natural objects, or by the help of association, particular ceremonies or actions wherein such instruments are used.

Such are the materials which the ingenuity of man has put into the hands of the composer for his genius to work upon. To shew by the instances I have collected how these are best employed would now lead me beyond the limits of an essay. I shall therefore follow up my speculation at large hereafter.

M.

THE ORGAN AT ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, LAMBETH.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

THERE is no well-wisher to the doctrines, and discipline, of our venerable Church, who will not heartily rejoice at the additions which have been lately made to the sacred edifices of this vast metropolis and its vicinity. They rise before him, as so many grateful proofs, not only of the encreasing prosperity of his country, but also of the piety of his countrymen ; for the excellent intentions of Government, and the aid which it has afforded, would have gone but a little way to meet the general want, had they not been powerfully seconded by the zeal and liberality of private individuals.

It is to record an instance of individual liberality that I now address you, and, as my subject is closely connected with the art which is the especial object of your work, I hope that this letter may find a place among its valuable contents.

The parish of Lambeth is one of the most extensive in the neighbourhood of London, and till very lately, it had only one church, and some few chapels of ease, for the accommodation of its numerous inhabitants. Under the late Act, however, three new churches have been built, and a fourth is nearly completed. One of these, is the church of St. John the Evangelist, which

stands in the road leading from Waterloo Bridge, and is to be the parish church of what is called the Marsh and Wall District.This church was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester, on Wednesday, the 3d of November last, when an organ, built by Bishop, under the particular inspection of Mr. Horsley, was opened by him. The contents of this noble instrument, which has excited the admiration of the most excellent judges, are as follow:

The compass of the instrument, is greater than usual; for it goes up to FF, and down to GG, including AA: this last-named note is an addition which your readers, who are organ players, will know well how to appreciate.

The pedal pipes are of the largest dimensions, and give astonishing grandeur to the whole; at the same time, they are so admirably voiced, as to become most highly effective, even when used with the softest stop.

This magnificent organ, Sir, has been presented to the church by Thomas Lett, Esq. a gentleman who has great property in the neighbourhood, and is a Magistrate for the county of Surrey. Could the envy of wealth be ever justifiable, it must be, when we see it applied to such noble purposes. But apart from all feeling save that of admiration, every liberal man will join with me in wishing, that the donor of this instrument may long live to have his mind elevated by its solemn and inspiring tones, and that hereafter, his children's children may regard it as a monument of their ancestor's generosity. And when we consider the aid which

our service may derive from an organ, properly and devoutly managed, shall we not be tempted to say to many of the rich, among our acquaintance, "go you and do likewise."

I remain, Mr. Editor,

Your humble and obedient Servant,

A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Lambeth, Jan. 3, 1825.

TO THE EDITOR.

*

*

Forbearance is as necessary, and is as great a virtue in singing as in life. To abstain from the exhibition of ill assorted, even if well executed ornament, is in a great measure the criterion of sound taste. The course a great singer should pursue is, to consider well the style of the composer, the sentiments of the poetry, the tendency and scope of the whole song, his own powers, how far he is at liberty to deviate from the notation, and then to determine how many, and of what character are the graces which it will bear.

Elements of Vocal Science.

THE above passage appears to me to be equally applicable to instrumental performers as to vocalists, and rose forcibly to my remembrance during some of the late festivals. It was brought to my recollection by the constant introduction of ornaments and cadenzas in various songs, more particularly the sacred. Of late years the florid style has been gradually gaining ground among singers and instrumentalists, and particularly since Rossini's music has become so popular. Performers, whether of great reputation or no reputation at all, have been seized with this mania, and have, more or less, attempted to change or to mix florid Italian ornaments with true English expression. Now it has ever appeared to me that these attempts were not only in total contradiction to the entire meaning of the composition, but were in the worst possible taste. If it were asked, "what are the inducements which have led singers to the introduction of a style so entirely adverse to the character of the English?" I should apprehend the only answer

that can be given is the following:-Florid music having become exceedingly popular, and the public lavishing its praises and its favours upon those who sing such compositions, it is necessary that those who are dependent for support upon the public, should bend to the public taste." If the basis upon which this answer is founded were true, I should say that there were some grounds for such a charge; but it seems to me that it is not the execution with which Rossini's compositions abound that has captivated, but the witching airs which he is ever introducing and carrying on throughout all his productions. It is these melodies, combined with the lightness and elasticity of the composer, which bear up the spirits of the audience, and render Rossini so powerful. Again, it is almost impossible, with two characters so totally and entirely at variance with each other as the English and Italian, that the music which nature has rendered applicable to the character of one, should be suitable to the other. Where then is the ground for such an admixture of two styles so totally adverse, that by uniting them you destroy, or rather render both powerless. It is in this last point that the Italian singer carries off the palm, and no wonder, because the execution and the ornament are adapted to the style of the composition, the composition is suited to the language, and the style of the composition, the ornaments, and the manner of the singer, are appropriate to the character of the nation. In a single sentence, there is unity and propriety in the whole. On the other hand, the English singer who uses Italian ornaments enjoys none of these assistants, but besides the opposition which such opposites as style, expression, and language offer, has to contend with the national feelings of the audience, who must and who do observe the total destruction of the nationally characteristic expression of the song, and who draw comparisons between the one singer and the other, under such circumstances, adverse to the English, merely from the misapplication of powers and attainments.

This rage for ornament is not confined to English songs of execution. Ballads and sacred music are not exempted from the introduction of these extraneous graces and most inappropriate cadenzas. Burke, in his Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, part iii. sect. 5, on the Beautiful in Sounds, says, "That great variety and quick transitions from one measure to another, are

contrary to the genius of the beautiful in music. Such transitions often excite mirth, and other sudden tumultuous passions, but not that sinking, that melting, that languor, which is the characteristic of the beautiful, as it regards the beautiful in every sense. The passion excited by beauty is in fact nearer to a species of melancholy than to jollity and mirth." Some of the most popular ballads of the present day are, both in the music and in the poetry, calculated to raise that melting, that sinking, that languor, which Mr. Burke describes as constituting the beautiful in music, and yet to these ballads, which must of their own nature rivet the attention, and raise all the softer and finer affections, is appended as a matter of beauty, an unmeaning, lengthy, and varied cadence. Feeling and expression are perhaps more required in a ballad than any other song, and the substitution of passages approaching to agility argues a want of these attributes, and can only be used to create wonder, and thus, by turning the mind from the contemplation of the intrinsic merit of the performance, to the difficulty which has been overcome, occupies it with one object, and prevents it from entertaining any other. The author of the Elements of Vocal Science, in speaking of style and manner, observes, "Ornaments well performed are apt to seduce our senses by the seeming difficulty of the execution, and we are led away by the novelty, wonder, and surprize, at what perhaps we never conceived practicable; the emotion rises with the rank of the performer, we give credit for more value than there really is, and take it upon the trust of his personal reputation. The judgment is silenced, while the ear is filled with new, agrecable, and unexpected sounds. But we are influenced only by an emotion of surprize-the affections are never engaged." When, therefore, I hear a singer, who has both the talents and the power of giving a song the true expression, deform this expression by the addition of these flights of fancy, I can but lament that any artist should so prostitute his talents and acquirements-should so totally disregard all the fine attributes of his art by the introduction of any thing so void of judgment. The taste of the public is placed in a great measure in the hands of the performer-he has the power, and he ought to have the inclination, so to feed, direct, and chasten that taste, that it does not become corrupted. If it declines, to him must principally be attributed the evil that ensues,