account of the purity of taste which it displays, and next from the soothing and delightful expression of the melody. It is in point of fact almost the only orchestral piece. The whole of the following quintett and chorus is admirable. The situation is nearly the same in all respects as it is in the finale to the first act, yet there is no resemblance in the music of the two scenes. Parts of it, as far as regards modulation, are still more effective, though the melody is hardly so sweet-but on the whole they may be considered as compositions of equal merit. In that before us, the construction is more complicated than the rest of the chorusses; this necessarily happens as the three upper parts are expressing totally opposite sentiments to the rest, and here we must remark one trait of the composer's judgment as well as sensibility in making the part of Armando, who is consoling Palmide, rather less prominent than the others.

"Scena ed Inno di Morte." Here again the more exalted faculties of the mind of the composer are called upon, and again he has succeeded, though scarcely to the same degree, as in the first instance. The symphony to Adriano's recitative is particularly captivating in the melody, and the recitative itself contains some of the finest transitions, and is altogether one of the best in the opera. There is one remarkably imaginative point. At the instant when about to be led to execution, the captives determine to employ the few intervening moments in "the hymn of death." The introductory notes bear a resemblance to the Gregorian chant, and has a fine and solemn effect.

The minor part of the Inno di Morte is very good, the major is rather too light to be appropriate. The following scene, which consists of a recitative and aria for Adriano, with a chorus, scarcely merits so much praise as we have been hitherto enabled to bestow. There are several good points about it, especially where the trumpets are effectively employed in accompanying a solo of Adriano's; but as a whole it contains neither much of originality or imagination. A short recitative for Armando, which possesses nothing striking, precedes "Udite or alto arcano," a chorus of great singularity, but perfectly characteristic. A duet between Palmide and Armando, with a chorus, concludes the opera.

*This is omitted in the representation.

In this duet Mr. Meyerbeer, with a singular felicity both as regards the expression and the power he delegates to the singers, has combined passages of mere execution with the language of sentiment. As a composition we cannot estimate it as highly as many other parts of the work, but its effect when performed would seem to baffle the judgment of the closet.*

If we would estimate justly a dramatic composition of this character, it must never escape us, that the intercourse of nations and the progress of civilization now occasion so rapid a circulation of the works of eminent men, that a community of judgment, almost independent of natural aptitude and national predilection, is as it were established over Europe. If Italy first gave musical instruction to Germany, the latter in her turn, by her Haydn and her Mozart, has materially influenced the structure of opera, which may be called the drama of Italy. England has bought her knowledge of both. The result certainly is, that whatever improvements obtain in one country are much sooner transmitted and caught by the rest, than at any former period, and hence it becomes a fair presumption that not only a mixed style will prevail, but that the most recent additions will, so soon as they have obtained a certain degree of celebrity, tinge with their peculiarities the productions of the modern composer, however gifted he may be.

The most original writer of an age so advanced as the present, is he who combines with so happy an assimilation, that he produces passages which raise the emotions he desires to raise, and to do this he must employ phrases which have been previously employed, but in a manner more forcible, more various, and more. equally sustained than by his predecessors. We defy the most imaginative composer to discover a passage so novel that it may not be traced, either as a whole or in such fragments as to prove either its previous existence or the germ from which it is developed. But if a man unites the fullness of the German harmony

*No piece in the whole opera produced such a sensation, and it must be regarded, as sung by Madame Caradori and Signor Velluti, as one of the finest specimens of vocal art that can be conceived. Indeed it is but justice to all the performers to say, that they not only exerted themselves to the utmost but with great success. No opera has been more distinguished in England than Il Crociato for very many years.

+ May not this fact be taken as a presumptive reason why the English nation may be more unprejudiced judges than either the Germans or the Italians?

with the grace of the Italian melody-if he collects the expedients which are scattered here and there, and uses them to new and better purposes and effects-if he accumulates imagery, introduces unexpected, bold, and beautiful transitions, converts an ornament into an exclamation of passion, or gives an outline which a singer of expression fills up magnificently-the man who does all this, at this time of day, we say must be considered as an original and highly-gifted genius. And such we esteem Mr. Meyerbeer. In drawing our definition we have indeed only recapitulated the qualities which appear to us to be compacted in his opera of Il Crociato in Egitto. Beautiful traits of melody, rich harmony, novel and grand effects, intense feeling, and pathetic and passionate expression, are all brought together with a fine vein of imagination. Solidity, energy, and pathos are compounded and employed with great delicacy and force as to the means by turns and in season. Above all he has a vivid perception of the beautiful and the great, unalloyed by false notions of effect. It would be difficult to say to what school he belongs, or to the study of whose works he has chiefly devoted his hours. We see marks, classical marks of acquaintance with the great masters, both of Italy and of Germany, down even to the latest and most popular-Rossini himself. And here it is just and necessary to repeat that the works of that lively Italian have so considerably enlarged the domain of execution, that the singer and the hearer of the present times expect and must be supplied with the materiel, the one to display his acquisitions, the other to feed his over-stimulated fancy. Meyerbeer has indulged them both very artfully, at the same time that he has in a good degree brought them back nearer to simplicity. This is principally to be seen in his recitatives and in his chorusses-in his airs and concerted pieces he approaches nearest to the fashion of the day. From all these facts we conclude that his style may fairly be said to be his own. He has acquired strength, and an evident inclination for rich harmony and for modulation, from his native country, whilst from the more fervid and voluptuous school of Italy he has imbibed that warmth of feeling, that sensibility to the touches of passion, and that elasticity of sentiment, which, animated by a natural enthusiasm that runs through his music, forms a style at once imaginative and refined. Pathos is Mr. Meyerbeer's forte. In the expression of

deep feeling, from the most vehement to the most delicate shades, he is not excelled by any modern composer. We should hold any man but an inefficient and prejudiced judge of art whose mind had not contemplated and weighed the several qualities which have recommended the works of the exalted composers of all ages to the sympathies of their contemporaries; and to the admiration of posterity. One who is well enough read to have taken this survey has naturally graduated as it were a scale of these qualities, and he will not deny a place, at whatever degree they may stand, to any peculiarities which have attracted universal attention, and if not universal praise, at least so much of consideration as has entitled the inventor to a share of general notice, extensive enough to place him in the list of distinguished writers. In truth when we recollect how many compositions of how many mighty masters are passed into all but absolute oblivion, while the names of the authors live in the records of their times, such an allowance becomes obviously indispensable to the formation of a tolerably just judgment. Thus then we have allotted a degree in the scale to the florid manner which has been of late so much admired, and which, we trust, it has been found we have neither exaggerated nor decried in a way to entail upon our judgments the charge of prejudice. Meyerbeer must be classed with florid writers; but at the same time he has mingled the portion of ornament with so much of what is much more sound, that one of the strongest reasons for which we commend him, is, that he obviously aims at moderating the rage for execution, and shews a taste for purer means of expression, without a particle of affectation or extravagance.

MR. MOSCHELES' CONCERTOS.*

Amongst the earliest as well as the most profound musical critics must be classed those of Germany, where the art is so much a matter of general concern, that more than one entire journal,

* The 1st of these concertos is published by Boosey, Hollis-street; the 24, 3d, and 4th, by Clementi and Co. 36, Cheapside, and Chappell and Co. New Bond-street.

VOL. VII. NO, XXVII.-SEPT. 1825.

2 D

wholly devoted to the discussion of musical subjects and to reviews, are published weekly. It is a wholesome exercise to compare the judgments of the able men who write for these publications with such as we ourselves may have formed, and under the impression that our readers may be disposed to enjoy the same opportunity, we have extracted from the journal published at Berlin the following criticism on the later concertos of Mr. Moscheles. That his own countrymen should be proud of his genius will not seem to savour of national predilection, when it is remembered that his reception, both in France and in England, has been marked with equal partiality.

"If concertos were written with the intention of displaying all the peculiarities of the instrument for which they were composed in conjunction with others, their sphere would be greatly circumscribed, but the compositions themselves would be of infinitely more value. This however is seldom or never allowed, other considerations being forced upon the composer's observance, for the object of the artist who writes for himself is not only to display the particular powers of the instrument, but to prove to the audience the originality aud superiority by which his own style is distinguished. In order therefore to make his talents avail, he must seek after all that which is rare and difficult-he must make that which is only within the acquirement of a few, appear like a matter of ease and indifference, and lastly, if possible, he must exhibit that which has never before been effected. The consequence of all this is, that the regular order of the composition is broken in upon by researches after novelty, some parts become overcharged, and others entirely diverge from the principal ideas on which the work should be founded. Thus most concertos are a compound of passages of bravura which the artist deems most fit to shew off the brilliancy of his own talents, and as there are scarcely any to be found in which such passages have any relation to the ideas on which the plan of the composition is formed, they sink into mere vehicles for the executive powers of the performer. The further mechanical facility has been carried, the more important has it become to the artist to display his acquirements in this particular, and the further he has advanced the more he has found it necessary to compose music expressly for his own performance. Thus the contents of a concerto at length are little more than the