after the poetry of Metastasio had, without opposition, taken the first place in the lyric theatre. Hasse, Handel, Bach, and Gluck, set to music Italian dramas, which gained the palm in all the Courts of Europe, from Petersburg to Lisbon, and from Pultowa to Amsterdam. Italy also derived great benefit from the numerous families, and the wealth imported by this means. It did not gain less from the reputation in which it was held by the rest of Europe for fine taste and the prosperous state of its arts, if we may judge by the throngs of composers, instrumentalists, dancers, and mechanics, who left other countries to procure themselves such varied, perfect, and finished pleasures as it held forth; nor less were the marks of esteem by which not a few of its most celebrated artists were distinguished. Ferri, Matteucci, and Guadagni, were knighted; Farinelli was presented with the cross of Calatrava, in Spain, where, under his direction and management were revived, in theatrical spectacles, all the magnificence and good taste of ancient Athens. Tesi was rewarded with the order of Faith and Constancy in Denmark, and many others received similar honours.

I cannot discover for what reasons an ingenious and interesting writer* should have called that glory which Italians feel in finding that their language, music, and poetry, are superior to those of the rest of Europe, vain and useless. Italy ought never to consider as worthless, praise that gives her a decided superiority in the endowments of genius and art. In the endowments of genius, because neither poetry nor music can arrive at such perfection among a people who are not gifted with exquisite sensibility and brilliant imagination, qualities which, transferred to the fine arts, are sufficient not only to immortalize a man, but also to iusure to a whole nation the homage of all ages, and in those of art, because the perfection of these faculties is a decided mark that they are still and have formerly been cultivated successfully by many. Smooth language indicates a long course of knowledge, learning, and cultivation. Poetry, finished and perfect in the many branches of which it is composed, indicates a constant use of the theatre, a critical knowledge of history, a philosophical, analytical, and deep study of the heart. Music, such as the Italian, indicates a surprising advancement in taste, and in all the arts promoted by luxury.

* Dennina, "Rivoluzioni d'Italia," b. 23, c. 13.

Besides it is undeniable that a people would not cultivate with such assiduity those faculties which conduce to mere pleasure, if they had not long enjoyed peace and riches, whence spring refinement and luxury. Neither can that fame be termed useless which serves to support so many persons, and so materially assists in importing to Italy the wealth of other countries, it being certain that from no branch of the fine arts does this country derive so much wealth as from those relating to the melo-drame, especially now the genius of painting has reigned for two centuries without a rival over that region

Che Appenin parte, e'l mar circonda e l'Alpehas deserted it, and, seated on the car of Minerva, is gone to brighten with her presence the shores of France and the Northern nations. But it must not be imagined that on its first appearance good taste, such as we have described, was universal. If music possessed its Horaces and its Virgils, it likewise had its Baviuses and Mæviuses; and if simplicity, purity, expression, and nature, were the beauties of the former, old errors, laboured counterpoint, and noisy harmony, distinguished the compositions of the latter. If any one be inclined to doubt this, two authors may be referred to, whom no one could ever accuse of wishing to conceal the truth, or to take from the glory of their country. One is the Conte Benvenuto di San Raffaele, royal director of the gallery at Turin, who in two well-written letters, "Sull' arte del suono," inserted in the collection of pamphlets at Milan, (vols. 28 and 29) thus expresses himself, when speaking of the state of music in Italy when Tartini first appeared. Dominava ancora tra gli scrittori quel barbaro gusto delle fughe, de' canoni, e di tutti in somma i più avvilupati intrecci d'un ispido contrappunto.Questa increscevol pompa di armonica perizia, questa gotica usanza d'indovinelli, e di logogrifi musicali; questa musica gradita agli occhi, e crudel per gli orecchi, piena d'armonia, e di romore, e vuota di gusto, e di melodia, fatta secondo le regole, seppur le regole hanno l'atrocità di permettere di far cose spiacevoli, fredde, imbrogliate, senz' espressione, senza canto, senza leggiadria, qual altro pregio veramente aver può, che quel di abbagliar gli eruditi, e di uccider per la fatica il compositore, e per la noja i dormigliosi. ascoltanti?

The other is the famous Benedetto Marcello, a Venetian nobleman,

one of the greatest geniuses that Italy can boast, and who, in his composition of psalms, equals if he does not surpass Palestrina-he wrote a very ingenious criticism, entitled Il Teatro alla moda, published without name or date, and without the name of the place where it was printed, but which was reprinted about 1700, in which, with the freedom permitted to an anonymous writer, he displays one by one with good-humoured irony the defects which, in his time, prevailed on the stage. Those readers who wish to have a full account of the Italian Theatre I refer to this work. The faults mentioned will be found not only amongst the million of composers and actors, but even in the compositions of those great men of whom we have spoken in such high terms. Pergolesi composed some very trivial things-the first works of Jomelli did not partake of the excellence which they ultimately attained. Tartini paid tribute to the taste of the age by imparting a degree of intricacy to his first sonatas, and all Corelli's works do not equal the fifth-neither was the singing of the immortal Farinelli the same in his prime of life as it had been in his youth. But we shall not be astonished at this, when we reflect that error is that fatal instinct which nature has placed between truth and ignorance, in the paths which the human mind must traverse in quest of instruction, and that it is only permitted to the few who are favoured with the propitious smiles of heaven, to shun this hidden rock of destruction.

BEETHOVEN'S NEW SYMPHONY.

We have received from a critical friend, whose competency will speak for itself, the following remarks upon this composition, which has excited so much sensation in the musical world. We e are altogether unwilling to prejudge the merits of Beethoven's work before it has been sufficiently perfected to be performed in public; but much is due from us to the curiosity of our extensive circle of readers, and we dare believe the observations of our informant will hereafter be borne out by the general feeling.

There can be nothing so distressing to the feelings of a true artist as to see, and be obliged to notice, the partial failures of great men, whose productions have been the ornament of the art they cultivate. With such feelings we may suppose an artist to view a work of some mighty master, which, from the precision and finish displayed in parts of it, he would say, "if this were the production of an aspiring artist for fame, it must be considered an extraordinary performance; but knowing it to proceed from the pencil of one, with whose former works I and the rest of the world have been delighted and astonished, I cannot but feel that it falls infinitely short of them, and consequently fails to satisfy the minds of his true admirers." Such was the effect produced upon my mind, when the new grand symphony of Beethoven's was tried for the third time, at the Philharmonic, ushered into notice as it was by the flattering accounts from Germany of its magnificence and grandeur, supported by a most zealous and indefatigable conductor (Sir G. Smart), performed by a band, containing some of the most talented musicians in Europe accustomed daily to the music of this wonderful genius, incited by its novelty and reported excellence, and lastly, rehearsing it before a select company of musicians and amateurs, who, impressed like myself with a sense of Beethoven's wonderful powers, anxiously awaited opportunities of bestowing that warm and energetic applause, which from such men should be given to those compositions only that unequi、 vocally display the hand of the master. Before I enter into a brief detail of the beauties and defects of this symphony, it may be

right at once to say, that its length alone will be a never-failing cause of complaint to those who reject monopoly in sounds, as it takes up exactly one hour and twenty minutes in performance, which is not compensated by any beauty or unity of design, taking the composition as a whole.

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There are four different movements. The first is in F, troppo e un poco allegro," in time, and the first thirteen bars display the well-known eccentricity of this composer, for the basses and horns remain on the two notes, E-A, during those bars, and form apparently a subject to work upon-but, like the Aurora Borealis, no sooner do you feast your eyes on the phenomenon, than in an instant it vanishes from your sight. The latter part of this movement is masterly and full of ability. The second movement is in D minor, time, "Molto Vivace;" the style lively and brilliant, but I was not pleased sufficiently with the design of it to retain more than the first few bars. The third movement, an "Adagio con moto e cantabile," in common time, is in my opinion decidedly the best and most pleasing part of the symphony; it flows in a melodious style of plain but excellent harmony, in simple counterpoint, of many real parts—and although I could discover nothing particularly novel in the melodies thus interwoven, yet they were elegant, and moved in "liquid sweetness" to the end of the adagio. The fourth and last movement, upon which the violent admirers of Beethoven seem to place all their ill-judged vehemence of approbation, is one of the most extraordinary instances I have ever witnessed, of great powers of mind and wonderful science, wasted upon subjects infinitely beneath its strength. But I must at the same time declare, that parts of this movement, one especially where the bases lead off a sort of fugal subject of about twenty bars, in a bold and commanding style, afterwards answered by the other parts, are really beautiful, and would be sufficient to have raised fame for any composer less known-but even here, while we are enjoying the delight of so much science and melody, and eagerly anticipating its continuance, on a sudden, like the fleeting pleasures of life, or the spirited young adventurer, who would fly from ease and comfort at home, to the inhospitable shores of New Zealand or Lake Ontario, we are snatched away from such eloquent music, to crude, wild, and extraneous harmonies, that may to some ears ex、