THE PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF "O Music, sphere-descended maid, Warm, energic, chaste, sublime."-COLLINS. THE history of British music during the last twenty years has discovered no features of a character so marked and original as to constitute us, what we once were, a musical people endowed with good taste and the ability to discern it in others. A superficial observer looking at the immense advantages offered to foreign musicians, the avidity with which the admission tickets to musical entertainments are caught up by the pleasure-hunting public, and the general diffusion of certain popular airs through the length and breadth of the country, might be induced to deny our position; but we appeal to those of the initiated who have sufficient candour to speak out their real sentiments, whether this rather severe censure is not warranted by justice. As a few stones do not constitute a great and mighty city, so a few songs, a moderately successful opera and two or three respectable native composers, are not sufficient to raise us to the rank of a musical nation. It is true, that Barnett, Hullah and Balfe have lately done something to rescue England from the contempt of continental composers,-and we have a few vocalists and instrumental artists, of whom we may well be proud; but yet we are far behind the French and Italians,-perhaps not in science, still in that all-absorbing enthusiasm which is indispensable to form great and commanding genius, and we must now even more than in days past look up with reverential regards to the Germans who have not only produced such men as S. BACH, HAYDN, Mozart, WINTER, BEETHOVEN, and WEBER, but practically show their love for musical science by making themselves, as a people, masters of their most splendid and difficult music.* That we ever had any pretensions "The smallest towns of Germany," says an excellent judge of music and a vigilant observer of the present German musicians, “have orchestras able to perform the works of the great masters; and music generally forms the relaxation and indispensable enjoyment of a German's evening. Each town has its musical societies, in which both amateurs and professionals unite in their devotion to one single object-music. At Cologne, Dusseldorf, Coblentz, and other towns about the Rhine, musical festivals are celebrated that collect the inhabitants from far and near, and to which performers flock to the amount of several hundreds. The union thus formed of professional musicians with amateurs, to whom they freely and in detail communicate their ideas on the theory as well as practice of music, is not without its advantages, as is well known by any who are familiar with the Church music in Wurtemberg, Baden, and Bavaria." But all over Germany, and in Prussia, Saxony and Cassel in particular, music is studied by the people, forms a part of their ordinary education, supplies a to be considered a musical people, as the Germans now are, cannot be said, unless indeed we may except our excellent choral singers in the provinces and especially in Yorkshire; but we once could boast of native composers, whose works earned an European reputation, as the names of PURCELL, BOYCE, CALLCOTT, ARNE, and others, will sufficiently hint to our readers :-that we have not been able to speak of the works of more modern musical writers with equal confidence, is, as we think, owing to that overweening love introduced through the Italian opera and its corps dramatique for the music-run-mad compositions of Rossini and his followers, and, perhaps, not less so to the facilities offered by an uneducated and depraved public taste for the adoption of jingling, low-minded music quite unworthy of scientific composers. There are, however, some indications leading us to prophesy the dawning of a brighter day for music, the commencement of a period as glorious as ever was known in our history;—and our time will not have been spent in vain, if by recounting what has been done during the last and most interesting musical season within our recollection, we shall succeed in inspiring the reader with hopes as bright as our own. All persons at all acquainted with the London musical world well know that there are in it two parties as distinct as those in the world of politics, which two parties, to carry on the comparison, are united by a third composed of waverers, who call themselves independent, but are in reality swayed to this or the other side by the opinion of the larger and more influential party. Happily, however, it requires only a judicious and well-finished musical education to compare the merits of the contending parties in music :-fashion and long usage influence one, while science and true taste are the principles appealed to by the other. We shall say a few words respecting the former: --of the latter it will be necessary to speak much more at large. The former is composed of the aristocracy and the would-be grandees who make fashion their god without ever entering the sanctuary, of those who patronise and frequent the Italian opera, subscribe to and direct the ancient concerts, and court the attention, either by heavy purses or fawning attentions, of the foreign singers, most of whom, with all their wonderful animal powers, have scarcely better taste than their patrons and employers. We speak here of classes, and it is pleasing to think that there are many honourable exceptions in individuals, whose names, were it not invidious and indelicate, it would not be difficult to mention. Of the patrons of the opera it may be truly said, that they are very easy, civilly disposed patrons; for M. Laporte treats his " very noble and approv'd good masters" in a way that might well astonish us, if we did not know as well as he, that nine-tenths at least of his audience resort to his house, not so much to listen for amusement or edification to the music and fund of innocent and refined recreation, and at the same time animates both the performers and the auditory with noble and virtuous sentiments. The good morals of the lower orders in Germany may partly, at least, be attributed to their early-ingrafted fondness for music; and it is well worth the pains of our modern and more enlightened educationists to consider, if they cannot raise the social and moral condition of the English industrial classes by establishing popular education in harmony as well as in the more directly utilitarian branches of instruction. singing provided by their caterer, as to enable them to say that they have seen my Lord paid humble devoirs to Countess flirted with Lady Emily, or lingered with raptures on the dying cadences of Grisi's favourite song of the season. Such patronage may and does suit M. Laporte,-if it be true that he has derived large profits from the work of the past season; but well are we assured that the production of such wretched apologies for operas as those offered by Mercadante, Bellini, Donnizetti, Costa, et hoc pecus Melibai (i. e. Rossini) furnishes no inducement to suppose that the Italian company are doing much to improve the prospects of musical science in this country. Little wonder then is it, that the unsophisticated admirers of opera music should agree with La Bruyere, "Je n'aime pas l'opera-je n'en sais pas la raison, mais je m'ennuye toujours à l'opera." It may be said, however, that the noble subscribers are not wholly empowered to direct the performances into the best channel. However much more influence their monied patronage might have effected with Messrs. Laporte and Costa, we shall not stop to consider, but shall at once address ourselves to the task of discussing the merits of a celebrated establishment wholly under aristocratic patronage and management. The very idea of the ANCIENT CONCERTS speaks volumes to those old connoisseurs who know what they once were, and are well acquainted with the works of the old and great masters. Such an one, if ignorant of the present real merits of the performances, would undoubtedly anticipate a most delicious treat from the promise of an evening's amusement in Hanover Square. Alas! how deep would be his disappointment, if he had been a visitor at the soirées on the Wednesdays of last season. It is not our intention to deny, that ancient and good music was performed, rather more than half of which, according to the libretti, may be termed classical; but of late there has been little, very little variety, except that, which the musicrun-mad taste of Lord Burghersh has introduced from Italy and himself. Unfortunately too, a very large portion of the best music is so (and quite unnecessarily) hackneyed by repetition, that the stately dowagers and aproned prelates who give their patronage to these performances, fairly nod over their books in the privileged seats just below the orchestra. The imperfections of a stiff performance-such as all those conducted by the formal Mr. Knyvett must be +-may, of themselves, account for this very perceptible ennui; but yet there seems little sense in so frequently repeating the most popular choruses and symphonies of Handel, Haydn, and Mo His Lordship resided for some years abroad, in an official situation at Florence. English inoney and aristocratic influence were successful in possessing foreigners with the notion, that he was the representative not only of the English monarch, but of English musicians.-Heaven preserve us from such representatives!-The history of the Royal Academy of Music is fully sufficient to convince all competent judges of the injudicious and destructive patronage extended by that nobleman to a great national institution. It seems that a Beethoven concert (an exhibition absolutely despised by the whole English musical world) was necessary to convince even Germans, that a fifth-rate musician, like the acting-director of the ancient concerts, cannot be regarded as a paragon of taste. The fact, that musical feeling is a necessary antecedent to musical expression does not seem to be sufficiently impressed on many of our modern leaders and con zart, together with a few cantatas and fragments from masses of Pergolese and Corelli, when it is well known that many as good, nay better works by the same writers, are on the library shelves of the conductors, and only require a little trouble in superintendence to be produced. Other works, however, might be offered to the aristocratical public with some benefit; and, perhaps, the directors may have forgotten that such individuals as we mention, though dead, yet speak, S. Bach, Bateson, Boyce, Calcott, Palestrina, Purcell, Wilbye, Warde, Webbe, and others, on whose merits space, not will, prevents us from expatiating. If the directors of these concerts had acted up to their profession of keeping alive a taste for classical music and holding up a perpetual model of excellence, it might have been well; but what has been done during the last three seasons by the noble directors of the Wednesday soirées cannot justify any impartial and competent judge in giving any thing beyond a faint and damning praise. Of the nobilities' concerts very little need be said; for, either the patrons themselves dictate the pieces and songs to be played and sung, or else they leave the odious task to Messrs. Costa and his associates of the opera, who generally constitute the lions and lionesses of these ostentatious exhibitions. We are too well acquainted with the merits of these concerts to consider, that they arise from any thing except an incredible quantity of intrigue among the female fashionables; and hence our readers will not be surprised, that these concerts consist merely of the rifacciamenti or elegant extracts from the operas selected by the beau monde of the modern Babylon. What a prospect for modern music! With respect to the benefit concerts of the last season, as of many others, we beg to omit any notice of them-being fully convinced that they have a tendency rather to degrade music and musicians, than to elevate the science of sweet sounds; because we have been sufficiently behind the scenes to know all the management and left-handed trickery used in getting up these generally disreputable performances. Such is the work that has been accomplished of late years, by the aristocratical patrons of music. That party which comprises the less ambitious but best educated portion of the fanatici per la musica in the British metropolis now remains to be considered; and happily the taste of the middle classes furnishes us so much reason for praise and encouragement, that it will be necessary to devote more than our usual space to the discussion of their rising merits as the patrons of musical science. The leading public bodies, supported by the non-aristocratical connoisseurs, are the Philharmonic and Vocal Societies, each of which requires a separate consideration. The former rather injudiciously, as we think, almost excludes vocal music, or rather turns it over to the Vocal Society. Respecting the instrumental music of last season, the successful introduction of many subductors. It may be one thing to compose music, and another to execute it but no person can properly execute the music written by another, unless he has the genius, the enthusiasm, and added to that-the knowledge of harmony which sets the seal to a musician's ability. Mere musical science, without feeling, is like the caput-mortuum of the chemist, after the essence has evaporated-like the pale, clayey body of mor tality after the vitalizing soul has sped its way to a better world. lime compositions either little known or little relished before in this country, above all, the practical homage paid to BEETHOVEN, the Michael Angelo of song-call for the warmest praise from musical critics. Always classical, always enterprising, always ambitious of the most perfect execution, the Philharmonic has this year even excelled itself. To begin with Beethoven,-we have had his splendid pianaforte concerto in E flat almost as splendidly performed by Mrs. Anderson, a concerto most admirable on account of the ever deviating variations on the original thema,-his sinfonia in A (No. 7,) which our readers will perhaps remember by the flute of poor Nicholson, who gave such exquisite expression to some of its most pathetic passages, his quartett in G (No. 2, Op. 18) for stringed instruments in which Tolbecque and Lindley so especially distinguished themselves,-his sinfonia pastorale so well known and so justly praised for its vivid representation of rustic life and scenery,where the birds sing, the waters fall, the tempest howls, and the villagers celebrate the dance and the song, all in beautiful and natural succession-his song of the Quail, in which by the potency of his art he makes the monotonous cry of a bird the theme of a cantata only equalled in talent by his own "Adelaide ;" and, lastly, his grandest and longest Sinfonia (No. 9,) with the vocal part at the close taken from Schiller's "Ode to Joy." In all Beethoven's symphonies, much as we may admire his orchestral effects, that feeling is superseded by a yet stronger one, raised by the wonderful combinations, the result of which is to communicate something like an electric shock to his hearers. Is is like an historical painting of the grandest description, where not only nature is represented as living in reality, but a poetic ideality is thrown over it like a halo of glory, making it a splendid conception of nature's beau idéal. It is dramatic and yet it is not theatrical ;--for it is as far removed from the gewgaw and tinsel of operatic music, as the severe sublimity of Milton is elevated above the unmeaning prettinesses of a modern dramatist. In the ninth symphony the novel introduction of vocal music ushered in by a prelude the most original, most eccentric, and most wonderfully talented ever heard by any audience, is an additional proof of the support which professedly instrumental music may derive from the apt introduction of human sounds. Beethoven deserved a Schiller for his poet, and Schiller's poetry could only be properly melodized by as grand an artist as himself. It would have been well, if the vocalists had been as much au fait in their parts as Mr. Loder and his associates were with their instruments :-but it is almost unfair to find fault, when we find the directors undertaking a very difficult task, and striving of themselves to raise the public taste for the pure and sublime in music. We take it as a good sign, that those auditors who, a few years ago, rejected this grand composition (as the Austrians once did the Fidelio, and the Milanese the Zauberflöte), because they could not understand it, received the performance of last April with an empressement and enthusiasm never demonstrated by the more fashionable frequenters of the ancient concerts, and seldom even by the subscribers to the Philharmonic. It is not Beethoven alone, however, whose works form a striking feature in these concerts: a great va |