see the Impresario in question upon important business, and was requested by his secretary to wait but a few moments, and that he would be disengaged. The moments had extended into hours, and I was still doing, as the French say, l'antichambre. The secretary had locked up his desk and departed-I was left alone to await the desired interview. Some time after I had been thus forsaken, and when almost on the point of also taking my departure, my attention was arrested by the sounds of high words in the adjoining room, followed by a noise of what appeared to be the clashing of swords. The hour of night and stillness of all around added to the interest of the situation, and perhaps made the noise seem more important than it really was. I listened attentively-the quarrel waxed warmerthere were two voices audible, although one was less distinct, being overcome by the power and volubility of the other. Both spoke in a foreign tongue. A sword, or some other steel instrument, was evidently in the hands of one of the disputants, from its ringing sound when struck forcibly against the ground in the anger of the holder. Everybody had. left the building; there was no one within hearing, except myself and the two whose dispute I overheard. What course to take?-Whether to interfere, perhaps to prevent bloodshed, or quietly await the result of the quarrel? I was a stranger, quite unknown to both, in fact, was ignorant who they really were. My unceremoniously rushing in upon them would perhaps be resented as an intrusion, and yet some interference seemed imperatively necessary. I listened again, and knocked at the door. Some time elapsed before I was answered. At last, being told to "come in," I entered, and a most remarkable scene I witnessed. The "enterprising Impresario" whom I then saw for the first time, was seated at his writing table, surrounded by the usual quantity of letters, newspapers, and play bills peculiar to a manager's room, while before him stood a figure in stage costume, brandishing a sword, and speaking in a voice excited to the highest pitch by the most violent passion. The quiet manner and seeming indifference of the Impresario, afforded a remarkable contrast to the menacing gestures of the other, whose anger was evidently exasperated by his imperturbable coolness. I was requested to be seated, and my surprise was great, when, upon looking at the figure a second time, I discovered it to be that of a female in male attire! At length the Impresario rose and came towards me. The lady had not observed my entrance. Upon seeing a third

person present, her manner completely changed, and making some hurried apology, she suddenly left the room. It appeared she was a member of the comp and had, after the performance, rushed to the manager in her stage dress, to complain of some real or imaginary grievance which it was utterly hopeless the unoffending Impresario could rectify. "Had you not so kindly interrupted us," he said to me, we should have been here till daylight or God knows what might have happened." And thus I released the first "enterprising Impresario" of my acquaintance from an unpleasant position, and rendered him a service for which he was grateful ever after. ANTEATER.

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NEW SCHOOL OF DANCING MUSIC.

To the joined Authors of the "Goose with the Golden Eggs." GENTLEMEN, BURLESQUISTS, and WITS,-Having suggested im provements in some of our musical instruments, I beg to add one on the elegant and enlivening art of dancing, which some one, at a future period, will probably introduce to the notice of the public. Like other accomplishments, dancing has undergone changes during the last thirty years, and the music that accompanies it become of a more varied character; and instead of only one description, we have five kinds of tunes--the waltz, polka, quadrille, hornpipe and country dance; and although the waltz, polka, and quadrille are generally of a lively character, the shortness of the tunes renders them, after a few times hearing, monotonous to advanced musicians.

To improve upon our present dancing music, and at the same time introduce and render familiar to the million the higher provinces of instrumental composition, it has occurred to me that figures might be invented by a skilful dancing-master to fit the quick movements of the best overtures and symphonies, the slow introduction to the former to be played by the band, and the allegro danced; and by repeating some portions of the figure, it might be spun out the length of the quick portion of the overture, and, with a little extra tuition, become as common to dance the overture to Figaro or Tancredi as a polka or a set of quadrilles.

The first allegro of a sinfonia being equal in length to about three sets of quadrilles, I would recommend the opening adagio to be played without a figure, the allegro following danced, the next movement played, to afford the dancers time to rest, and then finish with the minuetto and finale; the former danced as a waltz, and the latter with a suitable figure. This new school of dancing music would render familiar to the majority the finest instrumental compositions of the greatest masters, and thus elicit more attention when played at our places of public amusement than they do at the present, besides procuring them a larger sale at the music shops, and also holding out encouragement to such of our rising composers as possess talent enough to write them to try their hand, restoring the public taste in the majority to what it was forty years ago, which has been on the decline for genuine scientific music, instead of improving, during the last thirty years, that any person may perceive who observes the amount of attention paid by the audience at our theatres and tavern concert-rooms when a symphony or overture is even well performed by a good band at the former, and on the pianoforte at the latter, whatever some may be inclined to assert to the contrary. Yours, Gentlemen and Wits,

HAYDN WILSON.

MISS POOLE.We are happy to be able to inform our readers that the report of the death of this charming vocalist, which obtained such currency at the beginning of the week, and caused such deep grief to her numerous admirers, is entirely without foundation. Miss Poole has been indisposed, but is now so far recovered as to be on the point of resuming her professional duties. It would appear that the more distressing a rumour the wider its probable circulation, for we have received inquiries from all quarters respecting the one which we now with so much pleasure and satisfaction contradict.

Letters to the Editor.

FLORAL HALL CONCERTS. SIR,-Having read some time since an article on the Floral Hall Concerts, in which occurs the following passage :

"It is unnecessary to say more than that this concert was regarded somewhat in the light of a festival, being expressly for the benefit of Mr. Alfred Mellon' (we had been led to believe, by the way, that the entire series were for his benefit;' in other words, that the undertaking was exclusively his own,)" &c.—

Will you kindly permit me to state that the undertaking was exclusively mine, and that no other person had any interest

in it whatever.

It being customary for managers to take a benefit at the conclusion of the season, I only followed an established rule in an nouncing a night as my own.

Apologising for troubling you with this letter,

I remain, Sir, your obliged and obedient Servant,
ALFRED Mellon.

SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY. SIR,It is with more than usual gratification that you should chronicle the first performance of this season. The programme of coming events is big with a promise of Beethoven's Mass in D, a work twice performed five years ago, but since then most undeservedly laid on the shelf. Another good thing from the Society's répertoire, which is not often done, is Solomon, and its performance on Friday week now claims your attention.

The oratorio Solomon is throughout a remarkable and characteristic work of Handel. Among the choruses, we find "With pious heart," ," "From the censer," "From the East," and several others which contain some of his greatest ideas, and many of which exemplify his skill and felicitous use of the antiphonal form. Indeed, the opening chorus of the second part, "From the censer curling rise," must be classed with "The Horse and his Rider," and "He gave them hailstones for rain," as a specimen of a style in choral treatment, which is without a rival for breadth and grandeur of effect, and has been seldom equalled in point of skill, or tact in management of voices and instruments. One or two of the choruses are unique, such as "May no rash intruder," and "The name of the wicked," each being an individual specimen of phases of Handel's multifarious and comprehensive style. The admirable overture and accompaniments of this work are an additional charm; and among the airs are the well-known "What tho' I trace?" and "Every sight these eyes behold."

The execution of the instrumental and choral portion of the work on Friday night was, as you are aware, apart from the wellknown capabilities of the Society, remarkable for its general efficiency and accuracy. The choruses with solo, "Music spread," &c. were sung as you must remember-with an artistic feeling rare in so large a body. The much talked of reform in the choir, seems to have come into operation. Are you of my opinion?

The solo singers are answerable for the effect which this oratorio produces to an unusual extent. The solos, particularly the recitatives, are numerous and long, and require the most artistic treatment. When it is stated that the soprano music was in the hands of Mad. Sherrington-Lemmens and Miss Banks, your readers may be assured that all that an easy and fluent delivery, an unswerving faultlessness of intonation and wonderfully distinct articulation, joined with a perfectly natural, free, and unaffected style, could do, in exaltation of so great a work, was done. In contralto singing, Mad. Sainton seems to gain in beauty of voice and dignity and benignity of manner, no less than in vocal skill and knowledge of the art; and yet this would have been thought impossible when we remember her singing during the last few years. Mr. Montem Smith is welcome on many accounts; a good healthy manly tenor voice is a rarity in the present day; and Mr. Smith always uses his natural gift with taste and judgment. Mr. Lewis Thomas claims (and readily obtains) credit for the possession of one of the finest real bass voices we have had for some years. The volume of tone, and the vigour of the lower notes is

remarkable; while the manly expression with which he renders his most ponderous passages shows artistic taste of no common order. In this oratorio, as in Deborah and some others, Mr. Costa's pen has been called into requisition for additional accompaniments, To meddle with Handel is an unwelcome task, and includes rivalry with Mozart among other considerations; but making every allowance for the difficulty of the case, &c., &c., &c. I am, Sir, your obedient

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SHOULDER.

[We agree here with "Shoulder," if not there; which, he will urge is neither here nor there; to which we may re-urge, or r'urge-in extenuation of a passage omitted, and for which "&c. &c. &c." must be accepted as substituteQuippe non delicta regum illos, sed vires ac majestatem insequi." The words applied by the Latin historian to the persecutors of crowned heads will serve equally well as a reproof to "Shoulder," in his new capacity of persecutor of batoned hands. He pursueth not the faults but the strength and majesty. What says Pascal?" La raison agit avec lenteur. ou elle s'égare ;" and Burns?-"Ah Nick! ah Nick! (Old Nick-"Shoulder") it is na fair;" and Huon of Bordeaux,-"Je scais bien vétir le haubert, et mettre le heaume en mon chef." Michael Costa knows eke.-Ah "Shoulder!"-must it be spoken of you, as of the ambitious man in Burton's Partn. 1 Sec. 2, Mem. 3, Subs. 11-we quote from memory-"Siappetitum explere non potest furore corripitur?" It is sad to think it, but we are shouldered into that conclusion. << Sæpe homo de vanæ gloriæ contemptu, vanius gloriatur," as Shirley Brooks might exclaim, without in the least parodying Austin.-PETIPACE.]

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A LAPSUS PENNE.

SIR,-Mr. Punch, who, like a wise man and philosopher, reads the MUSICAL WORLD, informs the ordinary world that he has learnt from your columns how the natives of Baden-Baden, sensibly appreciating the genius of Meyerbeer, had newly christened one of their thoroughfares, L'Avenue Meyerbeer, in honour of the composer of Les Huguenols. To the best of my recollection, however, it was stated that the inhabitants of Spa, in Belgiumnot of Baden, in Baden-had added to the interest and attractions of their pretty town, by paying so graceful a compliment to their honoured guest, who has composed many of his chefs-d'œuvre while residing amongst them. I am sure that Mr. Punch would not willingly disturb the harmony existing between the MUSICAL WORLD and Spa, and must therefore conclude that your humorous contemporary has for once been guilty of a lapsus pennæ—a-liner. Yours, PORCUPINE OF LIVERFOOL.

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[If so, a considerable calami-ty.-PETIPACE.]

ORGANS AND ORGAN-PLAYERS.
(From Punch.)

THE art of (street) organ-playing, dear Mr. Punch, has attained to such a degree of popularity at the present day, especially in the suburbs of London, that, knowing as I do from a constant perusal of your pages the great interest you take in the subject, I venture to offer a few suggestions for your consideration; and my remarks will perhaps have greater weight if I mention, with all due modesty, that I am myself a performer of some experience on that noble instrument, as I have frequently in my younger days, by the offer of small coins, induced the gentleman who attended our house to allow me to turn the handle of his organ.

I would suggest that, with regard to the performance of the most favourite airs,-as, for example, Il Balen or the Power of Love, it should not be considered necessary to play them oftener than about twenty-five times each in any one place, as a more frequent repetition occasionally produces a feeling of

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