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ST. LOUIS, Mo., JUNE 12.- As a novel as well as amusing style of criticism, I send you the following from the Columbia Mirror (Tennessee):

"THALBERG AND VIEUXTEMPS. These distinguished individuals are now in Nashville, giving high-pressure concerts and selling tickets, when convenient, at two dollars a-piece. A stage-load and a half or two stage-loads of ladies and gentlemen went down from this place to hear them. THALBERG is said to be death, in its most horrid shape, on the piano, and it is probably true; while VIEUXTEMPS is represented as a fiddler of considerable skill, considering his opportunities, which he no doubt is. We haven't heard either of them since they were quite small; and unless they come out here and reduce the price of tickets to their value-say about sixty-two and-a-half cents per dozen-it is possible that we shan't hear them any more. When we ride forty miles, at an expense of at least ten dollars, extras not included, to hear a couple of itinerant Dutchmen torture a brace of unoffending instruments into fits, until the very spirit of music howls in sympathy, if somebody will have the kindness to cave in our head with a brick-bat, we'll feel greatly obliged to him.

But seriously. THALBERG and VIEUXTEMPS have never done us any harm that we know of, and we don't suppose they intend to. We wouldn't much mind hearing their music, for no doubt it is very nearly, if not quite, as good as that of the common run of Dutchmen, which, as the latter will tell you, is saying a good deal."

These artists gave two concerts here this week to good houses, considering the very unfavorable weather. Mme. D'ANGRI (the only new attraction) created a very favorable impression-excepting with the everlasting Rataplan," which would not go down with the St. Louis public. THALBERG and VIEUXTEMPS out-did themselves.

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Both played beautifully, and their duets were perfection. They left a more favorable impression than on their former visits. PERRING (the Tenor) was the

general favorite, being encored almost in everything he sang. The duets between Madame D'Angri and himself were really gems, and alone worth the price of admission. Taking it altogether, our generally cold audiences were more delighted with those concerts than any we have had for some time, and we hope these artists will soon visit us again.

FORMES, under the auspices of STRAKOSCH, will be here on the second and third of July. He will do well here, the German element especially will turn out in full force.

" is

NEW HAVEN, CONN., JUNE 16. The "City of Elms," as I think I have mentioned once before, can by no means lay claim to the title of a musical place. Yet the meaning of the word "concert well enough known here, to make the attendance of such an entertainment a requisite of fashion. Consequently, when sundry small advertisements in the daily papers and large placards around the streets, have duly announced the forthcoming event, and the auspicious night has arrived, students and school-girls (the chief components of society in this place) may be seen flocking in pairs, like doves to their windows, to Brewster's Hall. This latter is a very pretty, chaste-looking room, containing an organ, and capable of seating, by exact calculation, six hundred and twenty-eight persons, minus hoops. My first introduction to it was on the occasion of a concert given a few nights ago by your Germania Band, who, having been engaged for the Wooden Spoon Exhibition, took the opportunity to make themselves more generally heard. As I invariably have to buy a few months' ruralizing with the almost total loss of all musical enjoyment during the summer, I was glad of a chance to hear melody and harmony of any kind, and so, though the programme was of the lightest character, I took possession of one of the 628 seats. There were about twenty performers, who seemed to have two sets of instruments with them, which formed, respectively, a full brass band and a small orchestra. The effect of the former, in that miniature music hall, would have satisfied even friend" Trovator"; I could

Special Notices.

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF THE

LATEST

MUSIC, Published by O. Ditson & Co.

Vocal, with Piano.

Selections from "THE BUCCANEER," Grand
Tragic Opera.
G. W. Stratton.

Like as the flowret,
Flora, art thou yet true,
Ye winds of heaven,

O, let my heart be free,

25

25

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not but think of him when my ears were nearly split-
ting with the first march, and heartily wished him in
my place. Nevertheless, the brass instruments were
very finely played; much better than most of the
others, of which several, too, were sadly out of tune.
Besides sundry waltzes, galops, and polkas, among
which I noticed Musard's newest, the Champagne
Galop, Cuckoo Polka, we had an Overture or two,
one by Reissiger, and the second, not that to "Stra-
della," as was put down in the programme, but some
other, unknown to me. Sundry pot-pourris and
arrangements filled up the programme, one of the
former jumbling together, in a most unmerciful man-
ner, the Russian National Hymn, Wait for the Wag-
on, Old Folks at Home, Hail Columbia, God save
the Queen, etc., ending, of course, with "Yankee
Doodle bedevilled." Altogether, the ordering of the
programme showed no great deference for the public
taste of this city, and nowhere was this more manifest
than in the two solos; the one for Cornet-à-Piston,
played by Mr. Eichler, the other, for Violoncello, by
W. Fries. W. Eichler's performance, I regret to
say, did not make one forget König-and some of
the solo-bits for the same instrument in the ensemble
pieces were far better played. The piece, however
must be acknowledged to be entirely novel - Varia-
tions on the last new air, i. e., "the Merry Swiss
Boy." When Mr. Fries's turn came, I was all ex-
pectation, having heard so much of this gentleman
through your Journal, that I was glad to judge of
him for myself. I did not expect any very profound
composition under the circumstances, and when he
played a charming Swiss-sounding introduction, (and There is an isle, a bonny isle. Song.
Proch's " Alpen horn," or something similar. Judge
very beautifully) thought that I should perhaps hear
of my astonishment, when the "Merry Swiss Boy"
again fell upon my ear! I confess that I was not a

The fair fame which this new American Opera has
won already, after the performance of only a scanty
selection from its vocal beauties before a select few,
claims the full attention of all music lovers for these
issues, which are to be followed by others, selected and
arranged by the author. Those named above are some
of the more simple, ballad-like portions of the Opera,
but still full of real dramatic pathos and sufficiently
elaborate to excite the interest of the cultivated vocal-
ist.
J. G. Clarke. 25

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little indignant, and still consider this mode of pro-
ceeding rather an insult to the New Haven public.
What if, as was doubtless the case, half the audience
did not notice anything unusual - is this the way to
educate the public, to further the cause of good mu-
sic? It was bad enough to give one set of variations
on so trite a subject - though the latter arrangement
was really an artistic one but to bring it up twice in
one concert, that was going rather too far. I have
heard the hope expressed that this band will not come
again till they have learnt to play some new pieces.
If the general taste for music is not very much
developed here, there is still a small "Band of
Brothers," who plod quietly but unceasingly on their
way, seeking to improve themselves by constant prac-
tice, and others by letting them occasionally hear the
result of their efforts. Several "Soirées Musicales"
have been given, at private houses, this winter, the
programme of one of which is worth copying:
Wedding March, (for four hands).
Adelaide, (Vocal).

Variations for Violin and Piano.
Jubilee Overture, (for 8 hands).
Duet from Puritani, (Vocal)
Concerto for Violin and Piano.
Il Segreto, (Vocal).
Masaniello, (8 hands).

Mendelssohn.
Beethoven.
De Beriot.

Weber.
Bellini.

De Beriot.
Donizetti.
Auber.

The good has certainly the preponderance here. A small singing club, too, has been steadily practising Oratorio music for some months; they have taken "Elijah," and are now studying "St. Paul." All these are refreshing signs of an earnest striving for the good cause, and as another, I may add that I have met with quite a number of very attentive readers of the "Journal."

From the pretty village of Farmington comes the rumor that some Quartet concerts will again be given there this summer, by the same performers as heretofore. Not quite the same, either, for I much fear that Mr. Mosenthal, who is only just recovering from a dangerous illness in New York, will not yet be able to join his companions by that time.

I was not a little surprised to see "Trovator's" last letter dated from New York. Has he acted upon his Mormon Italian friend's suggestion, and brought over should not think, however, that this was the best the eight cantatrice to make his fortune for him? I season for such an enterprise.

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Bombardone Mazurka.

H. Aug. Pond. 25 For a Mazurka, which does not require much execution in the player and still sounds full and brilliant, which captivates the ear of the many, and gracefully accompanies the steps in this characteristic dance, this composition is exactly "the thing." Cradle Song, by Kücken, transcribed by Oesten. 40 A fine arrangement which fully developes the beauty of the well known air of Kucken's. French Polka.

D'Albert. 50 Sprightly and light. Excellent dance music. The title page has a likeness of the imperial prince of France, in colors, done true to life.

Fantasia on Airs from Mozart's Operas. For three Performers on One Pianoforte.

Czerny. 1,25

This veteran among the writers of piano music for the advance of pupils, has hardly written anything more indispensable to the judicious teacher than his series of concertant Fantasias for three players on one piano, which are calculated even more than duets to develop the sense of rhythm in the pupil, and teach him that firmness and equality in time, which many a ready player is so sadly wanting. The series, called the "Three Amateurs." of which this Fantasia is a number, is intended for players of some address. The other numbers, which are already published, comprise Fantasias on Airs from Norma, on Airs from Donizetti's Operas, on Irish and on Scotch Airs. Independent of this set, but of the same difficulty, there is a set of six operatic Overtures, arranged also for six hands, viz: Tancredi, Fra Diavolo, Freischutz, Don Giovanni, Alicia Schottisch. Barbiere, and Figaro, all of which are published. Forget me not Waltz.

Peach blow Schottisch.

Books.

A. Mayer. 25
A. Mayer. 25
Pond. 25

A NEW AND SCIENTIFIC SELF-INSTRUCTING SCHOOL FOR THE VIOLIN, on an entirely dif ferent Method from any work of the kind heretofore offered to the Public in this Country, intended for Beginners, Amateurs, Business Players, and Teachers. In Three Parts, Complete in one volume. By George Saunders.

This work contains a large amount of valuable instruction for all grades of violinists, and, while it furnishes the rudiments of a thorough knowledge of Violin playing to those just commencing their studies in this branch of music, it also imparts numerous hints and facts of great practical importance to advanced players The music comprises nearly two hundred popular tunes, thirteen sets of cotillons, and a good variety of Contra, Spanish, and Fancy dances, with proper figures appended.

75

WHOLE NO. 326.

BOSTON, SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1858.

To W. J. H., while playing on his Flute.

A little poem by 8. T. COLERIDGE, not found in his collected works, but preserved and published by his friend, Mr. Joseph Cottle.

Hush! clamorous cares! be mute.

ye

Again, dear harmonist, again, Through the hollow of thy flute

Breathe that passion-warbled strain: Till memory each form shall bring,

couple of little fellows, too, were helmeted and clad in armor like Roman lancers, and swung their sabres. Several children bore the habits of religious orders and church ornaments: little Capuchins, little Jesuits, little bishops with mitre and crooked staff, the cunningest and dearest little nuns, certainly not one of them over six years old. And strange to say, there were among them also some children dressed as Amorettes, with silken wings and golden quivers; and immediately about the little Savior tottered two much smaller ones, at the most four-year-old little creatures, in the old Frankish shepherd's garb, with little ribboned hats and staffs, dainty things to kiss, as marchpane dolls: they represented While near thee sits the chaste-eyed maiden mild, probably the shepherds, who stood at the manger

The loveliest of her shadowy throng;
And hope, that soars on skylark wing,
Carol wild her gladdest song!

O skill'd with magic spell to roll
The thrilling tones, that concentrate the soul!
Breathe through thy flute those tender notes again,

And bid her raise the poet's kindred strain

In soft, impassioned voice, correctly wild.

In freedom's undivided dell,

Where toil and health, with mellow'd love shall dwell,

Far from folly, far from men,

In the rude, romantic glen,

Up the cliff, and through the glade,
Wand'ring with the dear-loved maid,
I shall listen to the lay,

And ponder on thee, far away.

(Translated for this Journal.) Henri Heine about Music and Musicians. I. ROSSINI'S STABAT MATER. PARIS, middle of April, 1842. Arriving one fine day, at noon, last summer, in Cette, I saw a procession pass along the quay, before which spreads the Mediterranean sea; and never shall I forget that sight. In front marched the brotherhoods in their red, white and black attire; the penitents with their cowls drawn over their head, in which were two holes through which the eyes looked spectrally; in their hands burning wax-lights or banners of the cross. Then came the different orders of monks. Also a crowd of laity, women and men, pale, broken forms, devoutly staggering along, with a touching, sorrowful sing-song. I had often met such in my childhood on the Rhine, and I cannot deny, that those tones awakened in me a certain sadness, a sort of home-sickness. But what I never had seen before, and what seemed to be a Spanish custom, was the troop of children, who represented the Passion. A little fellow, costumed in the way the Saviour is usually depicted, the crown of thorns upon his head, whose fine golden hair flowed down mournfully long in waves, came panting along, bent under the load of an immense great wooden cross; upon his forehead were brightly painted drops of blood, and marks of wounds upon his hands and naked feet. At his side walked a little girl clad all in black, who, as the Mother of sorrows, bore several swords with gilded handles on her breast and seemed almost dissolved in tears- an image of the deepest affliction. Other little boys, who walked behind, represented the apostles, and among them Judas, with red hair and a purse in his hand. A

of the Christ-child. But would any one believe it, that this spectacle excited in the soul of the beholder the most seriously devout feelings; and the effect was all the more touching, that it was little innocent children, who were enacting the tragedy of the grandest, most colossal martyrdom! This was no aping of the matter in historic grandiose style, no wry-mouthed pietistic mummery, no Berlin make-believe of faith: this was the most naïve expression of the profoundest thought; and the condescending child-like form was just what saved the sense of the symbol from operating with an annihilating power upon our mind, or from annihilating itself. That sense indeed is so immensely mournful and sublime, that it exceeds and over-leaps the most heroicgrandiose and most pathetically exalted mode of representation. Hence the greatest artists, both in painting and in music, have thrown the charm of as many flowers as possible over the exceeding terrors of the Passion, and mitigated its bloody earnestness by playful tenderness and this is what Rossini did, when he composed his Stabat Mater.

The Stabat of Rossini was the notable event of the past season; talk about it is still the order of the day, and even the strictures passed on the great master, from the North German point of view, attest quite strikingly the originality and depth of his genius. The treatment is too secular, too sensual, too frivolous for the spiritual subject; it is too light, too agreeable, too entertaining, - such are the comments groaned out by certain heavy, tedious critics, who, if they do not purposely affect an exceeding spirituality, yet certainly torment themselves with very narrow and erroneous notions about sacred music. With musicians, as with painters, there prevails a totally false view about the treatment of Christian subjects.

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The latter believe, that the truly Christian must be represented in subtile, meagre contours, as lean and colorless as possible; the drawings of Overbeck are their ideals in this respect. To refute this delusion by substantial fact, I simply call attention to the pictures of saints of the Spanish school; here fullness of color and of contour predominate; and yet no one will deny, that these Spanish pictures breathe the most un

VOL. XIII. No. 14.

diluted Christianity, and their creators certainly were not less drunk with faith, than the famed masters who, in Rome, have gone over to Catholicism in order that they may be able to paint with more immediate fervor. It is not this outward aridness and paleness that is the sign of the truly Christian in Art; but it is a certain inward exaltation, which cannot be got by baptism nor by study, whether in music or in painting; and so I find the Stabat of Rossini really more Christian than the Paulus, the oratorio of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, which is held up by the opponents of Rossini as a model of true Christian Art.

Heaven forbid, that I should say this to dis

parage so meritorious a master as the composer

of the Paulus; and least of all could it enter the
head of the writer of these pages, to pick flaws
in the Christianity of that oratorio, because Felix
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was porn a Jew. But I
cannot help alluding to the fact, that at the age
when Herr Mendelssohn commenced Christianity
in Berlin (he was first baptized in his thirteenth
year), Rossini had already left it and had plung-
ed completely into the worldliness of operatic
music. Now, when he has abandoned this again
and dreamed himself back into the Catholic re-
collections of his childhood, into the times when
he sang as choir boy in the cathedral at Pesaro,
or served as acolyte at mass —— now, when the
old organ tones again thrill in his memory and
he has seized the pen to write a Stabat Mater:
now he does not need to first construct the spirit
of Christianity by any scientific process, still less
to be a slavish copier of Handel or Sebastian
Bach; he only needs to call up once more from
his soul those earliest sounds of childhood, and,
wonderful indeed! these tones, with all their
earnestness and depth of sorrow, powerfully as
they sob forth and bleed forth the intensest
anguish, yet retain something child-like in their
expression and remind me of the representation
of the Passion by children, which I saw at
Cette.

Nay, I involuntarily thought of this little pious
mummery, when I heard the performance of Ros-
sini's Stabat for the first time; the sublime, prodi-
gious martyrdom was here represented, but in
the most naïve tones of childhood; the fearful
plaints of the Mater dolorosa resounded, but as if
out of an innocent little maiden's throat; along
with the crape of blackest mourning rustled the
wings of all the Amorettes of loveliness; the
horrors of the crucifixion were mitigated as it
were by toying pastoral play; and the feeling of
infinity breathed over and encompassed all, like
the blue heavens, that shone down upon the pro-
cession of Cette; like the blue sea, along whose
shore it moved on singing and resounding! Such
is the perpetual graciousness of Rossini, his inde-
structible mildness, which no impresario and no
music-dealer could seriously disturb or even cloud.
Whatever mean and base tricks may have been
played him in his life, we find no trace of gall in
any of his musical productions. Like that spring

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of Arethusa, which preserved its original sweetness, although it had passed through the bitter waters of the sea, so, too, Rossini's heart kept its melodious loveliness and sweetness, although it had drunk pretty deeply out of all the wormwood cups of this world.

As I have said, the Stabat of the great maestro was this year the prominent musical event. About the first execution, which set the tone for all the rest, I need not speak; enough, that the Italians sang. The hall of the Italian Opera seemed the fore-court of heaven; there sobbed holy nightingales and flowed the fashionablest tears. The journal La France Musicale, too, in its concerts, gave the greatest part of the Stabat, and, of course, with immense acceptance. these concerts we heard also the Paulus of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who by this very proximity, claimed our attention and of himself provoked comparison with Rossini. With the mass of the public this comparison was by no means advantageous to our young countryman; it was like comparing the Appennines of Italy with the Templower mountain near Berlin. But the Templower mountain has its merits none the less, and it wins the respect of the multitude by the fact that it has a cross upon its summit. "Under this sign thou shalt conquer." Surely not in France, the land of infidelity, where Herr Mendelssohn has always made fiasco. He was the sacrificed lamb of the season, while Rossini was the musical

by chance. Hard by, an accessory Gothic building a work in detail is here impossible. Enough to say,
that the former is divided into three parts.-Part the
has been erected. This has enabled the architect to
plan a pair of capital entrances with two separate first includes the King's jealousy and madness,-the
staircases and a series of smaller chambers, which, spell of David's harp,-the avowal of Michal's love
besides being picturesque, are invaluable on all fes- for him, David's expulsion,-and Samuel's pro-
tive occasions. The new work, within and without, phecy. Part the second, and longest, shows us
is alike solid and in good keeping. The lighting of David among the shepherds,-Samuel's anointing of
the hall is, by daylight, sufficient; by night, splendid, | him,--Saul at battle, in the cave at Ziklag,-Samuel's
thanks to its six stately chandeliers in the fantastic death,-and "the improvement on this," to use the
German style. It will accommodate on the ground- phrase of our old divines. Part the third brings us
floor some fifteen hundred persons with ease. In on the dangerous ground of Endor and its witchcraft,
short, a more magnificent and thoroughly character--the battle on Gilboa,-David's lament for Saul
istic concert-hall could not be imagined, nor, it may
be asserted, exists in Europe.-Its roe's egg is an
organ,-but this, it may be hoped, will be presently
added.

The programme of this year's Cologne Festival and
the names of the solo artists have already been given
in the Athenæum. The orchestra was an excellent
one-numbering 150 performers, who played Beet-
Bad Weath-
hoven's "Eroica" Symphony and the "
In
ers" prelude to Mendelssohn's "Walpurgis Night,'
as those works can only be played in Germany, with
the relish given only by nationality, and with which
no stranger can intermeddle. The chorus-500
strong was a very fine one, as regards its deliciously
fresh soprani and basses,-the alti being more tone-
less and the tenors weaker than the other two voices.
Some want of effect-some slight uncertainties of
attack-may be ascribed to the great breadth of the
orchestra and the placing of many of the chorus in
the side aisles, but this arrangement could easily be
remedied another time. On the whole, however, the
chorus offered no great matter for envy to the Eng-
lish visitor, save, perhaps, in that zeal which can only
belong to those who sing together more rarely than
our overworked thousands do.-Herr Hiller is an ex-
cellent conductor, with a slight tendency to heavi-
ness, a skilful, without being too skilful, disciplinarian
at rehearsals. On him, too, as a composer, a special
interest has centred this year by the grand perform
ance (its second) of his new oratorio, "Saul."

lion, whose sweet roar still resounds. It is said

here, that Herr Felix Mendelssohn will come to Paris in these days. So much is certain; by much'expenditure and diplomatic labors, M. Leon Pillet has got so far as to order a libretto to be prepared by Scribe, which Herr Mendelssohn is to compose for the Grand Opera. Will our young countryman come out successful from this task? I know not. His artistic gift is great; yet it has very considerable gaps and limits. I find in respect of talent a great resemblance between Herr Felix Mendelssohn and Mlle. Rachel Felix, the tragic artist. Peculiar to them both is a great, severe, most serious earnestness; a decided, almost importunate leaning upon classic models; the finest and most intellectual calculation, sharpness of understanding, and finally an entire want of naivetè. But is there such. a thing in Art as genial originality without naivete? The case has never yet occurred.

Whitsuntide Festival at Cologne.

(From the London Athenæum, May 19.) How near to, how far from, London is the City of the Three Kings !-distant nineteen and a half hours only by the aid of steam, which hurries one through the fields of Belgium, just now fat with high green corn,-down the valley of the Vesdre, yellow with the young oak-shoots,-and across the plain on the brink of the Rhine, from which the fruit-blossom has hardly faded. How remote is the look of the flourishing old Catholic city, and are the ways of its rough, but thoroughly cordial people! But neither London nor England has such a concert-hall, with its appliances, to show as the old Gürzenich Hall at Cologne is now, in its altered state. That antique chamber has been raised to almost double its former height. This rendered necessary the abolition of one characteristic feature-the row of pillars which divided the room lengthwise; since Prudery's self could not have dreamed of heightening these. Everything has been done in the best possible taste. The hall, taking the form of a nave, with shallow side aisles, is pillared with oak, and has an elaborate wooden roof in the style of that of Westminster Hall. Strange to say, it is none the worse as a room to sing and play in for all its arches, and recesses, and pendants, and beams, and traceries, thus proving once again that resonance does not go by receipt, but

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subject treated by Handel. Ingenious and something
It is no light task for any man to treat anew a
more as is the "Jephtha" of Herr Reinthaler, he has
to fight against such immortalities as "Deeper and
The smiling dawn," " "Happy they,"
deeper still,"
and "Farewell, ye limpid springs."-So again,
though the Saul' of Handel is neglected for the
present among Handel's oratorios, it has pages, com-
binations, and scenes which, in music, will only die
when Lear's madness dies in Tragedy, or Portia's
noble grace in Drama. David's song, with which the
madness of Saul is beguiled; the Choruses (how dif
ferent!) "Envy, eldest-born of Hell," on its ground
bass; and "Welcome, mighty kings," with its chime;
-the wondrous invocation of the Witch of Endor
(which cries aloud for Madame Viardot to disinter
it)-and that noblest of dirges "In sweetest har-
mony," offer terrible stumbling-blocks to any new
aspirant; because they remind the world (as has been
elsewhere said) that Handel was always greatest in
the greatest scenes,-and in this was the greatest of
artists. Sometimes careless-often unscrupulous-
always rapid-incomplete (as the jargon is)-he is
never weak when strength was wanted-never insuf-
ficient nor inexpressive when the strongest emotions
and passions, which “Music can raise or quell," came
under his ken. Hence, did we write music, we
should dread to venture on Handel's ground. Others
-Handel's countrymen especially-seem to have less
misgiving; perhaps because they know these immor-
tal works less than we English do; perhaps because
they do not consider any musical Macbeths' or
'Othellos' as final. So be it. They are right in so
far as they can assert themselves; and we must en-
deavour to take their view.

Herr Hiller, however, has hardly had a fair chance
in his attempt to re-set Saul.' His poet, Herr Hart-
mann, does not seem to have appreciated the difficulty
of this striking Biblical episode as subject for a long
musical work, in its want of prominent female inter-
est. In Handel's case this was met by giving to
Michal a large allowance of that solfeggio music
which now would hardly pass, were there even a new
Handel to make it interesting-and by writing the
part of David for a mezzo-soprano voice. Here we
have no equivalent for these devices, and the conse-
quence is undue preponderance of masculine tone.
A like disproportion (in spite of the beauties prodig-
ally lavished over every bar of the opera) hangs to
a certain degree as a dead weight on Guillaume
Tell.' Herr Hiller, we are sure, will take it for no
disparagement to be told that he is less able to dis-
pense with aids and suggestions than Signor Rossini.
If his oratorio sound too long, it may be owing to
his want of due scrutiny before he began to write,
not because he has failed to write well, and to write
though an eclectic-in a way of his own. To
analyze either the book or the music of so elaborate

and Jonathan (more dangerous ground still,) and his reception as king of Israel. The small part originally destined for Jonathan has been retrenched to nothing since the first performance, and the weight of the work lies on the insane monarch and the Psalmist-King of Israel.

Both these two men have been well characterized in music by Herr Hiller:-David, by a flow of sweet and pious melody, to which the harp, titly, mostly bears company; Saul, by that lurid and imperious music with which it seems not hard to fit a bass voice. Michal is treated with less decision,-the case being one in which the musician must color the character, not the character inspire the musician. The weird woman of Endor does not make us forget Handel's air adverted to; but a truly ghostly tone is thrown over the apparition of Samuel by a phrase repeated to monotony, and scored with lugubrious

instruments.

The oratorio is strong and various in its choruses, -some half-score of which are capital; bold in idea, vigorous in construction, and massive in force of sound. In particular may be mentioned two very delicate choruses for female voices alone in the first Part-then, one after David has been saved from the King's javelin,-a cheerful and stout shepherd chorus, following his consecration by Samuel,another, of David's followers when Saul is found sleeping, which is dramatic,-one, very delicious in nine-eight (Herr Hiller seems more than usually fond the second Part, the close of which is pompous and of triple rhythms),-and the grand chorus closing large. In the third Part, one of the most remarkable features is the music to the battle on Gilboa, which is watched by women. Here the instrumentation is rich, the stir perpetual, and the use of merely the shrill female voices through a long and rapid movement heavily scored amounts to a new eflect. David's lament, too, is one of the best numbers of the work, which winds up with a Hallelujah' in a new form. This last, however, would gain in brightness, were the solo, to which the chorus replies, transferred from the tenor to the soprano voice. Throughout the oratorio the instrumentation is highly colored, solid (not excluding picturesque effect), and masterly. The style, to sum up, is modern, without being profane-dramatic, but nowhere theatrical. There are few or no fugues; their absence, however, is obviously caused by no deficiency in contrapuntal science, neither by want of power to originate those clear and tractable phrases on which alone fugues can be successfully built.

Herr Hiller's

went on.

Saul' offers difficulties to the performers. On the whole, it was well performed. As meriting praise, the orchestra comes first, which went through its duty with true German fervor. In the chorus, the bell-clear soprano voices predominated so largely above the other three parts of the quartet that the beauty of their sound, which at first seemed charming, became importunate as the performance The part of David gives us occasion to mention the good progress made by Herr Schneider. Six years ago, when we ventured to prophesy on his capabilities, he was second tenor in the Leipsic theatre, and was there little regarded, because others bawled more loudly than he. His voice, always a sweet one, has gained volume without losing sweetness, his expression is good, without that sickliness which too many of his tenor countrymen mistake for sentiment. He is the most pleasing artist of his class in Germany that we know of, and as steady in his music as pleasing. Herr Stepan, the bass, did his best as Saul,-and worked out some of the scenes with fair dramatic truth, laudably, the while, clear of exaggeration. Mdlle. Krall, the Michal, sang better than she did when in London. Malle. Jenny Meyer, from Berlin, was the mezzo-soprano, her voice being hardly deep enough in quality to be called a contralto. This young lady has a future before her, if she choose to take it. She is young,-pleasing in appearance, and with a certain refinement of manner promising intelligence. Her voice, too, is tuneable and full, without extraordinary power,-a voice worth firstclass training. This, we imagine, it has hardly yet received, to judge from the manner in which certain of her notes are arrived at, not attacked,---a defeat easily to be cured in one so young, but, which, if it be not amended, may bring her into the category of

impassioned ladies, who sigh, or scream, or sob, but cannot sing. Malle. Meyer does not seem at present to command much execution-but she does not attempt much; and her feeling is true and intelligent. As a new comer she cannot fail to impress every hearer hopefully.

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The programme of the second days's concert was a magnificent one. It was well worth the fatigue of a flight to Cologne in the midst of our season to hear the Credo of the Mass in B minor, by Sebastian Bach, so excellently sung-in itself amounting to a complete work; and in its choruses, "Et incarnatus and "Et resurrexit," rising higher than its composer anywhere rose in his preferred PassionsMusik.' The Credo,' however, would gain by the omission of the solo clauses. There is little music in being more dryly mechanical than the duct for two female voices, "Qui propter." There is no solo, by the most frivolous modern Italian composer, in which the music bears less relation to the words, than the long and tormented pastorale, "Et in Spiritum Sanctum," for a bass voice. Hard labor was it for the singers to force their way through these utterly inexpressive pieces, and a slight pause sufficient to detach chorus from chorus, would be more welcome than any attempt to execute what, at best, is unmeaning, and therefore ineffective. The second item was a selection of scenes from the second and third acts of Gluck's 'Armida.' Grander concert-music for a festival could not be devised than Armida's Invocation to Hate,' and her answer, chorused by her attendant fiends,-nor lovelier airs for singers of the highest quality than Armida's soliloquy or Rinaldo's enchantment in the faëry garden (which last, by the way, was very well rendered by Herr Schneider). Never could rapturous applause have been better deserved-so noble, indeed, was the effect that our conductors and festival committees may be justifiably urged to try something of the kind. Gluck's music, be it noted, demands a powerful and brilliant force of stringed instruments, as well as of chorus :-better, therefore, not attempt it at all than to give it on a small scale. It is fresco-Art in opera,-but richer in color and more seductive in beauty than any frescopainting in being. The rest of this superb concert was made up of the 'Sinfonia Eroica' and the 'Walpurgis Night.'

The third, or Artists' Concert, though commanding the largest crowd, is habitually the least interesting one to the English stranger, who is familiar with ter things than the best which these German committees, with their limited means and low prices of admission, can compass. On the miscellaneous selection at Cologne, there is no need to dwell: the artists who are unfamiliar to London having been already spoken of.

ies' Hall notoriety, cannot be countenanced by the votaries of aesthetic pursuits. All this may be urged by the crudite stickler for conventionalities and accepted by others of his class, but the world will go on believing, as it now believes, that truthfulness to nature is the vitality of Art; that music is only true to its high mission when it expounds the subtle philosophy of the soul, the language of the heart, the mystery of the senses, with the infinite emotions, passions, thoughts, which constitute the nature of man; and that whether the instrument which subserves this purpose chances to be a lyre or a banjo, or whether the people whose lives and emotions are thus perpetuated be the highest or the lowest type of the human family, the result is still the same, differing only in the standard of its influence and the character which that influence assumes. Absurd as may seem negro minstrelsy to the refined musician, it is nevertheless beyond doubt that it expresses the peculiar characteristics of the negro as truly as the great masters of Italy represent their more spiritual and profound nationality. And although the melody of "Long-tailed Blue" may not possess the intellectual properties of an aria by Bellini, yet it will contain as much truth to the humanity of which it assumes to be the exponent, and quite as much enthusiasm will be manifested by its listeners.

Whether the black opera originated in Numidia, or
on the banks of the Nile, history nor tradition saith
not. Its first appearance in “good society" may be
set down to 1822, when, in a drama produced at
Drury-lane Theatre, in London, Dibdin introduced
the character of a negro, who, in the course of the
piece, sang a ballad, of which we give one stanza:

"Ribal King he make great strife,
Gumbo dad, him life to save,
Sell pickaniny, crown and wife.
And poor Gumbo for a slave!
Cruel ting of dam ole King,
But Gumbo dry him tear, and sing
Dingie, jingle, tangaro."

The "dingle, jingle, tangaro" is the only portion
of this composition which smacks of originality; the
rest was tame and vapid, but suited to the audience
for which it was intended. About the same time
O'Keefe, in the operetta of Paul and Virginia, bor-
rowed the idea of a colored solo, and gave a very
passing and characteristic melody. Subsequently,
Carney Burns, the clown of a circus company per-
bet-forming at the Park Theatre, sang, between the acts,
a composition which he termed Gumbo Chaff."
Its popularity was immediate, and the eccentric Car-
ney instantly became an object of considerable im-
portance; but the appearance, during the same season,
of an illustrious competitor for the palm of negro
lyricism caused his star to fade and gradually disap-
pear. It was at this epoch that Mr. T. Ď. Rice
made his debut in a dramatic sketch entitled "Jim
Crow," and from that moment everybody was "doing
just so," and continued “doing just so for months,
and even years afterward. Never was there such an
excitement in the musical or dramatic world; nothing
was talked of, nothing written of, and nothing
dreamed of, but "Jim Crow." The most sober citi-
zens began to "wheel about, and turn about, and
jump Jim Crow." It seemed as though the entire
population had been bitten by the tarantula; in the
parlor, in the kitchen, in the shop and in the street,
Jim Crow monopolized public attention. It must
have been a species of insanity, though of a gentle
and pleasing kind, for it made hearts lighter, and
merrier, and happier it smoothed away frowns and
wrinkles, and replaced them with smiles. Its effects
were visible alike on youth and age.

The Festival, let it be repeated, was well worth the labor of a visit: interesting in the comparisons naturally excited,-pleasant as bringing together old friends, and as affording an opportunity of making new ones; and made especially cheerful by the ready courtesy of all concerned in its management. Surliness himself could hardly find himself a stranger or solitary on such an occasion. With regard to the professional criticisms and bickerings and rivalries which came to the surface,-possibly inevitable, in a country made up of small independent musical principalities,-what shall be said, save that they form as constant a feature in a Whitsuntide Rhine Festival as the garlands which hang the roof-tree, or the Maitrank in its tipsy looking-glass-barrels-insidious beverage!-of which one drinks twice, to repent the whole day after. German unity is a strange thing; but, in music at least, its dislocation is perhaps after all an affair of argument rather than of opinion,—of talk for talking's sake rather than of active dissent and discord. The "ifs" and the "buts,"the whisperings in corners,-the onslaughts across the supper-table,did not prevent this Festival at Cologne from being numerously attended and cordially enjoyed-as, in truth, it well deserved to be-by every one present at it.

The Black Opera.

(From the N. Y. Tribune, June 30, 1855.)

If the lyricism of Stersichorus or of Anacreon be regarded as an embodiment of the characteristic sentiments of the ancients; if the genius of Alcaus and of Sappho perpetuated the mysterious music of the olden fine, unvoiced before-why may not the banjoism of a Congo, an Ethiopian or a George Christy, aspire to an equality with the musical and poetical delineators of all nationalities? It may indeed be urged that the banjo is not as classical an instrument as the lyre of the ancients-that the metrical compositions of the colored race and their imitators fall a trifle beneath the standard of excellence at which custom has rated the poets of antiquity that the use of the jaw-bone and bellows, of Mechan

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The success of Mr. Rice called out numerous imitators. Sittin' on a rail,' 'Getting up stairs," "Long-tailed blue," "Zip Coon,' etc., succeeded each other rapidly, and for the time being, Negro Minstrelsy was the ruling power. "Goosey Gander,'

and " Old Dan Tucker came afterward-and who is there that cannot recollect the enthusiasm with which the first appearance of "Dandy Jim" was hailed? How often that colored gentleman came from "Caroline," it would be impossible to estimate, but we suppose it would bear comparison with the number of occasions on which the ancient and venerable darkey was made to sing "Carry me back to old Virginny." The homeliness, the truthfulness of these compositions, established their popularity. There was nothing factitious in them; they filled a void in public amusement, which was beginning to be sensibly experienced, and from their very naturalness appealed to the sympathy of the multitude. Partic ularly was this the case with the younger portion of our population, most of whom have grown up to be men and women since then. For if the songs were of a humorous character, it was humor of a positive, gushing kind-boisterous fun, just suited to the nature of youth, and not without its effect upon the risibilities of the oldest; or if the air was a saddened one,

there was a pathos in its mournful simplicity, quite as impressive as any waves of melody which ever gushed from the soul of a composer. Who has not often observed the tear of sensibility moistening the cheek of youth, while listening to the primitive strains of Uncle Ned "-that poor old colored gentleman, who has gone "where the good darkies go? Ah, those tears constituted one of the blessings of that youth, which has now departed. Sorrow and disappointment have doubtless weighed heavily upon many a heart since that spring of life passed away, with its smiles and tears. We can no longer smile at "Lucy Neal," nor weep at the pathetic story of "Uncle Edward." And, in the meantime, has there been no change in the feelings of the true originators of this music-the negroes themselves? Are the great mass of those held to labor on Southern plantations the same careless, brutalized race they were

twenty years ago? We believe not. Let the Southern traveler of to-day compare notes with one who went over the ground even ten years ago, and he will find a striking change in the mental characteristics of this unhappy people. The gay laugh and cheerful song are not heard with former frequency; there is less of that noisy exuberance which not long since was regarded as a trait in the African disposition. The old, unmeaning compositions of the plantation have fallen into disuse, and if they sing now there is memory in their songs. Plaintive and slow, the sad soul of the slave throws into his music all that gushing anguish of spirit which he dare not otherwise express. And yet the careless reviewer of events, observing not the causes or consequences, mourns what he terms the decadence of national negro minstrelsy!

The "Virginia Minstrels" was the first organized band of performers that appeared in public. This comprised the following individuals, who have since enjoyed considerable notoriety in their vocation : Dan Emmett, Whitlock, Pelham, Frank Brower, E. P. Christy and George Christy. The Company afterward changed their appellation to "Christy's Minstrels." The first performance they gave was in Water Street, Buffalo, 1842. Being very successful in the new experiment, they traveled through the West and South, where George Christy acquired that intimate knowledge of negro character which has since made his performances so acceptable. It was in Lexington, Kentucky, that he first saw the jaw-bone and bellows accompaniment introduced by a juvenile specimen of the African race, and he was the first who used these doubtfully melodious instruments in the concert-room. E. P. Christy was among the first to harmonize songs for public performance. We can well remember when the well-known ditty of "Lucy Long" made its appearance, and with what success its author, night after night, informed the audience that he had-

Just come out afore you
To sing a little song;
I plays it on the banjo,

And they call it Lucy Long."
Among the most successful writers of Negro Songs
may be mentioned Mr. Silas Steele, Cool White,
Stephen C. Foster, and George Washington Dixon.
The last named individual is well known to Gotham-

ites, both for his musical and literary proclivities.
He was one of the earliest votaries of the colored
opera, and his muse was among the first employed in
its behalf. While performing at the Park Theatre he
introduced the Ching-a-ring Chaw," which after-
ward became so popular:

"Broder, let us leabe Bucra land for Hettee,
Dar we be receibe gran as La Favet-te;

Make a mighty show, when we land from steamship,

I be like Munro, you like Louis Philippe.

On dat equal sod, who no want to goe,

Dar we feel no rod, dar we hab no foe,

Dar we lib so fine, wid our coach and hos-se,

And ebery time we dine. hab one, two, tree, four cos-se.
Ching-a-ringer, ring, ching, ching,

Ho a.ding, a-ding, kum darkee:
Chinger ringer, sing ching chaw,
Ho, ah, ding kum darkce."

This has the ringing sound of true metal. A long residence in the South doubtless furnished the material for many of the productions of the erratic Dixon, whose life was so checkered and full of incident. The "Coal Black Rose" was another of his popular melodies:

"Lubly Rose, Sambo eum,

Don't you hear the banjo-tum, tum, tum,
Lubly Rose, Sambo cum,

Don't you hear the banjo-tum, tum, tum,
Oh, Rose, de Coal-Black Rose,

I wish I may be burnt if I don't like Rose.
Oh, Rose, &c."
This was a duct, sung by the author and a Mr. Lei-
cester, and always with the most happy effect. Christy
composed the next musical popularity, "The "Yaller
Girls." which was followed by Charley White's
"Bowery Girls." The rivalry existing between these
musical belles was excessive; but the public finally

decided in favor of the "Bowery Girls," and from that time forth the number of occasions upon which they were asked if they purposed "coming out to-night,' would be impossible to enumerate.

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The first company of Minstrels established in this City was that under the management of Mr. E. P. Christy, in 1846. Their performances were given at Palmo's Opera-House-now Burton's Theatre. Finding their popularity on the increase, and seeing a prospect of establishing themselves permanently in the Metropolis, they shortly afterward removed to Mechanics' Hall, which they have since occupied. It is scarcely necessary to speak of the success which attended the experiment. In the year 1852 the number of concerts given by this Company was sixtynine, and the receipts amounted to $1,848; in 1853, the number of concerts given was 312, and the amount of receipts was $47,972. The intermediate years corresponded in success with the last. Mr. E. P. Christy retired from the business in the possession of a fortune, leaving it to be carried on by George Christy in connection with Mr. Henry Wood. George had long been popular with the New-York public, and his career bids fair to be as successful in a financial point of view as that of his predecessor.

The Buckley Family were among the pioneers of negro minstrelsy. Their first appearance was in the Tremont Temple, Boston, in 1842, under the name of "Congo Melodists," and proved immensely successful. Subsequently they travelled through the South and West, and in 1846 visited England, where they performed successively at Drury-lane and the Princess's Theatres. Returning to New-York, they located themselves in the Chinese Assembly Rooms, where they have since continued to produce burlesque operas, and become very popular with our citizens. The Buckleys consist of James Buckley, the father, and three sons- -Richard, George Swaine and Frederick. Winnemore was formerly a member of this company, and early contributed to its success. They are at present assisted by persons of considerable taste and skill, and the entertainments which they nightly present attract numerous and respectable audiences.

There are at present a great many companies of negro minstrels performing through the country, the most celebrated of which are Christy's, Buckley's, White's, Ordway's, Campbell's, Peel's, Kunkle's, and the Empire Band. In fact minstrelsy has become a permanent institution in our society, and will undoubtedly maintain its position for many years to come. There is some truth in the assertion that the music has deteriorated. We find that Miss Naneyism of vulgarity assuming a place in the concert room among the votaries of burnt cork, bones, and banjos. The sickly sentimentality which has of late characterized the productions of the majority of these companies, as well as the wholesale plagiarism of music now systematically pursued, has had the effect of injuring the claims of minstrelsy to originality. Let us hope that this will not be longer tolerated by the directors of the colored opera. Instead of adapting trashy words to some defunct Scotch or German melody, let the aspirants after this species of lyric fame mingle with its originators and draw inspiration from a tour through the South and West. There is plenty of material to work upon; and there is certainly no scarcity of room for improvement.

The Philadelphia Musical Fund Society.

[From Fitzgerald's City Item.]

This old and honored association occupies a distinguished place among the multifarious institutions for which Philadelphia is widely famed. Few of our citizens, it is probable, know what the Musical Fund Society actually is; what its end and aim are; or what is the precise nature of the work it is doing. Everybody is aware that the Society has a building devoted to its objects, with a grand saloon which has always been, and is at this day, the most favorite musical hall in the city. It has been pronounced by fastidious musicians the most perfect saloon, in an acoustic sense, on the continent, and artists have frequently asserted that Europe can boast of very few superior to it. Its simple, refined elegance, and its comfortable accommodations have endeared it to the people above all other public saloons. Everybody, too, is aware that the Musical Fund Society give annually a series of concerts, which are among our most popular and fashionable entertainments. Indeed, they constitute one of our few purely local musical attractions.

The Musical Fund Society was instituted on Feb. 29th, 1820, and finally incorporated on Feb. 22d, 1823, so that it has now attaiued the hale and hearty age of thirty-five years. The essential objects of the corporation are the relief of old, feeble, invalided, or incapacitated musicians and their families, and the cultivation of skill, and diffusion of taste, in music.

you see, as true in the fire of the meerschaum as in the sunshine of October! And then the cumulative wealth of its fragrant reminiscences! he who inhales its vapors takes a thousand whiffs in a single breath; and one cannot touch it without awakening the old joys that hang around it, as the smell of flowers clings to the dresses of the daughters of the house of

Farina!

*

*

The members of the Society are divided into two classes. One is styled the class of amateurs. No pecuniary relief is granted from the corporate funds, unless the applicant for the same shall have been a member of the class of professors during at least three years immediately preceding his or her application, or unless the applicant is the widow or child of a deceased member to whom, at the time of his or her decease, relief might have been granted. The Society has the power to confer academic degrees in Violins, too, the sweet old Amati!-the divine music, also to establish schools for musical culture. Straduarius! Played on by ancient maestros until The corporation is governed by a Board of twenty- the bow-hand lost its power and the flying fingers four directors, who hold office for a term of three stiffened. Bequeathed to the passionate young enyears, and are divided into three classes, eight direct-thusiast, who made it whisper his hidden love, and ors serving for each year, This board elect annu- cry his inarticulate longings, and scream his untold ally, on the second Tuesday in May, from their own agonies, and wail his monotonous despair. Passed number, a President and Vice-President, a Treasurer from his dying hand to the cold virtuoso, who let it and Secretary, and such other officers as the Board slumber in its case for a generation, till, when his or the Corporation may decide upon. Four Stand- hoard was broken up, it came forth once more and ing Committees are also yearly appointed by the rode the stormy symphonies of royal orchestras, beBoard of Directors, viz: a Committee of Admission, neath the rushing how of their lord and leader. Into a Committee of the Fund, a Committee of Relief, lonely prisons with improvident artists; into conand a Committee of Music. Their titles indicate, vents from which arose, day and night, the holy clearly enough, the duties and offices of these com- hymns with which its tones were blended; and back mittees. Every professional member of the Society again to orgies in which it learned to howl and langh is subject to an annual contribution of ten dollars. as if a legion of devils were shut up in it; then If any professional member is in needy circum- again to the gentle dilettante who calmed it down stances, and is disabled by age, sickness, or accident, with easy melodies until it answered him softly as in from attending to his business, his case is carefully the days of the old maestros. And so given into our examined into by the Committee of Relief, who rehands, its pores all full of music; stained like the port the circumstances to the Board of Directors, meerschaum, through and through, with the concenwho grant to the distressed member a certain weekly trated hue and sweetness of all the harmonies that allowance. If a member dies, his widow or children, have kindled and faded on its strings. if left destitute, are granted a like weekly allowance. If a poor member is attacked by sickness, an investigation into the case is made and the advice and attendance of one of the regular physicians of the Society (of whom there are two, duly appointed,) are procured for him, and pecuniary assistance is also rendered, if required. In case of the death of a member in needy circumstances, the funeral expenses are defrayed by the Society; if the wife or child of a poor member dies, similar relief is given.

Thus, it will be seen, the Musical Fund Society is fulfilling a most charitable, humane, and beautiful mission. The vicissitudes of a professional musician's life, in this country, are far greater and more fearful than the public, who get the benefit of his genius and labors, have any adequate conception of. It is extremely hard for an artist to obtain, even by the most diligent toil and unswerving effort, a decent subsistence for himself and those who are dependent upon him. If overtaken by age, sickness, or calamity of any description, his situation is indeed pitiable and melancholy. Without the merciful assistance of some such noble and benign agency as the Musical Fund Society, he must starve, beg, or die a miserable death, leaving the family he has to the chance kindness and protection of a world that is not especially notorious for sympathy and generosity. There is a "fate of genius," although stupid creatures, with a painfully cheerful and contented disposition, will not see it nor try to avert it.

The Musical Fund society have expended during the term of their existence, nearly thirty thousand dollars in relief of decayed musicians, their widows and orphan children. During the past few years the relief extended has amounted to over fifteen hundred dollars per annum. Surely an institution that accomplishes such a large and glorious work as this, should have the cordial support of the community of which it is such a shining ornament.

Violins and Poems.

Among the many fine things with which the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" continually regales the readers of the Atlantic Monthly, is the following about three good things which grow more good by use:

You don't know what I mean by the green state? Well, then, I will tell you. Certain things are good for nothing until they have been kept a long while; and some are good for nothing until they have been long kept and used. Of the first, wine is the illustrious and immortal example. Of those which must be kept and used I will name three,—meerschaum pipes, violins, and poems. The meerschaum is but a poor affair until it has burned a thousand offerings to the cloud-compelling deities. It comes to ns without complexion or flavor,-born of the sea-foam, like Aphrodite, but colorless as pallida Mors herself.

Now I tell you a poem must be kept and used, like a meerschaum, or a violin. A poem is just as porous as the meerschaum;-the more porous it is, the bet ter. I mean to say that a genuine poem is capable of absorbing an indefinite amount of the essence of our own humanity,-its tenderness, its heroism, its regrets, its aspirations, so as to be gradually stained through with a divine secondary color derived from ourselves. So you see it must take time to bring the sentiment of a poem into harmony with our nature, by staining ourselves through every thought and image our being can penetrate.

Then again as to the mere music of a new poem; why, who can expect anything more from that than from the music of a violin fresh from the maker's hands? Now you know very well that there are no less than fifty-eight different pieces in a violin. These pieces are strangers to each other, and it takes a century, more or less, to make them thoroughly acquainted. At last they learn to vibrate in harmony, and the instrument becomes an organic whole, as if it were a great seed-capsule that had grown from a garden-bed in Cremona, or elsewhere. Besides, the wood is juicy and full of sap for fifty years or so, but at the end of fifty or a hundred more gets tolerably dry and comparatively resonant.

Don't you see that all this is just as true of a poem? Counting each word as a piece, there are more pieces in an average copy of verses than in a violin. The poet has forced all these words together, and fastened them, and they don't understand it at first. But let the poem be repeated aloud and murmured over in the mind's muffled whisper often enough, and at length the parts become knit together in such absolute solidarity that you could not change a syllable without the whole world's crying out against you for meddling with the harmonious fabric. Observe, too, how the drying process takes place in the stuff of a poem just as in that in a violin. Here is a Tyrolese fiddle that is just coming to its hundredth birthday,-(Pedro Klauss, Tyroli, fecit, 1760,)-the sap is pretty well out of it. And here is the song of an old poet whom Neæra cheated:

"Nox erat, et cœlo fulgebat Luna sereno
Inter minora sidera,

Cum tu magnorum numen læsura deorum
In verba jurabas mea.”

Don't you perceive the sonorousness of these old dead Latin phrases? Now I tell you that every word fresh from the dictionary brings with it a certain succulence; and though I cannot expect the sheets of the Pactolian," in which, as I told yon, I sometimes print my verses, to get so dry as the crisp papyrus that held those words of Horatius Flaccus, yet you may be sure, that, while the sheets are damp, and while the lines hold their sap, you can't fairly judge of my performances, and that, if made of the true stuff, they will ring better after a while.

The fire is lighted in its central shrine, and gradually Opera in New York-Pacini's “Sappho." the juices which the broad leaves of the Great Vegetable had sucked up from an acre and curdled into a drachm are diffused through its thirsting pores. First a discoloration, then a stain, and at last a rich, glowing, umber tint spreading over the whole surface. Nature true to her old brown autumnal hue,

From the Sunday Atlas, June 27. The production of the "Sappho " of Pacini, during the past week, is decidedly a great event in the musical annals of this country. It was performed in this city a few years ago, at the old Park theatre, with Tedesco in the role of the Grecian poetess, and

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