even these consist in little else than the adoption from different existing copies, of those peculiarities in which each was supposed to possess the advantage. Although this work has in general been executed. with ability, and has exhibited these tunes, (with a few exceptions on which we cannot dwell,) in a form superior to the common one, yet we are not prepared to say that it has not bee carried farther than existing circumstances render expedient. When the works of foreign composers, published by themselves, as those of Madan, Miller, Arnold, Callcott, &c. were accessible, the Editors have contented themselves, almost without an exception, with giving literal transcripts from their originals. The practice has extensively prevailed, both in this country and Great Britain, of detaching pieces from the Oratorios, and secular productions of eminent musicians, newly arranging the harmony, distorting them so as to fit our church metres, and then giving them the names of the original authors. Most of the psalm tunes which have been ascribed to Handel originated in this way. This practice has been so much abused by those who were incapable of doing justice to their authors, that one is almost tempted to reprobate it in toto. Yet considering the comparative want of instrumental accompaniments to the choirs of this country, and considering that many of the finest specimens of harmony extant must be performed either not at all, or with a vocal base, we cannot indiscriminately condemn every attempt made by competent hands to place these harmonies within the reach of our choirs, although we acknowledge that in doing it the author's design is violated, and the effect will in all probability be impaired. For this reason we were not displeased with seeing a vocal base given by the Editors to the chorus of the admirable Dialogue Hymn of Burney. They have not, however, the same apology for including among the vocal parts one which was originally intended as instrumental in another chorus, that of Handel's Anthem, O praise the Lord, &c. This general error of the The work before us contains about a faber imus et ungues Exprimet, et molles imitabitur aere capillos, Infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum Nesciet." Hor. Another particular, in which some of our most respectable attempts at musical composition are deficient, is simplicity, especially simplicity of melody. However captivating those airs may sometimes be, at the first perusal, which are made up of slurs, suspensions, and transitions, such airs seldom improve on acquaintance. Their sweetness soon satiates, and finally disgusts the ear. At the same time, by this profusion of ornament, harmony is enfeebled, and all its bolder features are obscured.* This style of writing is doubtless occasionally wanted, but when it becomes predominant, it is a certain indication of a sickly and perverted taste. We cannot exemplify the faults just alluded to better than by referring our readers to two pieces of the same name, and set to the same words, by two of our most respectable composers, the Millennium of Olmsted and Hill. The former indicates a genius which, with sufficient cultivation, might have done honour to the country; but its effect, as a whole, is too much that of a series of independent tunes. The latter has strains which, taken singly, are certainly creditable to their author; but he has greatly enfeebled his harmony by the perpetual introduction of transient notes into all the parts. The relief of the whole is lost in the attempt to polish off every rough angle; and while it has all the smoothness, it has not even the expression of a plaster cast. With these pieces we would bring forward, as an object of comparison, the Ordination anthem of Mr. Hastings. As an exhibition of scientific skill it stands on much higher ground; but it is not in this respect that we wish to have them compared. It is to illustrate the effect which arises from a careful study of those important requisites, simplicity and unity. If there be any particular in which Mr. Hastings' productions are less creditable to him than another, it is in the appearance of somewhat too studied an The observations of Dr. Burney, in his History of Music, on the meretricious ornaments of Purcell's writings, are well worthy of an attentive perusal. effort to accommodate his music to the successive sentiments on which he is employed. We see nothing, indeed, like an attempt at imitation. The age of musical punning has, we suppose, gone by, along with that of the Acrostics, Bouts Rimez, &c. so finely ridiculed by Addison. But there is a nice adaptation of the expression of music to the tenor of particular word and phrases, which is short of this, but which, when carried to an extreme, degenerates into conceit and puerility.* A great master will not, for instance, always select the minor mode for a plaintive subject; nor will he of course descend into this mode, when a plaintive thought occurs in a cheerful subject. "The change of the poet's ideas," observes an eminent writer,† "provided the subject continue nearly the same, does not always require a change of the music: and if critics have ever determined otherwise, they were led into the mistake by supposing, what every musician knows to be absurd, that in fitting verses to a tune, or a tune to verses, it is more necessary that particular words should have particular notes adapted to them, than that the general tenor of the music should accord with the general nature of the sentiments." We do not mean to imply that Mr. H. has gone to a very faulty extreme in this respect; but we think that the abrupt modulation in his Trenton has something of this character,and much as we admire his Ordination anthem, there is a passage near the close which cannot be wholly exempted from the same censure. We feel little disposed to attempt any verbal criticisms on an author whose writings have afforded us so much pleasure. *This fault may be found in perfection, in an attempt, which some of our readers may have seen, to set to music a part of Collin's Ode on the Passions. Swift's Cantata is not a more ef fectual burlesque on imitation, than this piece is, refer to those anthems of Purday which have on the fault we have in our eye. We might also been republished in this country, as liable to the same objection, although in a far inferior de gree. Dr Beattie. Essays on Poetry and Music. p. 147. The closest scrutiny would not, we apprehend, detect more trespasses on the approved rules of composition in Mr. H's productions, than those works of foreign masters by the side of which they stand. There is danger, likewise, of misapplying minute criticism, as very many of those rules may be treated with some license, especially where a particular effect is intended. The observation of D'Alembert, however, ought never to be forgotten,— that none but great masters are qualified to indulge in licenses with success. The young composer is certainly safe if he adheres to rules-he may not be equally so, if he ventures on licenses, even for the sake of a particular effect. We will just glance at the principal, instances in the music of Mr. H. which have led us into these remarks. In the 3d line of Chatham, p. 88, is a progression, the legitimacy of which may perhaps be doubted. From the base we are led to expect a sequence of the g, alternating with the common chord, instead of which the tenor is protracted on the dominant so as to produce an unresolved 7th, and the air moves in such a manner as to obliterate, we think, the impression of the fundamental harmony. (The first base note of the 5th measure in the chorus should have been figured with a 3.) In Salem, 4th measure from the end, a chord of the 4 (not of transition) appears unresolved. In Portsea, 3d and 5th measures, the is suspended by a 2, without preparation, although the preparation might have been effected with little or no injury to the melody of the upper parts. The modulation in the 4th score of his Funeral An 2 them, had the flat 7th been introduced, would have been more satisfactory. At the end of the 1st line in Quito, (a piece which we understand was harmonized by Mr. H.) consecutive 5ths occur in the base and air. This is doubtless more admissible than in the middle of a strain; but it seems too great a license, especiallyas there is no rest, for simple counterpoint. The tunes called Strafford and Devonshire, are from the pen of another gen. tleman in the same vicinity; and are not unworthy of the known musical taste and acquisitions of their author. In the We may be thought to owe our readers some apology for having dwelt thus long on so small an aggregate of original music as is contained in the volume before us. It has been from the desire of leading them to weigh critically the merits of these pieces, before they consign them to the same bonfire with the great mass of American music. Even the slightest indications of native talent and exertion ought to be hailed with gratitude, and duly appreciated by the public. specimens of original composition before us, we think we perceive more. We consider them as important, chiefly from the indication they afford of what may be expected from the future labours of their authors. It is to be hoped that a candid public, instead of frowning them into silence, will regard this specimen of their talents with so favourable an eye as shall incite them to redoubled efforts, for the advancement of an art, in which the honour of our country, and the happiness of individuals, are so deeply interested. 1 Darby, in continuation of Eddy, upon the Africa, collected by Captain Riley. The natural inference, on reviewing the document, and comparing it with the circumstances under which it was collected, is, that a great degree of credit is due to the statement. None of the parties were under any visible iufluence that could induce them to forge false systems of geography. Obvious as is, however, the unbiassed veracity of Captain Riley, and his informant Sidi Hamet, their correctness has been questioned by high authority. In the XXXIV. No. of the Quarterly Review,* page 331, is announced a new servations are the following; speaking of Cap* In this Review, page 325, amongst other ob tain Tuckey's expedition up the Congo, or Zaire, it is remarked, that, "from the disappearance of the mountains, the expansion of the river, its northerly direction, the rising of its waters long before the rains set in, and from the information derived from the natives, he (Captain Tuckey,) had no doubt, it seems, of the source of the Zaire being to the northward of the line; and if any faith may be put in Sidi Hamet's Wassanah, as described by Riley, as little can we doubt that the Zaire and the Niger are the same. Riley, how ever, is a loose writer. We will not here repeat the arguments for the identity of the two rivers, of such a conclusion we may, however, safely work on Africa, entitled, "Historical Ac count of Discoveries and Travels in Africa. By the late John Leyden, M. D.; enlarged and completed to the present time, with illustrations of its Geography, and Natural History, as well as the moral and social condition of its inhabitants. By Hugh Murray, F. R. S. E. 2 vols. octavo." This work, from its title, ought to contain all that is now known with certainty respecting Africa, and no doubt affords an extensive and valuable collection of facts in regard to that immense continent. In the review of the work I have not perceived that any considerable attention has been given to the relations of the ancients. Though not acquainted with the real termination of the Niger, the geographers of Greece and Rome did evidently possess more detailed, and, in many respects, more correct knowledge of interior Africa, than the authors of modern times, until very recently. The following translation from Mentelle's Geography, Paris, 1816, will exhibit some very remarkable facts upon this subject, drawn principally from the Greek authors. "Arabian and Hebrew etymologies might throw a `strong light upon the geography of ancient Africa. We need only glance over the pages of Ptolemy and Pliny, to see the frequent recurrence of the words, or syllables, beth, or bath, a Hebrew word signifying house, bahr, an Arab word for a river, and many others. The Berberé or Barbary lan guage, probably of African origin, has a strong affinity with the Arab; the word dar, or kingdom, occurs frequently in Ptolemy and Pliny. "From the foregoing remarks, the Arab language must have been imported into Africa in times of remote antiquity. The Arabs, and their cousin-germans, the Persians and the Medes, have probably traversed Africa, from time immemo< rial, where the race of Ham, in small numbers, had to contend against ferocious beasts and the rigors of the climate. When the Mahometan fanatacism carried new Arab colonies into the interior, their authors possessed the greatest facilities in procuring information respecting the country. "As I do not understand the Arab language I will confine myself to exhibiting, in few words, how much the geography of Africa owes to the authors of that nation. "The most celebrated of these authors is Edrisi; he wrote in Sicily in the eleventh century, and his minute details in describing eastern Africa, procured him the title of the Nubian geographer. It is not a strange error, as has been magisterially pronounced by Mr. Pinker ton," that the towns mentioned by this author, who "wrote six centuries and a half ago, should be inserted in our modern maps, whilst, at present, there does not probably remain one in existence. "D'Anville knew, as well as the English writers, the force of the above reflec tion, but this geographer had, no doubt, remarked, that the African names, 'used by Pliny and Ptolemy, were in great part Arab, even beyond the limits of the Carthaginian colonies; and this circumstance concurred with many others to cause him to regard a part of the people of northern Africa as ancient Asiatic colonies; and thus, by a necessary consequence, many of the names, originating in a language so long established, ought to survive every political change. This is the best reason that could have determined D'Anville to preserve in his maps the towns, or rather the nations of Edrisi. ***Mr. Pinkerton judges Edrisi in these words: It appears, by an attentive perusal of Edrisi, that his Nile of the Negroes, which, he says, has a western |
