I dered this grace to the instruments, as possessing greater power of expression; yet there are passages of intense feeling, in which the tremolo adds greatly to the effect of the voice. In Purcell's song of Mad Bess, at the words, Cold and hungry am grown, it may be used with great success; and who that has ever heard Braham in Jephtha's Vow, can forget his incomparable delivery of the words 'horrid thought?' We need no other instance of the power of the tremolo, when so applied, to depict the workings of the soul. MR. VAUGHAN, the last of the English school, immediately followed the steps of Harrison, as primo tenore, taking up the whole routine of his songs. With superior natural qualifications-but yielding to the reigning taste-he cultivated the same quality of style, repressing that energy which would have carried him to a higher point of excellence. This chastening of the voice, when carried so far as to stifle every spark of fervor in the singer, is as contrary to good taste, as it is a departure from nature. A peculiar excellence in Mr. Vaughan is the great truth of his intonation: he is without the fault so common to the singers of the present day, that of singing out of tune. By no accident does he ever put the ear in doubt upon any note that he utters, which always proves a painful drawback from the pleasure we receive under all circumstances his notes bear the stamp of correctness. Though his enunciation is not sufficiently vigorous, yet his style is smooth and agreeable; and we may justly say, he is the most faultless singer of the day. MR. KNYVETT. Combined with Harrison and Bartleman, was the still more soft and gentle voice of Knyvett. An alto of great sweetness and beauty, though destitute of those lines of expression, without which the features appear as a blank, his voice is well adapted to the performance of glees, a style of composition then so much admired, that many of the popular songs of the day were harmonized and converted into this species of composition, to meet the public taste. Such attention was paid to the blending and balancing of the voices in these combinations, that the effect was not even exceeded by the equality and truth of the organ. This triumvirate gave the temper and tone to our public performances for years, the character of which was the unruffled stream of soothing melody. SOSTENUTO Is the power of sustaining the voice upon any note, so that the sound is continued to the end without the least wavering. This important qualification is admirably shown in the voices of Knyvett and Vaughan. To acquire this excellence, the pupil must begin by sounding the lowest note in his voice, upon the vowel Ah! steadily holding it through several bars, ascending and descending the whole compass. To accomplish this, great attention must be paid to the management of the breath, which may be so improved by practice, that it is possible to sustain a sound with perfect evenness for more than a minute. On the violin this is effected by an even drawn bow. Expression so much depends upon the use of the bow, that modern writers accurately mark the bowing of every passage, but which performers seldom attend to. In Beethoven, the greatest writer for stringed instruments, we find many bars included in one bow; particularly when he intends to diminish the tone to pianissimo. This requires skill in slowly measuring out the bow, to insure the effect. As an instance, we may mention the pause note in his quintetto, which is directed to be firmly held in one bow, while the violin plays a cadenza of three hundred notes; and in the fourth sinfonia, there is a holding note in the viola of forty-one bars, marked to be performed in a single bow, for which ordinary players take half a dozen, whereby the intention of the author is completely defeated. BRAHAM. During the triumvirate of Harrison, Bartleman, and Knyvett, the celebrated John Braham appeared at the English theatre, whose voice for compass, power, |