part; we are all one, though many,' they seem to say; the one you look at is looking at another as if that were lovelier, and they all point you from one to the other, till you are lost in the whole and know not which is loveliest; each most lovely because it lives in the whole, and does not obtrude itself. This is the feeling we have with nature, in the open fields; this sense of one in all; this wandering through an infinite maze, bewildered and refreshed at once. Such is the effect of this simple melody and all which it conducts to. Buoyantly and lightly it creeps up over us and whirls our thoughts away with it in graceful dance over the sunny grassy plains and hills afar, till we forget ourselves in blissful reverie, mingling our essence with the wholesome universal air, blending with the scene, and feeling the whole landscape with as much thrilling sense as we feel our own body. There is a slight drowsiness in the melody; the going to sleep of disturbing individual thoughts, while the mind wakes to the sense of universal harmony; the closing of the eyes upon vulgar glare, and escaping into the milder halo of beauty. "The tide has reached the full, thrilling through every pipe and string of the whole orchestra, and is now ebbing away, when a new subject is introduced. To the vague succeeds the definite. Some particular phenomenon awakes us from our reverie. It is thus we always enjoy beauty in nature and in art; we oscillate between the sense of unity and of variety. The parts seduce us from the whole, though only to lead us back to it again. We can no more remain in that first mood than a melody can go on, or even complete its own scale, without shifting from its key-note upon the chord of the dominant. And so the theme modulates i into the counter-theme above described. First there is a disturbance in the rhythm; its smooth flow is crossed by a sort of shudder in the harmonies; like a ruffling breeze brushing across the glassy transparency of running water. Once, twice it comes from the mysterious horns, and the last time with the expectant discord of the dominant seventh. The key is decided the new melody traverses the orchestra from highest flutes to deep as the double bass can carry it; that first stir of the breeze has changed the whole scene; "Lo! where the grassy meadow runs in waves!' The pine is bending his proud top.' "The cloud sails over, a shadow scuds across the plain, which we dreamily watch till it is lost. In a third phrase, a jubilant rapturous strain, we exult in the fullness of wild life. The heart of nature throbs too close and overpoweringly. The tide of rapture turns and ebbs away in the long cadence of a fourth melody, which tilts between the key-note and the dominant, softer and softer, dying away, till all is calm again, so that you can hear once more that first simple air, the constant tune of nature. And so on, the whole four melodies are repeated from the beginning, making the ear quite familiar with them; and then in the second division they are transposed and multiplied and blended together in an endless maze of harmony. Turn where you will, you meet some floating fragment of these melodies; everything is a reminiscence of one or more of them; a thousand mirrors reflect, however colored or distorted, their expression; and, in the gay confusion, every glance and tone of summer and the country are suggested. Transported by the tune, the mind is free to roam and feast itself at pleasure upon all the fancied resemblances which it can trace, as in the veins of marble, or in the coals upon the hearth, not bound to see them twice alike. One expression, however pervades the whole. It is all buoyant, peaceful, full of life; the whole air sparkles and twinkles with tiny sounds and voices, like fairy bells. It betrays a deep love of nature. It is not the mere cheerfulness of a child; not all sensation, like the sunny Haydn; but the restoring spell of the green fields exerted upon a deep and thought-sick mind. It is the poet's sense of nature; the poet quenching his restless longings in a world that does not contradict, but smile and sing to his ideas; the poet, who brings to the feast of beauty as much as he receives. The lord of this sweet pastoral creation is no light-hearted Adam in Paradise, no idle swain cheered by bright weather, but rather Endymion, the shepherd prince, who pined in secret for a Goddess and found sympathy only in the woods and fields. Haydn's descriptive pieces are Idyls, simple, cheerful pictures out of common life. They paint the actual merely. Beethoven's make the outward world a mirror of the soul. He does not copy the forms, but communes with the spirit of nature. Nothing could well be more cheerful and tranquil than this first movement; but it took a Beethoven to compose it. Others may have clear senses and observe minutely; but lovers and mystics and deep-souled men have always painted nature with most truth. They alone see the Naiad in the fountain, and hear the oaten reed of Pan in the woods. But, to resume the thread of the story. From the first 'sensations on arriving in the country, we may suppose our wanderer to sink back into himself. The Andante is called the Walk by the brook-side;' a sombre, melancholy strain, in the, same slow, wide-winding Siciliano measure, with the little Symphony in the Messiah. There is a mingling of low gurgling melodies flowing on continually in one rich, cool harmony; and clear above all this, one high part sings on musingly to itself, ever and anon pausing and taking up the tune again. It is a song without words; with the purling of the stream, and the rustling of the leafy arches overhead, and the chirping of the birds for an accompaniment; a man absorbed in la his feelings, while dreamily the waters chime in with their involuntary tune. As a motto to the whole might stand the famous stanza from the Fairie Queene: "The joyous birds, shrouded in cheerful shade, Their notes unto the voice attempered sweet; By degrees, insensibly, the shelancholy key. more and more absorbed and Mechanically following the winding of the brook, he enters into deeper and cooler shades: the mingling accompaniment, the murmur of the water, the mysterious trembling of the wind-harp in the pines, become more and more like living intelligences, responding to his mood. What is intelligences, responding to his mood, What is the burthen of that melancholy song? What is it that he pores over in his mind, while the woods and rocks seem half to understand? What is the sweet tormenting doubt, he longs yet fears to have resolved? Answer him, ye viewless spirits of the shade, ye Oreads and Naiads, ye Fauns and Echoes! All is still; and hark! the earnest, flute-like voice of the nightingale calls through the silence! the cuckoo and the quail chime in! He hails the omen, relapses into the old tune of his thoughts again; but only for a moment; for now he emerges into the summer sun, and nature's gay variety delivers him again from himself. "Now follows the joyous Scherzo, describing the festivities and dances of the villagers, which we imagine our wanderer to be watching from some high station. The thunder storm bursts over them; and for a while all the elements are mingled, all is hurry and confusion. As the last thunders roll away and the last scattering rain drops patter down irregularly, how solemnly and thoughtfully a reminiscence of the old tune of the Andante emerges from the darkness, together with the welcome light of day. Wonderful is the music which follows. All things glitter with the crystal drops the setting sun pours in his parting benediction beneath the clouds, filling the earth with showers of golden light. How crystal-clear and fresh and trembling with faint joy is every harmony! From all the hills echo the horns of the herdsmen calling home their flocks. These give the movement to the whole; light, pattering, measured steps, ever and anon crowding upon one another, keep time to it. These together form the descriptive accompaniment, while over all rises a religious strain of childlike gratitude and wonder, the hymn of the heart, in the great cathedral where the golden cloud-curtained West forms the oriel window, and the voices and echoes of every happy living thing, the choir. "We feel that this Symphony answers the whole question about the descriptive or imitative powers of music. It shows us how far, and in what way, outward nature may be conveyed in music. Abounding as it does in such allusions, we do not feel that any part of it is artificial and forced, or a perversion of music to other than its legitimate uses. And that for this reason: that it does not literally copy nature, but only utters the poet's feeling of nature, which, like every feeling, can summon up a thousand shapes and scenes by it's enchantment. If such music in Haydn is often only cold and outside imitation, in Beethoven it is interpretation of nature. "In strict truth, music cannot imitate nature, since nature imitates music. Music as an art is first born with the higher sentiments of man— nature without man does not contain subject enough for it. But throughout all material nature we discern glimmerings of a higher idea, strivings upward towards that perfection only revealed in man. Those curious veins in marble and mahogany are not for nothing; the human groups we trace in them seem to be incomplete developments of the pervading laws of form, first sketches predicting that perfection of form which shall appear in man, and still more in man's ideal executing itself in statues of the gods. So with sounds. All the material laws of sound are tending towards the highest art or music. In nature they already produce an imperfect music; in man they attain to Art. Let man give utterance to his own high feeling of nature, or of the harmony, the unity in variety, of all things, in worthy strains of music, and unconsciously that music will suggest all those feebler imitations and predictions of the same, with which the tuneful air of nature swarms. Thus we have nature in music, and yet music the language of feeling, which we have all along assumed it to be. Sing the feeling which you had with nature, and you are at once transported to her lap. This Beethoven does. Nature lives to him. He penetrates to the heart of every subject and brings out its latent music. Every thing in nature has a correspondence to something in the soul of man. This correspondence a deep and earnest soul not only sees, but feels; and every feeling has its melody; thus every object has its music. "But, as was said before, nature gives out her deeper meaning and her music only to those who have a corresponding depth of life. Nature is more to the poet, than to other men; and it took all the mystic depths and soul-stirring knowledge of Beethoven, so to feel the spirit of nature, until it became a melody in his mind, as he has done in this Pastoral Symphony. "In this music we have the sunny side of Beethoven; here his genius disports itself in its lightest and most comprehensible style. And yet even this is no unworthy overture to the vast and mysterious drama which his more characteristic works unfold. Even while we yield ourselves up with him to the mild exhilaration of this summer afternoon ramble in the country, we are not without forebodings of the mysterious and almost supernatural character of our genial guide; something about him shakes our soul to the very centre," TOM MOORE. There could scarcely be a more welcome announcement to the general mass of music-lovers, than the following, which we copy from the Boston Pilot. "Moore's Melodies," with Stevenson's music, are in their way "classics;" at all events, they have intertwined themselves with the sweetest memories of home and pleasant evenings of all who speak the English language, and who have loved to hear it wedded to that higher universal language of the heart, which Music is. "THE IRISH MELODIES OF THOMAS MOORE. Tom Moore, glorious Tom Moore ! Ireland's sweetest bard and the world's most favorite songster! Our readers will receive with delight a paragraph of intelligence which we have to communicate, namely, that the enterprising music publisher of this city, Oliver Ditson, in connection with Mr. Donahoe, have in press 'Moore's Irish Melodies,' accompanied with the music as it originally appeared from the pen of Sir John Stevenson. "The public are furnished with numerous editions of the Irish Melodies,' but in a form which always gave pain to their gifted author. Music and poetry were wedded in the heart of Moore; to him they were one and inseparable, and nothing gave him greater distress than the sight of his Irish Melodies' crowded together in one volume, unaccompanied by the Notes with which they were always associated in his own mind. The edition about to be issued will be a treasure of invaluable worth to every Irishman as a testimony of the genius of his country; and to every lover of music, as the truest offering with which to approach the shrine of his devotion. For ourselves, we look with no small degree of pleasure to the time of its publication. Irishmen and the friends of Erin may well be proud of Moore, and though "The harp that once thro' Tara's halls Now hangeth mute on Tara's walls yet the note it struck and the thrilling tones it gave forth will live for ages in this volume of Irish Melodies.' We are to have the words and those stirring national airs within the covers of one volume. The book will be ready in two or three days." Musical Review. SCHNEIDER'S Practical Organ School, &c., &c. pp. 99. Boston: O. Ditson. Price, $2.50. This is altogether the most important work that has yet appeared in this country for young organists. Both in precept and in illustration it is very rich. It offers a choice and full collection of the best kind of organ music, in short forms, for ordinary church service; including Preludes (in two and three parts) by RINCK, and Voluntaries (sixty-three in number) by Rinck, Schneider, Hesse, Handel, Beethoven, Pergolese, Bach, and others. These are all pieces of impressive beauty and in genuine organ style. Besides the music, there is a large body of general information given, about the instrument, the manner of its construction, the mode of playing and of tuning it, the use of the pedals and the stops, with exercises in fingering, and about the elements of music generally. An appendix embodies the more elementary portions of Schneider's excellent Theory of Harmony. THE NEW MUSIC HALL. The work progresses steadily and rapidly. Before Saturday night the slating will be completed, and then, the operations being à l'abri — from weather or other possible interruption, the time of opening can be safely and accurately fixed. Such a work as this, open from the beginning to public inspection and miscellaneous criticism, can hardly be expected to escape the dilemma of the man with his ass and son, or the painter who invited criticism on his picture. Fortunately, the architect has the moral of these fables by heart, and will succeed in pleasing at least himself and his advisers. One point in the arrangements which has provoked the most confident censures in one or two learned gentlemen, is the style and disposition of the Orchestra. We feel little doubt that it will soon vindicate its peculiar excellencies. In the mean time let us describe it. The stage (which is not yet laid) is curved in front, its greatest projection into the hall from the lowest of the orchestra platforms being twelve feet; from the rear of this these platforms (eight in number, and of an aggregate depth of twenty-four feet,) commence rising rearward to the level of the organ floor; the upper one being on a level with the floor of the first balcony, so that on the few occasions when a choir exceeding two hundred in number shall be present, the surplus can be conveniently and appropriately seated in the nearest balcony seats; and on such occasions as shall attract a But the greatest charm of the contrivance, is that by which the stage may be approached on its own level at three points from the orchestra rooms, (at each side and in the centre,) thus securing artists against one of the greatest trials to which they are ordinarily exposedthat of mounting steps just before singing or playing. It is especially from artists that this arrangement has already met with the warmest commendation and approval. By no other arrangement is a choir heard to such advantage, - by no other can a large number of persons be so perfectly conducted. It was after very great deliberation and patient research that this plan was elected and decided on, and there is no point in the distribution of the interior, in which the architect and directors feel more confidence than in this. A minor incidental advantage not yet named, is the fine effect on the eye. I meant to describe the eminent advantages of the auditorium over other halls known to us. But I have used too much of your space already, and will only name one particular. The corridors, which traverse the entire length of the two sides of the hall, on the three stories, giving forty-two doors of entrance to the hall, secure a complete exemption, to listeners to music or worship, from that greatest of all trials to persons possessed of nerves, of walking in the room in the midst of song or service. From the end corridor-doors, at the four corners of the hall, the entire floor can be seen at a glance, and the late-comer's modesty, as well as the audience's temper, is spared the trial of his wandering all over the house for a seat. He discovers the vacant seats from his reconnoitering hole, walks outside to the door nearest to it, and quietly takes his place without disturbing any one. E. A MUSICAL LIBRARY. We find the following in a recent number of the London Leader: "We learn from a correspondent, that LOWELL Mason, Esq., of Boston, United States, has purchased of the heirs of the late composer RINCK, of Darmstadt, the whole of his large and valuable library, and it is now en route via Rotterdam to Boston. Only lately, the Theological Library of the celebrated Neander was purchased at Rochester, New York, and we now congratulate our American friends on this new addition to their treasures, through the liberality and public spirit of the purchaser, who has done so much to create a knowledge and love of the science of music in his native city. "The library consists of "1. Various Works in the History, Biography, and General Literature of Music, including sets of the vari ous musical periodicals in Germany during the last fifty all the higher branches of the art, and who, as the successor of Mendelssohn in the direction of the famous Gewandhaus concerts at Leipsic, and, more recently, as Kapelmeister and principal of the Conservatoire at Cologne, has acquired one of the most honored names among the teachers of the art in Germany-imparted a special interest to the first performance in England of his symphony in G major. The design of Herr Hiller in this elaborate work was to convey, through the universal language of music, his impressions of country life and scenery. So far he has imitated the Pastoral Symphony of Beethoven; but with the mere design all resemblance to that immortal inspiration ceases. Herr Hiller thinks for himself, and disdains to be a copyist. As we never heard his symphony before, we cannot pretend to give a decided opinion of its pretensions as a work of art. It is enough to say that the impression we received from a first hearing was highly favorable. The opening movement, allegro con moto, ('In the fields,') delighted us by its freshness and spontaneity of thought; and the intermezzo, a lively allegretto, (In the valley,') by its quaintness and simplicity. The adagio, (In the wood,') contains some beautiful passages, amidst a prevailing vagueness of character, which a closer familiarity would, doubtless, dispel. The finale, (Upon the mountains,') a vivace movement of great vigor, appeared to us to be less immediately clear in plan than the others; nor did the principal themes impress us so strongly as those of the preceding movements. That the entire symphony, however, is the work of a master, thoroughly conversant with all the secrets of his art, cannot admit of a question." JOSEPH JOACHIM. "Of his precocious talent as a boy, of the influence of Mendelssohn upon his studies, of his appointment to share with Liszt the duties of Kapelmeister at the court of Weimar, and of his gradual advance to the high position he now enjoys in his profession, we have previously spoken, Although only twenty-one years of age, Herr Joachim enjoys the prestige of a name, and possesses the acquirements of a master. As a performer on the violin he stands in the first rank; and, as a composer, he has already won a place among those who have done much for the progress of the instrument. "The concert was of first-rate pretensions. The programme was strictly 'classical,' and one of the principal features was a grand orchestra-rivalling that of the Philharmonic Society in strength and efficiency-led by M. Sainton, and conducted by Herr Ferdinand Hiller, a musician of acknowledged eminence. The performances of Herr Joachim included: Beethoven's concerto in D, (the only one written for the violin by that great composer,) a fantasia on Hungarian airs, and a concertstück in G minor, composed by himself, and the 24th caprice of Paganini, originally intended as a solo study, to which an introduction and orchestral accompaniments have been added..... In the concertsück in G minor, which consists of a single movement, Herr Joachim has put forth all his strength as a musician, and has succeeded in producing a composition of high character and great interest, in which breadth of outline, fine melody, skilful adaptation of the passages to the instrument, and rich and elaborate orchestral treatment, are all exhibited in the most favorable manner. For mechanical difficulties, at once original and striking, the concertstück of Herr Joachim surpasses anything that has been composed for the violin, except, perhaps, the Allegro Pathétique of Ernst, to which, in other respects, it bears no resemblance.- Times. OXFORD COMMEMORATION FESTIVAL. On the first day (June 22d) was a Sacred concert in the theatre, consisting of selections from St Paul, &c. The principal singers were Clara Novello, Locky, Miss Williams, Staudigl, Sims Reeves and Mrs. Messent. - On the second day a miscellaneous Concert: Sofie Cruvelli failed to fulfil her engagement; but Mdlle. Clauss more than consoled the audience. The gem of the concert was admitted to be Clara Novello's Bel Raggio from Semiramide. Joachim's fantasia on the violin, and Bottesini's Concerto on the contra-basso were "astounding."-Musical exercises on the conferring of degrees of Doctor and Bachelor of Music followed. STERNDALE BENNETT'S CLASSICAL PIANO CONCERT The pianoforte pieces consisted of Beethoven's T D, op. 70, played by Mr. Bennett, with Messrs and Piatti; Paradies' third Son Chaconne in G; Sebasting and violin; and Mr. piano and violonce Piatti. Among th liarly interesting gotten now-a-da He was the ma "Her Matinée on Saturday last drew a full and loving audience, who welcomed with effusion the young angel of the chords; for, to say the truth, this young incarnation of the Sensitive Plant is one of the idolatries of our present season: she is one of those happy stars which, once seen, become a sentiment and a passion. Our most eminent music critic has taken her severely, but, as I believe, with the best and rarest kindness, to task, for some rather ostentatious failures in her more ambitious attempts. She is young enough in years, and, I trust, in spirit, to profit by counsels as full of generous wisdom as they are eminently deserving of respect. As for me, who merely represent the popular breath, I blow her a kiss, (she was nearly devoured last Saturday by the old ladies near the platform,) and whisper into her ear, to cultivate by self-denying and severe study a claim to that higher kind of applause which subsides into a more tranquil admiration. One rare pleasure attaches to her playing: it seems not so much an exhibition as a ministration, and this love winged by a genius so airy and so delicate will surely carry her far."-Leader, June 26. OPERA. At her Majesty's there had been little new. Mdlle. Wagner had left England sine die. At the Royal Italian, the event has been GRISI's assumption of the rôle of Fides, in the Prophète, in which the Wagner was to have made her début. (For a description of this see third page of this number.) NEW ORGAN VOLUNTARIES. JUST PUBLISHED, American Church Organ Voluntaries. CAREFULLY ARRANGED expressly for the use of Organ ists who have not had sufficient experience to extemporise with ease, by H. S. CUTLER, Organist at the Church of the Advent, and A. N. JOHNSON, Organist at Park Street Church, Boston. These Voluntaries are mostly arranged in close harmony, and can readily be played at sight by those who can play common church music. They are specially adapted to American church service with regard to length, &c. and are sufficient in number to enable any Organist to use them exclusively if desired. Price $1. Forwarded by mail, postage free, for $1.25. Published by 14 tf A. N. JOHNSON, 36 School St., opposite City Hall. LITTLE EVA. NEW & BEAUTIFUL MUSIC & POETRY. E. H. WADE, 197 Washington Street, Boston. PUBLISHER & DEALER IN SHEET MUSIC and Musical Merchandise of every description. Publisher of BERTINI'S METHOD FOR THE PIANO. New and Second Hand Pianos, bought, sold and exchanged. Cash paid for Pianos. PLANOS TO LET. E. H. Wade's Catalogue at present comprises all of the Music published by W. H. OAKES, C. BRADLEE & Co. and A. & T. P. ORDWAY, making it the largest and most valuable one in the country; which, with a large exchange list, enables him to offer every inducement to the trade, to Seminaries, to Professors and the musical public, for their patronage. Apr. 10. MUSICAL WORKS tf RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY MASON & LAW, 23 Park Row, Opposite Astor House, N. York. A Collection of Vocal Music, arranged for the use of Seminaries, High Schools, Singing Classes, &c. By GEORGE F. ROOT, Professor of Music in Rutgers and Spingler Institutes, the New York Institution for the Blind, &c. With a complete course of Elementary Instruction, Vocal Exercises, and Solfeggios, by LOWELL MASON. THE ACADEMY VOCALIST. This work is intended to supply a want long felt in our Higher Schools and Institutions. The music is arranged for three parts, and in such a manner that it may be sung exclusively by female voices or by a mixed choir. Whenever solos occur, a simple accompaniment for the Piano Forte or Melodeon has been added. The work is printed from new English type and on beautiful paper. Retail price, 62 1-2 cents. ZUNDEL'S ORGAN BOOK. By JOHN ZUNDEL. Two Hundred and Fifty Easy Voluntaries and Interludes for the Organ, Melodeon, Seraphine, &c. With Introductory Remarks, Description of Stops, Directions for the Purchase of Organs, &c., adapting the work especially to the wants of young organists, and those who have made sufficient progress to accompany plain Psalmody on the Organ, Melodeon, or Seraphine. Retail price, $1.50 THE GLEE HIVE. BOSTON ACADEMY OF MUSIC. A Collection of Glees and Part Songs, selected and arranged for the Musical Conventions and Teachers' Institutes of the Boston Academy of Music. By LOWELL MASON and GEORGE JAMES WEBB. Here are Thirty-three choice, tasteful, and sprightly Glees and Part Songs, mostly new, from the best Authors, sold at an exceedingly low price. It is just the book wanted by Singing Clubs, Societies, Classes, and the Social Circle. Retail price, 38 cents. WILDER'S SCHOOL MUSIC. A Collection of Thirty-six New and Beautiful Songs, arranged for Schools and Juvenile Classes. By L. WILDER, Teacher of Music in the Brooklyn Music Schools, &c. This work has already been adopted in the Schools of Brooklyn, New York, &c. Retail price, 18 3-4 cents. CANTICA LAUDIS: Or, THE AMERICAN BOOK OF CHURCH MUSIC. By LOWELL MASON, Professor in the Boston Academy of Music, Editor of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society's Collection, Carmina Sacra, and other of the most popular Music Books in the country; and GEORGE JAMES WEBB, Professor in the Boston Academy of Music, and Editor of many valuable Musical Works. The increased satisfaction with which it was received, and AND the unprecedented success of this book, MASON WEBB'S LATEST WORK, as well as the warm commendations it has received from the Musical Profession generally, establish it as the best and most attractive collection of Church Music which even these celebrated authors have ever produced. It contains a greater amount, as well as variety, of truly beautiful new tunes, anthems, chants, and other pieces, than any similar work; besides a copious collection of the standard old tunes. The Elements of Vocal Music have been newly and most carefully prepared, and to adapt it more particularly to CHOIRS AND SINGING SCHOOLS, about Two Hundred Solfeggio Exercises and Progressive Lessons have been added. In addition to numerous testimonials from the press, it having been pronounced the "MOST VALUABLE BOOK OF CHURCH MUSIC EVER ," it has received from every section of the country the unqualified approbation of more than ONE HUNDRED PROFES SORS AND TEACHERS OF MUSIC. Retail price, 88 cents. ISSUED, JUST PUBLISHED, MARX'S MUSICAL COMPOSITION. The Theory and Practice of Musical Composition. By ADOLPH BERNARD MARX, Doctor of Music, &c. Translated from the third German Edition, and edited by HERMANN S. SARONI. A. B. MARX holds such high rank in Germany as a writer upon the subject of Musical Composition, that any recommendation of his great work to those who are at all acquainted with the musical literature of the land which is emphatically the home of music, would be superfluous. It is without a rival as a treatise upon this subject, thoroughly scientific and yet adapted to popular comprehension. The present translation is beautifully printed in 406 octavo pages, and bound in English cloth. Retail price, $2.50. NEW HYMN AND TUNE BOOK. TEMPLE MELODIES. A Collection of nearly all the Standard and Popular Tunes, in connection with Five Hundred Favorite Hymns; arranged as a Hymn and Tune Book for Vestries, Social Meetings, Congregational and Family Worship, &c. By DARIUS E. JONES. This work has already been introduced, and is used with great satisfaction and profit in the vestries of many Churches and in the Congregations of some, while the publishers have received numerous recommendations from Clergymen and others. Those who love the old tunes, and who deem it a desirable object that as many as possible should unite in the singing, especially at social meetings, will find this exactly the book wanted. Two Editions of the Work are published · -an OCTAVO EDITION, price One Dollar; a DUODECIMO EDITION, price Seventy-five Cents. Both Editions are the same as regards contents, PAGE FOR PAGE, and vary only in the size of type. A liberal discount will be made when ordered by the quantity for Churches, Vestries, &c. tf New York, Apr. 17. NEW & VALUABLE MUSIC BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY OLIVER DITSON,....BOSTON. SPOHR'S GRAND VIOLIN SCHOOL, being an exact reprint of the latest European editions, with all the author's new revisions and improvements. Óne volume, quarto. Price, $3. Among the many peculiar excellencies of this Violin School one is remarkable, that the Elementary Instructions do not precede the practical portion of the work as in other Schools, but are combined therewith; by this union the pupil is enabled to take the Violin in hand at the first lesson; in fact, he should and must then commence with it. The author's knowledge, as observable in his Preface, is no small addition to the truly practical distinctions of this School; his style is simple, clear, noble, and elegant, alike attractive and useful as a standard to the pupil as to the master. Czerny's Exercises in Velocity. (30 Etudes de la Velocite,) preceded by Nine New Introductory Exercises, and concluded by a New Study on Octaves, (composed expressly for this edition,) for the Piano Forte. From the Nineteenth London Edition, with Notes. By J. A. HAMILTON. In three Numbers. Price of each, 50 cents. Complete in one volume, $1.25. Calculated to develop and equalize the fingers, and to insure the utmost brilliancy and rapidity of execution. NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION OF The Seminary Class Book of Music, designed for Seminaries, High Schools, Private Classes, etc., containing Elementary Instructions, Vocal Exercises, Solfeggios, and a copious selection of Secular and Sacred Songs, Duets and Trios. By E. L. WHITE and T. BISSELL. The above work has been before the public only one year, yet it has become a universal favorite, and is used in all parts of the Union. During the past year every inquiry has been made in order to ascertain in what way it could be improved and made fully equal to the wants of those for whom it is intended, and from suggestions thus obtained the publisher has been induced to add to and in other ways improve it. It is now pronounced to be exactly what is wanted, and as such it is offered to the public. The above books can be obtained in large or small quantities of the publisher, 115 Washington St., and of music dealers and booksellers generally throughout the United States 7 tf and Canadas. BERTINI'S PIANO FORTE INSTRUCTOR. A Progressive and Complete Method for the Piano Forte. By HENRY BERTINI. The only complete and correct edition published. The Modern Harp, or BOSTON SACRED MELODIST. A Collection of Church Music. By E. L. WHITE and J. E. GOULD. The Opera Chorus Book. Consisting of Trios, Quartets, Quintets, Solos, and Choruses, from the most popular Operas. By E. L. WHITE and J. EDGAR Gould. Sabbath School Lute. A Selection of Hymns and appropriate Melodies, adapted to the wants of Sabbath Schools. The Tyrolian Lyre. A Glee Book consisting of easy pieces, arranged mostly for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices, for the use of Societies, Schools, Clubs, Choirs, and the social circle. By E. L. WHITE and JOHN E. GOULD. Sacred Chorus Book. Consisting mostly of Selections from the works of HANDEL, HAYDN, MOZART, MENDELSSOHN, ROMBERG, NEUKOMM, ROSSINI, &c. &c., with an accompaniment for the Organ or Piano Forte. Suitable for singing societies, and advanced schools. By EDWARD L. WHITE and J. EDGAR GOULD. The Jenny Lind Glee Book. Consisting of the most popular Songs sung by Mad'lle JENNY LIND. By DAVID PAINE. Popular School Song Books; THE WREATH tf GEO: PREFON & CO. have just issued a new edition of the "BOSTON ACADEMY COLLECTION OF CHORUSES," price reduced from $24 to $14 a dozen. PERGOLESE'S celebrated STABAT MATER for two female voices, newly translated by J. S. 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A London Morning Chronicle. It is one of the most valuable contributions to the art.London Musical World. In regard to interest and utility it can never be surpassed.— J. A. Hamilton. It is a work of uncommon merit-one superior to all others. -Drawing-Room Journal, Philadelphia. A splendid acquisition to the list of American publications. -Philadelphia Saturday Courier. It is rapidly taking the place of all other methods.—Philadelphia Inquirer. It is calculated to impart a ready and thorough knowledge of the art.-Baltimore Patriot. A book of invaluable worth as a code of thorough systematic education.- Philadelphia Sun. It is the most complete system published.-Norfolk County Journal. We cannot too strongly recommend this excellent work.N. Y. Scientific American. The most thorough and complete work of the kind.—Mason's Choral Advocate. A deservedly popular work.-Philadelphia Mercury. Czerny can boast of having given to musical Europe Thalberg, Listz and Doehler.- La France Musicale. 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THE OPERA BEFORE MOZART. [From the "LIFE AND WORKS OF Mozart," by OULIBICHEFF.] -- I. ORIGIN OF OPERA, A. D. 1600. The application of music to theatrical representations goes back as far as these representations themselves. Already with the Greeks music was inseparable from tragedy and comedy; in the Middle Ages it bore a part in the sacred farces, which were called Mysteries, spiritual pieces and sacramental actions; at a later time they used it in interludes and masques. In the ballets they had to have it; and after the pieces had assumed a more regular character, it served, as in our days, to fill up the interacts. Sometimes too, they introduced it into a work as a supplement or an episode. But none of these applications of music in theatrical pieces produced the musical drama, or was even the beginning of the same. Neither of them was a part of the fundamental principle, that song is the natural language, or the proper form of truth in Opera, as rhythmical verse is in Tragedy, and that for this reason it must never be interrupted, lest there arise a poetic contradiction and a lie. For the rest, there was more lack of knowledge how to set about it, than of correct æsthetic ideas. As yet there was no style suited to the theatre, and no one who would have understood the need of it. The dramatic style was of no advantage, so long as music did not identify itself with action, but appeared only as something superadded, which might be introduced or left out at arbitrary pleasure. Hymns and choruses of devils in choral song, popular melodies, dancing tunes, an alternation of instruments and sometimes a sort of musical recitation, full of the most nonsensical extravagance, like the Ballet comique de la Royne, for example:* more than this the public taste did not desire, and in this spectacle everything was in perfect keeping with everything else. Poet and musician could embrace like brothers; neither had aught to object to the other, nor any cause for envy. On the whole this style was still better than the madrigal style, which prevailed on the stage toward the end of the sixteenth century, of which the Antiparnasso d'Orazio Vecchi, played in Modena in the year 1581, affords a proof. In this commedia armonica the choruses and monologue together are writter, in madrigals. Imagine the hero of the piece relating his sorrows or his love in a fugued aria for five voices! The singers were stationed behind the scenes, and the actor, who for the sake of more complete illusion had to observe a singing attitude, performed, as I suppose, a corresponding pantomime. Several noble Florentines, persons of mind and taste, with GIOVANNI BARDI, Count of VERNIO, at their head, keenly felt the ludicrousness of this application of the madrigal style to the theatre, and the injury that could not but accrue therefrom to the dramatic art. Count VERNIO and his numerous train of friends and protegès formed among themselves a literary circle, one of those thousand "Academies" with and without names, which at that time began to cover the peninsula. All these persons were Hellenists, Latinists, Bellettrists, Philologists and Archaeologists, as well as dilettanti; but it seems that these associates were far better versed in Sophocles and Euripides, than they were in counterpoint. For this reason they must have had even less taste than others for the learned music of their time, which was so little favorable to dilettantism and which, to be enjoyed, required the studies and special knowledges of a professor. Especially offensive to them was the more than inhuman treatment, to which the contrapuntists subjected the poets. We have already seen what a disturbing effect the old fugue style had, not only upon the poetic harmony, but also upon the whole grammatical construction. They repeated the words in infinitum; they lengthened out syllables without rhyme or reason; they changed long into short and vice versâ; they dis* Performed at the Court of Henry III., king of France, in 1581. NO. 16. membered phrases without any mercy; they flung into your ear at the same time the beginning, middle and end of a sentence; the text was nothing but a maimed and undistinguishable corpse, of which it might be said without metaphor: disjectæ membra poeta. For a long time had this insolent contempt, or rather this juggling with the words excited the downright ill will of the literati. To reform the misuse of the music, as it was, would have been of little consequence; the fugue in its very nature was incorrigible. They had to annihilate it; they had to create a new music, which sounded differently from counterpoint and differently from the popular melodies, since these were not worthy to be united with the noble and classic poetry, which, no doubt, our beaux esprits of Florence wrote. But whence should they derive the elements of this innovation? What model should they choose? With whom should they league themselves against the living musicians, if not with the dead, from whom all light and wisdom emanated? So they conjured up the spirit of the Greek music into the hall of the academic fraternity of the palace of Vernio, as the old lawgivers of Harmony had also done six or seven centuries before. This time the spectre answered unintelligibly to the questions put to it. They amused themselves no more with commenting upon Boethius; they let theory alone, and held on exclusively to some ideas, which appeared as certain as they were clear, and from which they could derive an immediate and practical advantage. It was then clearly proved, that the Greeks recited their theatrical pieces with musical accompaniment from beginning to end; that they possessed instruments, which supported and accompanied the voice; that their choruses sang in chorus and their principal characters alone; that their song-speech differed not much from the rising and falling of the voice in words; that they had, properly speaking, no rhythm, &c., &c. These points fixed, and under the personal guidance of Count VERNIO, VINCENZIO GALILEI, the father of the great GALILEI, and one of the most zealous champions against the music of the day, made an attempt at a Monody (song in one part, solo) or declamation by means of notes. He recited, as well as he could, a passage from Dante, the episode of Count Ugolino, accompanying himself with the lute; and the whole academy clapped its hands with rapture at the this time genuine re-birth of the ancients. All were of opinion that the modern |