A Hymn for the Season. FROM THE "AMERICAN SUNDAY SCHOOL PSALMODY." PUBLISHED IN THE MINSTREL, BY PERMISSION. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR,] VOL. I. A REPOSITORY OF MUSIC AND POETRY. "LET EVERY THING THAT HATH BREATH PRAISE THE LORD.' ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. FOR THE FAMILY MINSTREL. THE JEW'S HARP. Great attention has, for a few years past, been excited by this instrument, in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe. It has had a hearing in the lecture-rooms of the scientific; and it has gained admittance to the palaces of kings. A crowded audience, of the most intelligent and educated of fashionables and gens d'élite, has been often held in breathless silence, to drink in the peculiar sweetness of its sounds, or to be borne along by it through the magic mazes of its unearthly harmonies. 66 At one time, the buzzing-iron of the school-boy seemed to have but little claim to such enthusiastic commendations. And as he sat and twanged his tongue of iron," to the annoyance of all votaries of the harmonic muse, it could not well be imagined, that a toy so humble was destined, at a future day, to send forth tones of ecstasy, and to command the notice and the admiration of the dilettanti throughout Europe. Yet genius has achieved this triumph. Many performers upon the Jew's Harp have attained a skill of execution on the instrument, which has enabled them, by the use of two, three or four of these simple toys, to produce effects almost incredible. But among all those who have won celebrity in this manner, none is so conspicuous as CHARLES EULENSTEIN. He was born in the year 1802, at Heilbronn, in the south-western part of Germany, about twenty miles north of the city of Stuttgart. And from his earliest infancy, he was under the irresistible control of a passion for music. When not yet five years old, being denied the use of his father's violin, he undertook, with the usual energy of genius, to construct one for himself; and when, soon after, on his father's death, the longed-for instrument became his heritage, he was absorbed in the delights which it afforded him. When his mother could not, from her poverty, furnish him with strings, he would obtain the means of purchasing them, by selling to his play-mates a part of what was allowed him for his daily meals. Apprenticed to a book-binder, he soon satisfied his master, that his thoughts wandered, and he had no capacity for this mechanical employment. All his sympathies were tuned to music. He had no other pleasure; and he wished that one day this might be his occupation. Transferred from the bookbindery to a hardware-shop, his master-principle still governed him. His violin, his flute and his guitar, his French horn and his flageolet, (for he contrived, while yet a boy, to purchase and to play on all these instruments,) were solemnly denounced by his employers. Yet this severity of NEW YORK, APRIL 15, 1835. interdiction served but to increase his zest for what he loved, and could see no reason why he should not love. Deprived at last, by force, of his beloved instruments, he looked around his shelves among the articles of hardware which it was his lot to sell; and he was arrested by the happy thought, as he regarded it, of turning at least his Jew's Harps to a good account. His glowing genius rested on the subject. He carefully examined their peculiar tones, and their capacity of modulation. He one day heard a gentleman, who purchased two harps at the shop, perform on both of them at once, with great effect. This was enough for his encouragement to per severance. He was devoted to his object, with unabated ardor, for the space of four years. His ingenuity was exercised, in tuning with great nicety, and in devising means to give his favorite instrument every facility for turns, slides, arpeggios and shakes, as well as other ornaments and graces, so as to execute them with rapidity and accuracy. His object thus far attained, “he collected," we are told, 46 a few musical friends into a dark room, gave them a specimen of his skill, and required them to name the instrument. They were in perfect raptures; talked about fairies and angels, and manifested the greatest impatience to see the cause of all this novel harmony. Lights were brought; and sixteen penny Jew's Harps lay on the table." This and other facts, recorded in the sketch of his Life, recently published at London, afford ample proof, that he had soon acquired a command of his instrument, which altogether surpassed any thing before accomplished by such simple means. He now aimed at general celebrity for his accomplishment. He set out for a musical tour; and, poor as he was, his ardent hopes and expectations urged him on, until he actually travelled, alone and on foot, a journey of six hundred miles! and Zurich; he then visited Lausanne and Lyons, and received some marks of royal favor in the capital of France. London was the next theatre of his celebrity. Having arrived there, his letters from the Queen of Wurtemberg to her sister soon secured for him every favor he could ask, from the first circles. The Duke of Gordon was his chief patron. By him, Eulenstein was introduced into the presence, and commended to the favor, of King George IV. The eyes of the beau monde were now fixed upon him. Scientific men, we are told, investigated the theory of his wonderful instrument, as though it were indeed "some new thing," just discovered among the ruins of Pompeii. It was especially noticed, at a Lecture given in the Royal Institution, in illustration of Mr. Wheatstone's Doctrine of Acoustics. Such decided marks of public favor may seem rather ill bestowed on a mere toy, if any one would judge of it merely by his own prejudices. But there is a just claim, which this humble instrument possesses, to the highest eulogies which have ever been pronounced upon it, by its admirers in the metropolis of England. Any one who has but heard a skilful performer draw from it the silver tones which it can yield, and has been for a while wrapped in the enchantment of its fairy strains, will delightfully experience, that a new world of harmonies has been discovered to him. The scale of Eulenstein comprises four octaves and three or four notes in addition, comprehending all the diatonic and chromatic intervals. These notes are yielded by sixteen instruments, in form and size the same as our common Jew's Harp. They are all placed upon a table, and taken up in turn by the performer. Sometimes two, three or four of them are used at one time, for the purpose of producing those inimitable concords, and those new combinations of Often was he compelled to spend a whole night, sounds, that are the secret spell by which they Yet he resolved to buffet every wave of opposi tion, so as ultimately to secure his object. And the most marked success was in reversion for him. Although foiled in his attempts at Heidelberg, and Frankfort, and Hesse-Cassel, and Hanover, he had a dawn of better things at Luneburg, where he gave a public concert, with some benefit to his long empty purse. He now returned again to Heilbronn; and very soon, he found, that his persevering industry had gained him character among his old associates, and his constant devotion to his one absorbing purpose had, in their opinion, given him great skill. He was at once in sunshine. Flattering attentions met him, in the best private circles. He was soon noticed by the nobility. He received an order even to attend the levée of the Queen of Wurtemberg. This gratifying tribute to his talent fixed his reputation. He now went, with great encouragement, to Tubigen, and Basle, and Friburg, act. And when the numerous effective artifices are employed, which exhibit imitations of the violin, the hautboy, and other string and wind instruments, the singing of birds, the chiming of bells, and the distant chorus of human or angelic voices, there results a charm which all must be tempted to discredit who have not themselves enjoyed it. Only two amateurs in this department, have ever visited our country, and both of them have been gentlemen in private life, whose aversion to publicity has confined the exhibition of their skill to the knowledge and enjoyment of a few friends and associates. Yet all who have been favored with the enchanting strains, which these disciples of Eulenstein breathed forth, will long remember them with an enthusiastic pleasure, and earnestly avail themselves of any opportunity, to renew these mysterious concords of sweet sounds. In Switzerland, a series of experiments is now in progress, to improve an instrument, (of the form and size of our piano-forte,) having iron and steel tongues instead of wire chords, and yielding notes similar to those of the Jew's Harp, with a most ingenious contrivance for prolonging and for modifying them, at the performer's pleasure. Some of the discoveries of Eulenstein are already introduced into this new instrument; and, it is thought, it will soon become a popular companion for the drawing-room, and be especially admired in the performance of rich sacred harmonies. To the ingenuity of man there seems, indeed, no boundary assigned; and to the range of musical intonations and concords there is no limit. Wonderful arrangements of a benignant Providence, to gladden us in our sojourn here below! Appropriate medium, through which to make him a return of gratitude and praise, for his unnumbered mercies! SIGMA. ON NATIONAL SONGS. FOR THE FAMILY MINSTREL. MR. EDITOR,-Understanding that you are about publishing a series of popular Music, I have thought that the following letter, extracted from the "Remains of the Rev. C. Wolfe," might furnish you with some useful hints. It seems to me, that the suggestions here made are excellent, and if acted upon will be productive of the most beneficial results. I heartily wish you abundant success in your undertaking, and fully believe that the blessing of Gon will rest upon it. A FRIEND. The author of the said Remains, in the Appendix thus remarks: He (Mr. W.) had sometimes entertained the idea, that religious subjects might be profitably introduced in songs adapted to national music, which might thus be made a vehicle of popular instruction. How much he felt the delicacy and difficulty of such a task, will appear from the judicious observations, contained in a letter to a pious friend, who had sent him some verses written with that view. "The poems upon which you desire my opinion, seem to be the production of a truly spiritual mind;-a mind exercised in experimental religion, which sees every object through a pure and holy medium, and turns every thing it contemplates into devotion. But their very excellency in this respect, seems, in the present instance, to constitute their leading defect. Their object, if I understand it aright, is to make popular music a channel, by which religious feeling may be diffused through society, and thus, at the same time, to redeem the national music from the profaneness and licentiousness, to which it has been prostituted. As to the first object: the natural language of a spiritual man, which would remind one of the like spirit, of much of his internal experience, would be not only uninteresting, but absolutely unintelligible, to the generality of mankind. He speaks of hopes and fears, of pleasures and pains, which they could only comprehend by having previously felt them. You remember, that it is said of the new song that was sung before the throne, that no man could learn that song, save they that were redeemed from the earth: and therefore it often happens, that those who best understand that music, are more intelligible to heavenly than earthly beings: they are often better understood by angels than by men. The high degree of spirituality which they have attained, often renders it not only painful, but impossible, to accommodate themselves to the ordinary feelings of mankind. They cannot "Just consider all the caution, the judgment, "It is on this account, I conceive, that a song intended to make religion popular, should not be entirely of a religious cast; that it should take in as wide a range as any other song, should appeal to every passion and feeling in our nature, not in itself sinful,-should employ all the scenery the imagery, and circumstances of the songs of this world, while religion should be indirectly introduced, or delicately insinuated. I think we shall come to the same conclusion, if we consider the reformation of the national music as the primary object. The predominant feelings excited and expressed by our national airs, however exquisitely delightful, are manifestly human. And it is evident, that, in order to do them justice, we must follow the prevailing tone. The strain and ground-work of the words can hardly be spiritual; but a gleam of religion might be every now and then tastefully admitted, with the happiest effect. But indeed it appears so difficult, that in the whole range of poetry, there does not occur to me, at present, an instance, in which it has been successfully executed. The only piece which I now recollect as at all exemplifying my meaning, is Cowper's 'Alexander Selkirk,' beginning I am monarch of all I survey,' which I believe has never been set to music. It is not professedly religious; nay, the situation, the sentiments, and the feelings, are such as the commonest reader can at once conceive to be his own. It needs neither a spiritual man, nor a poet, nor a man of taste or of education, to enter into immediate sympathy with him. It is not until the fourth stanza (after he has taken possession of his reader) that he introduces a religious sentiment; to which, however, he had been gradually ascending; and, even then, he accompanies and recommends it with what may, perhaps, be called the romantic and picturesque of religion,-'the sound of the church going bell,' &c. He then appears to desert the subject altogether, and only returns to it (as it were) accidentally,-but with what beauty and effect in the last four lines!" The author would probably have also instanced the beautiful Scotch ballad "I'm wearing awa,' John," if it had occurred to his memory.-ED. THE BIBLE. A glory gilds the sacred page, It gives a light to every age, It gives but borrows none: DR. FRANKLIN'S LETTER ON MUSIC. FOR THE FAMILY MINSTREL. The following letter, written by our celebrated philosopher Franklin, to his brother Mr. Peter Franklin, of Newport, Rhode-Island, is to be found in the "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, LL. D.," by his grandson, W. Temple Franklin. It is well known, that the Doctor had a correct ear, and an extensive knowledge of the science of music. In a letter to Lord Kames, he exhibits a great mastery of this subject, and makes many very ingenious and valuable observations. In writing to his brother, Mr. Peter Franklin, he says: "I like your ballad, and think it well adapted to the purpose of discountenancing expensive foppery, and encouraging industry and frugality. If you can get it generally sung in your country, it may probably have a good deal of the effect you hope and expect from it. But, as you aimed at making it general, I wonder you chose so uncommon a measure in poetry, that none of the tunes in common use will suit it. Had you fitted it to an old one, well known, it must have spread much faster than I doubt it will do from the best new tune we can get composed to it. I think, too, that if you had given it to some country girl in the heart of Massachusetts, who has never heard any other than psalm tunes, or Chevy Chase, the Children in the Wood, the Spanish Lady, and such old simple ditties, but has naturally a good ear, she might more probably have made a pleasing popular tune for you, than any of our masters here, and more proper for your purpose, which would best be answered if every word, as it is sung, be understood by all that hear it, and if the emphasis you intend for particular words, could be given by the singer as well as by the reader, much of the force and impression of the song depending on those circumstances. I will, however, get it as well done for you as I can. "Do not imagine that I mean to depreciate the skill of our composers here: they are admirable at pleasing practised airs, and know how to delight one another; but, in composing for songs, the reigning taste seems to be quite out of nature, or rather the reverse of nature, and yet, like a torrent, hurries them all away with it,— one or two, perhaps, only excepted. "You, in the spirit of some ancient legislators, would influence the manners of your country by the united powers of poetry and music. By what I can learn of their songs, the music was simple, conforming itself to the usual pronunciation of words, as to measure, cadence, or emphasis, &c.; never disguising and confounding the language, by making a long syllable short, or a short one long, when sung. Their singing was only a more pleasing, because a melodious manner of speaking: it was capable of all the graces of prose oratory, while it added the pleasure of harmony. Most modern songs, on the contrary, neglect all the proprieties and beauties of common speech, and in their place introduce its defects and absurdities as so many graces. "I am afraid you will hardly take my word for this; and therefore I must endeavor to support it by proof. Here is the first song I lay my hand upon: it happens to be a composition of one of our greatest masters, the ever-famous Handel. It is not one of his juvenile performances, before his taste could be improved and formed; it appeared when his reputation was at the highest, is greatly admired by all his admirers, and is really excellent in its kind. It is called, 'The additional favorite song in Judas Maccabeus.'Now, I reckon among the defects and improprieties of common speech, the following: 1. Wrong placing the accent or emphasis, by laying it on words of no importance, or on wrong syllables. 2. Drawling; or extending the sound of words or syllables beyond their natural length. 3. Stuttering; or making many syllables of one. 4. Unintelligibleness; the result of the three foregoing united. Ma... gic charms can ne'er relieve you. There are four syllables made of one, and eight of three; but this is moderate. I have seen in another song that I cannot find, seventeen syllables made of three, and sixteen of one: the latter, I remember, was charms; viz., cha, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, arms. Stammering with a witness! "For the unintelligibleness, give this whole song to any taught singer, and let her sing it to any company that have never heard it; you will find they will not understand three words in ten. It is therefore that, at the oratorios and operas, one sees with books in their hands all those who desire to understand what they hear sung by even our best performers. "For the tautology, you have it in the endless repetitions. "As to the screaming, no one who has frequented our operas but will painfully recall instances without number. "I send you enclosed the song, with its music at length. Read the words without the repetitions. Observe how few they are, and what a shower of notes attend them. You will then, perhaps, be inclined to think with me, that though the words might be the principal part of an ancient song, they are of small importance in a modern one; they are, in short, only a pretence for singing. "I am, as ever, Your affectionate brother, "B. FRANKLIN. "P. S. I might have mentioned inarticulation among the defects in common speech that are assumed as beauties in modern singing. But as that seems more the fault of the singer than of the composer, I omitted it in what related merely to the composition. The fine singer in the present mode stifles all the hard consonants, and polishes away all the rougher parts of words that serve to distinguish them from each other; so that you hear nothing but an admirable pipe, and understand no more of the song than you would from its time, played on any other instrument. If ever it was the ambition of musicians to make instruments that should imitate the human voice, that ambition seems now reversed, the voice aiming to be like an instrument. Thus, wigs were first made to imitate a good natural head of hair; but when they became fashionable, though in unnatural forms, we have seen natural hair dressed to look like wigs." * THE MODERN SCALE. [FROM ANECDOTES OF MUSIC, BY S. AND R. PERCY.] Although there is scarcely a work on music, which does not make mention of Guido Aretinus, as the reformer of the ancient scale of music, and the inventor of the new method of notation, founded on the adaptation of the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, from a hymn to St. John the Baptist; yet, by a kind of fatality very difficult to account for, his memory lives almost solely in his inventions. He was a native of Arezzo, a city in Tuscany; and having been taught the practice of music in his youth, and probably retained as a chorister in the service of the Benedictine monastery founded in that city, he became a monk professed, and a brother of the order of St. Benedict. In this retirement, he seems to have devoted himself to the study of music, particularly the system of the ancients, and above all, to reform their method of notation. The difficulties that attended the instruction of youth in the church offices were so great, that, as he himself says, ten years were generally consumed, barely in acquiring a knowledge of the plain song; and this consideration induced him to labor after some amendment, with some method that might facilitate instruction, and enable those employed in the choral office, to perform the duties of it in a correct and decent manner. If we may credit those legendary accounts, that are extant in monkish manuscripts, we should believe he was actually assisted in his pious intention by immediate communication from heaven. Some speak of the invention of the syllables, as the effect of inspiration; and Guido himself seems to have been of the same opinion, by his saying it was revealed to him by the Lord, or, as some interpret his words, in a dream. Graver historians say, that being at vespers in the chapel of his monastery, it happened that one of the offices appointed for the day was the above-mentioned hymn to St. John the Baptist, which commences with these lines:" Ut queant laxis, Resovare fibris, SANCTI JOHANNIS. "We may suppose," says Sir John Hawkins, "that the converting of the tetrachords into hexachords, had previously been the subject of frequent contemplation with Guido; and a method of discriminating the tones and semi-tones, was the only thing wanting to complete his invention. During the performance of the above hymn, he remarked the iteration of the words, and the frequent return of ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la; he observed, likewise, a dissimilarity between the closeness of the syllable mi, and the broad open sound of fa, which he thought could not fail to impress upon the mind the idea of their congruity, and immediately conceived a thought applying these six syllables, to his newly formed hexachord. Struck with the discovery, he retired to his study, and having perfected his system, began to introduce it into practice." The persons to whom Guido first communicated his invention, were the brethren of his own monastery, from whom it met with but a cold reception. In an epistle from him to his friend Michael. a monk of Pomposa, he ascribes this to what was undoubtedly its true cause, envy; however, his interest with the abbot, and his employment in the chapel, gave him an opportunity of trying the efficacy of this method, on the boys who were trained up for the choral service, and it exceeded his most sanguine expectations. The fame of Guido's invention, spread quickly abroad, and no sooner was it known, than generally followed. We are told by Kircher, that Hirmannus, Bishop of Hamburgh, and Elvericus, Bishop of Onasburgh, made use of it; and by the author of the Historie Litteraire de la France, that it was received in that country, and taught in all the monasteries in the kingdom. It is certain, that the reputation of his great skill in music, had excited in the Pope a desire to see and converse with him; of which, and of his going to Rome for that purpose, and the reception he met with from the Pontiff, Guido has himself given a circumstantial account, in the epistle to his friend Michael, before mentioned. The particulars of this relation are very curious, and as we have his own authority, there is no room to doubt the truth of it. It seems that John XX., or, as some writers compute, the nineteenth Pope of that name, having heard of the fame of Guido's school, and conceiving a desire to see him, sent three messengers to invite him to Rome. Upon their arrival, it was resolved by the brethren of the monastery, that he should go thither, attended by Grimaldo the Abbot, and Peter the chief of the canons of the church of Arezzo. Arriving at Rome, he was presented to the holy father, and by him received with great kindness. The Pope had several conversations with him, in all of which he interrogated him as to his knowledge of music; and, upon sight of an antiphonary which Guido had brought with him, marked with the syllables according to his new invention, the Pope looked on it as a kind of prodigy, and ruminating on the doctrines delivered by Guido, would not stir from his seat, till he had learned perfectly to sing off a verse; upon which he declared, that he could not have believed the efficacy of the method, if he had not been convinced by the experiment he had himself made of it. The Pope would have detained him at Rome, but laboring under a bodily disorder, and fearing an injury to his health from the air of the place, and the heat of the summer, which was approaching, Guido left that city upon a promise to revisit it, and to explain more at large to his holiness, the principles of his new system. On his return homewards, he made a visit to the Abbot of Pomposa, who was very earnest to have Guido settle in the monastery of that place; to which invitation, it seems, he yielded, being, as he says, "desirons of rendering so great a monastery still more famous by his studies there." MUSIC OF BELLS. [FROM DR. BESEY'S ANECDOTES OF MUSIC, &c.] The music of bells forms no inconsiderable part of the divine worship of the Greek church. The length of the peals measures the degree of sanctity of the day on which they are heard. They are hung in belfries detached from the church; and do not oscillate, like our bells, but are fixed immoveably to the beams, and are rung by a rope tied to the clapper, pulled sideways. Some of these bells are of stupendons size. One, in the tower of St. Ivan's Church, at Moscow, weighed 3551 pads, or 127,536 English pounds. It has always been esteemed by some, a meritorious act of religion, to present a church with bells; and the piety of the donor has as regularly been estimated by the magnitude of the gift. According to this mode of ascertaining the fervor of devotion, Boris Gudonoff, who gave a bell to the cathedral of Moscow, that weighed 288,000 pounds, was the most pions sovereign of Russia, till he was surpassed by the Empress Anne, at whose expense a bell was cast, that weighed 443,772 pounds, and which exceeded in size every other bell in the world. Its value at 3s. a pound, was £65,681,-a vast sum; but every one ambitious to contribute towards it, threw some gold and silver into the furnaces, which were four in number; and these furnaces having cocks, let off the metal into the mould. Its height was nineteen feet, its circumference at the bottom twenty-one yards and eleven inches, and its greatest thickness twenty-three inches. This bell was hung to a beam in a pit; but the beam having been burnt in a great conflagration, which happened at Moscow, (not when Alexander fired the city, from fear of Napoleon,) the bell fell to the ground, and a piece was broken out of it, large enough to admit two persons abreast, without stooping. ORIGIN OF ORATORIOS. [FROM PULLEYN'S ORIGINS AND INVENTIONS.] The Oratorio commenced with the fathers of the Oratory. In order to draw youth to church, they had hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs, or cantatas, sung either in chorus, or by a single voice. These pieces were divided into two parts, the one performed before the sermon, and the other after it. Sacred stories, or events from Scripture, written in verse, and by way of dialogue, were set to music, and the first part being performed, the sermon succeeded, which the peo-, ple were induced to stay and hear, that they might be present at the performance of the second part. The subjects in early times were the "Good Samaritan," the "Prodigal Son," "Tobit with|| the Angel, his Father, and his Wife," and similar histories, which by the excellence of the composition, and the band of instruments and the performance, brought the Oratory into great repute; and hence this species of musical drama obtained the general appellation of ORATORIO. CHURCH MUSIC. FOR THE FAMILY MINSTREL. NOTICE OF AN ADDRESS ON SACRED MUSIC, AND OF A SACRED CONCERT, IN THE ALLEN-STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. It affords us pleasure to notice every movement in this city, which regards the better culti vation of this science, or tends to awaken an interest in it among our churches. As such, we now refer to an address delivered a short time since in Allen-st Church (Rev. Mr. White's,) by the chorister, Mr. SAMUEL R. BROWN, at the request of his Choir. The subject, in this address, was viewed mainly in two aspects, viz:-Its usefulness, and the present state of public sentiment here respecting it. In doing justice to these points, a wide scope of illustration and variety of topics were necessarily embraced, and were treated, too, in a manner which must have left an impression favorable to the speaker and to his cause. After the address, the audience were entertained with a few pieces of Select Music. These, with the exception of slight "variations," which could not have been anticipated, were executed in a style truly creditable to the taste and musical powers of the singers. "Salvation, O, the joyful sound," by Hastings, and "Lord of all power and might," deserve a special notice. But that which most excited our admiration, and which held the audience in breathless silence, was the beautiful Solo by Shaw-To Jesus the crown of my hope"-as sung by Mr. Brown. It went to the heart. All felt then the ennobling power of sacred song, when properly executed. Wrapt as they were in the inspiration of the theme, they were borne along; and when the voice rapidly ascended in the scale, and slowly vanished on the highest note, with the words," And waft me away to his throne,"it was to them almost a matter of surprise to find themselves actually still there. ! There is rather an excess of feeling, and lack of judgment. Now, if we mistake not, one of the principal objections to choirs, in distinction from congregational singing, is that want of feeling which they are apt to exhibit. We do not indeed wish to see a wild, senseless enthusiasm, which may exist distinct from thought, but that spirited emotion, which is the genuine offspring of a harmony of voices under the control of a good judgment. And by judgment we mean that just conception of the sentiment of a hymn, which is essential in guiding the voice to a correct expression of that sentiment. Too many seem to suppose, that if they strike the right note, and cominence and finish it about the time the chorister does, that is all which is required. And such will follow the printed strains with the same cool precision, that an anatomist would trace the muscles and veins in his subject. Our choirs generally are taught just enough, to know there are rules, and to feel bound by them; while a few only go so far as to sing independently, and to feel free from the restraint of rules which they follow by habit. Such can throw the whole soul into the voice, and to give a decided tone to a whole choir. We say, let music live and breathe. Give it freedom. And let our orchestras be as altars from which offerings of pure devotion and praise shall ascend into the ear of the GOD of harmony, "like mingling flames in sacrifice.” As the writer of this communication is a member of another church, he feels at liberty to congratulate the members of the Allen-st. church and congregation, upon their late improvement in this delightful part of divine worship. They seem to have justly appreciated the merits of sacred music, in supposing its attractions an important accession to those even of a newly erected church, and a good minister combined. And it is to be hoped that no interference on the part of those who have no claim to musical taste, and yet often claim the right to interpose their veto in these matters, or unfounded prejudice to instrumental music, (which we are happy to learn is giving way, or-we must say it,) that modest pride which sinks from exposure in so public and vulgar a place as the singing-seat, that none of these will exist as obstacles there, as they have in many places, to the advancement of church music. In conclusion, we cannot omit to express the wish, that similar addresses may be delivered in every church in this city. C. ITEMS. If in speech, it be better to say "five words with the understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue," then we say, give us five notes such as thrill the soul with delight, rather than ten thousand of those miserable apologies for music, which are sometimes heard in church, and heard, too, as attempts to praise the living GoD, when it were more natural to suppose them to be creakings from the "infernal doors," that "on their hinges grate harsh thunder." Noise to many, seems the grand object; and, therefore, the more noise the more music. Such persons would have been in their element, That we do not over-estimate the effects and could they have heard the two hundred thousand influences of music, will be made apparent by resingers, who, according to Josephus, assisted in flecting upon the various ways in which it meets the dedication of Solomon's Temple. What a the ear, from animate and inanimate nature. Demusical treat! To be sure the "players on in-stroy that curious mechanism in the throat of the struments" were there, but then it was under the old dispensation, and it was proper enough then. Could these amateurs of noise claim the sublimity of a roar like the monotone of Niagara, it would be something in their favor; but the Babel sounds, too often heard, clash on the ear of musical taste, as if emitted by evil spirits fighting in mid air. Some one has said that "blessings perverted become the greatest curses." If this be true in any case, it surely is in that of Sacred Music. One thing, however, should be said of these modern Stentors, and is worthy of imitation. Such singers are not usually wanting in energy. songster of the grove; let the brute creation become dumb, and no sound escape them; let the winds be hushed to a breathless calm; let the thunders be still, and no hum of the insect be heard; 1t the waters of the cataract descend to their deep abyss, noiseless as the grave; let the voices of speech and of song break no more upon the ear, and where is the man who could endure such a profound and awful stillness! CONCERTS.-John Bannister, master of Charles the Second's band, was the first person who commenced public concerts in London about A. D. 1762. |