principle would seem, from the context, to be an increase of simplicity and clearness of melody. But such has been by no means the tendency of the art; the course which it has followed, at any rate, for a century back, has rather been in an opposite direction. Compare the melodies of Weber, Spohr, Marschner, Ries, Reissiger, with those of Haydn, Mozart, Winter, Himmel, Weigl, and Kreutzer. The latter will be relished by persons totally ignorant of musical science, while the former require the harmony and the whole design of the composer to be understood before they can impart the slightest pleasure. The style of the Mozart school, again, was so much more complicated than that of preceding composers that many critics ascribed the admiration of their partisans to affectation. Had the reviewer ever seen an opera of Graun or of Hasse, he might possibly, on account of their simplicity, have preferred them to the works of later masters; yet this very simplicity has caused them to be forgotten even in name; they are no where to be met with save in the cabinets of the curious, and were they produced before a modern audience, would infallibly send them to sleep.

If we turn to the Italian school, a similar change appears to have taken place. Where do we find airs so clear, simple, and intelligible, as in the unexplored works of Sacchini, Guglielmi, Sarti, Paisiello, and Zingarelli? The motivi of their successors, Cimarosa, Mayer, and Paer, although of exquisite beauty, are more interwoven and connected with the harmony, or, in other words, bear a certain similarity to the German works of the same period. It is impossible, consistently with beauty, to find melodies more simple than those of the first mentioned composers, nor can the piquancy of the latter be surpassed; Rossini, therefore, wisely struck into a different track, and the great sensation which he created may be fairly attributed to the lightness and flippancy of his melodies, and to the gayety which invariably pervades them. Where then do we find traces of this simplifying process to which Bellini is said to put the finishing stroke? The true history of melody would seem rather to be the following:-In the early part of the eighteenth century, while the opera was in its infancy, the melodies of Jomelli, Vinci, and Galuppi in Italy, and those of Graun and Hasse (Italian in character, but written in Germany), although beautiful, were not possessed of sufficient animation and vigour to render them appropriate on the stage. The accompaniments were meagre, and intended rather to fill up the harmony than to take an active share in forwarding the dramatic action. In the hands of the successors of these composers, with Sacchini at their head, melody became more

animated, more vigorous, and considerably more ornate; the embellishments partake of a greater freedom, and display more knowledge of the human voice. As, however, this school, like the preceding, relied exclusively on the beauty of the airs, neglecting science and ingenuity in the harmony, they are equally amenable to the charge of feebleness and monotony. On the other hand, their beauty was so exquisite as not only to spread the fame of Italian operas over the world but to cause it to be transplanted into every other country.* Whatever is an object of nearly exclusive attention will, under favourable circumstances, be speedily brought to perfection. If these statements prove correct, the assertion that the melodies invented by the Italian composers, from Jomelli or Pergolesi down to Paisiello, are, with one exception, more beautiful than any which occur elsewhere, will not excite surprise. While it is my decided conviction that no improvement in vocal melody has been effected by later composers, I freely admit that the motivi of their successors, commencing with Martini and Cimarosa, are intrinsically equal to them, while their effect is enhanced by the adoption of the system introduced by Mozart. Cimarosa and his successors always availed themselves of the power of the orchestra in strengthening the feeling intended to be produced by the air, and therefore they introduced the delightful orchestral effects with which their works abound. But after Paer, the last of that classical school, beauty of melody may be said to have declined. Rossini relied upon ornament as a means of exciting the wonder of his audience, and upon his power of expressing the ludicrous. The manner of Bellini may be described as a return to the simplicity, bordering upon inanity, which characterised the old Italian composers (Vinci and Galuppi), combined with the noisy, unmeaning system of instrumentation, which Mr. Hogarth designates as pseudo-German. I cannot contemplate the works of the classical Italian masters without experiencing a sensation of regret that, while the majority of students remain in ignorance of productions on which the fame of Italian music is founded, they should be induced, by a vague idea of the excellence of all Italian music, to consume time and corrupt their taste by persisting to draw from a source which is nearly exhausted, instead of recurring to the pure stream of melody which flows through the pages of those classical composers. Actuated by the hope of in

In proof of the admiration excited by the Italian compositions of the early schools, see the Letters of Gray, Marmontel's Autobiography, and Rousseau's Essays on Music, and Musical Dictionary.

VOL. VI.NO. XX.

EE

ducing my readers to explore these neglected works, and with the view of preserving beauties so exquisite from oblivion, as well as of affording an opportunity of testing the correctness of the foregoing arguments, I give a list of specimens which, although scanty, may awaken a desire for further research. The list might have commenced from an earlier period, but the plaintive and tender songs of Hasse, &c., are not easily to be procured, whereas most of the following pieces may be purchased at any foreign music-shop in London.

Più non ho la dolce speranza.-Aria.
Resta ingrata.-Aria.

Je ne vous quitte point.*-Arietta.

́Dolce speranza in seno.— -Trio.
Se perdo il mio bene.-Cavatina.
La mia tenera agnellina.-Duetto.
Si ti leggo al volto.t-Aria.

Lungi del caro bene.-Cavatina.

Ah non sai.-Aria (arranged by Dr. Crotch).
Amplius lava me.-From a Mass (arranged by
Novello).

Ho perduto il mio bene.-(Arranged by Dr.
Clarke).

Saper bramate.

S Dunque mio bene.-Duetto.

Ombra adorata.—Aria.

.Se mi credi amato bene.-Duetto.

These specimens (all of which are within the compass of private performance) will demonstrate how slender is the claim which Bellini possesses to the appellation of a simplifier of melody; and small indeed must be his chance for immortality when we have witnessed the oblivion which has successively overwhelmed the most popular composers of Italy, who each in his day was, like him, the idol wor

*

Edipe à Colone, the opera from which the above exquisite melody is selected, was originally performed at Paris: the opera abounds in similar morceaux, and is worthy the attention of the student, as furnishing an idea of the state of dramatic music at that period.

+I do not think that any author, either ancient or modern, has produced a more simple, clear, and eloquent motivo than the part of this song beginning at Deh respirar lasciate mi.

shipped to the exclusion of all others. The operas of Sacchini maintained their ground longer than others, but they are never performed at present; whereas the works of his German cotemporaries continue to exercise over the public taste an influence nearly as great as they did on their first appearance. This is a confirmation of the maxim that it is not the most simple, the most intelligible, or the most popular compositions at the time, but those which display the highest power of mind, that endure as monuments of genius, that create an era in the art, that become the test by which the musical historian judges of its state at the period when they were produced. Nor at the present day is the tendency of music towards greater simplicity; it gives, on the contrary, evident signs of an increase in piquancy, variety, interest, and animation. Its limits are enlarging daily; new resources are discovered, new paths are struck out by every successive candidate for immortality: and, provided the proper means are adopted, we may reasonably indulge in the expectation of seeing a genius arise who will unite in one splendid whole the varied and scattered excellencies of his predecessors.

In order to induce my readers to extend their researches, and thus to qualify themselves for the detection of the countless plagiarisms committed on their predecessors by the soi-disant maestri of the present day, I will present them with specimens from some of the greatest masters of the Mozart school; these will, I trust, be sufficient to establish the superiority of their melodies over those of the modern Italian school.

WINTER

MARTINI*

Confusa, agitata.-Aria (Calypso).
Io mi pasco di sospir.-Aria (Calypso).
Mio dolce tesore.-Aria (I fratelli rivali).
The maid who'd wish to slumber.-Quintett,

(Opferfest). There was a time ere sorrow.-Air (Opferfest). Mi lasci o madre amata.-Trio (Proserpina). Men'andro al Giove.-Duet (Il triomfo del amor fraterno).

* Martini may be regarded as the connecting link between the school of Sacchini and that which adopted the principles of Mozart. Una cosa rara was brought out at Vienna in 1786, at the same time with Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, and was for some time more popular than that immortal work.

At the risk of becoming tedious, I am under the necessity of again reverting to the assertions of the reviewer:—“ Bellini, more than any other author since the time of Mozart, addresses us in the simple, unadorned, and unaffected language of feeling and nature; and so far from answering the description given in the above quotation (from Hogarth's History), we venture to affirm that no music written for the stage was ever more strictly subservient to the situation and action of the drama."

The reader will now be enabled to form a competent judgment as to the reliance to be placed on this assertion. If it be true, all that has been advanced in this article is mere imagination and delusion: if false, what opinion can be formed respecting the capability of the critic for the task which he has undertaken, when, from vague speculations resting solely on the flimsy foundation of his own peculiar

*The daily increasing knowledge of German renders unnecessary any apology for the introduction of songs in that language. A clever translation of Fanchon could not fail to render that opera popular on our stage. Some pleasing specimens of this excellent composer may be found in the Lyra Germanica.

+ I have heard, on good authority, that this splendid aria, although introduced into one of Mayer's operas, was composed by Paer. It was a great favourite with Pasta.

Some of the above songs may possibly not be found separate from the operas in which they occur; in this case, it would be doing good service to the public to reprint them.