ENGLISH MUSIC AND ENGLISH MUSICIANS. MUSICAL taste, as we observed in a former article, has undergone fewer mutations in England, than in most other countries where the art has been cultivated and esteemed. In order, therefore, to acquire an accurate knowledge of the state of musical taste and science which now prevails among us, it will be necessary to take a brief retrospect; and as much of the music still popular was composed during the earliest period of the art in England, we shall rapidly trace its history from the times of those early masters, whose names are still held in remembrance and repute, down to the present century. When England threw off the Papal yoke, music was little known beyond the services of the church. Though the secular music of this period was barbarous in the extreme, yet masses were universally sung, and music had long formed a necessary element in the due performance of the services of the Romish church. During the reign of Henry VIII. few alterations were made in public worship; and the service continued to be sung and carried on in the Latin language, as before. From Strype's account of the funeral of this monarch, it appears that all the old ceremonies were observed, and that the rupture with Rome had caused no alteration in the obsequies performed on such occasions. In the reign of his successor, the church service was entirely changed, and the Protestant liturgy was first published for general use. Four years after this event, on the accession of Mary, the "old worship" was again restored. But when, at length, the reformed religion was firmly established by Elizabeth, and the ritual permanently changed, the music of the old masses, suited to the genius and structure of the Romish service, was no longer available for the simpler forms of worship by which it was replaced. During the holiest and most solemn portions of the ancient worship, the organ had for centuries been heard in the cathedrals, while the choruses of praise and adoration resounded through the aisles. Men's opinions may undergo a change, but the feelings and ideas created by early association, and fostered by habit, are far more lasting and enduring. The poet must have lamented the loss of the music, which, in the stern ascetic spirit of Puritanism prevailing at a later period of our history, he assisted to banish from our churches, as he sang "But let my due feet never fail To walk the studious cloisters pale, There let the pealing organ blow And bring all heav'n before mine eyes." At the period of which we speak, the want of music in the services of the church seems to have been severely felt, though perhaps the simpler forms of the new ritual were comparatively but little adapted for musical display. Great exertions were made throughout the kingdom by the deans and chapters to restore the efficiency of the choirs; and Elizabeth, in the exercise of what then appeared an undoubted prerogative of the crown, issued her warrant for the impressment of singing men and boys for the castle of Windsor. The churches and cathedrals still, indeed, retained their organs; "the choirs and places where they sing" were still in being; all the matériel was at hand; but, with the exception of the produc tion of John Marbeck, called "The Book of Common Prayer Noted," which was printed in 1550, there was as yet no music for the new services in the English language. Two years after the accession of Elizabeth, and one year after the bill for the uniformity of common prayer had passed the legislature, a choral work, very necessarie for the church of Christ to be frequented and used," was published, among the authors of which the name of Tallis appears. musical necessities of the newly established church appear to have stimulated or developed talents which, under other circumstances, might perhaps have been less prominently The brought forward : at all events, the part of every collection of church mudemand for this music would seem a sic. Canons and fugues were the faprincipal reason why the early Emg: vourite modes of that early period; lish masters should have devoted vain substitutes for melody, rhythm, themselves so exclusively to sacred and correct accentuation, in which composition. Tallis and his pupil particulars music was then greatly deByrd, both men of original genius, ficient. The merits of the composiproduced many compositions for the tions of the Elizabethan age, vaunted newly introduced ritual, which, by by the lovers of antiquity as the golden their intrinsic merit and comparative age of English music, are thus summed superiority, aided also by a constant up by Dr Burney: “ It is, therefore, demand for new music of the same upon the church music, madrigals, and character, gave a permanent direction songs in parts, of our countrymen duto the exercise of musical talent; and ring the reign of Elizabeth, that we the services of Tallis and Byrd became must rest their reputation ; and these, the classic objects of emulation and in point of harmony and contrivance, imitation, and sacred music became, in the chief excellencies of such compoa peculiar manner, the national music sitions, appear in nothing inferior to of England. The compositions of those of the best contemporary comthese “fathers of our genuine and positions of the Continent. Taste, national sacred music,” are still pre- rbythm, accent, and grace, must not be served, the latter of whom, Byrd, died sought for in this kind of music; inin 1623, at the age of probably near deed, we might as well censure the eighty years. ancient Greeks for not writing in Eng. The year 1588 forms an epoch in lish, as the composers of the sixteenth our musical history. An Italian mer- century for their deficiency in theso chant, who, by his mercantile connec- particulars, which having then no tion with the Mediterranean, had op- existence, even in idea, could not be portunities of obtaining the newest wanted or expected ; and it is necesand best compositions of his native sarily the business of artists to culticountry, had, for some years, been in vate or refine what is in the greatest the frequent habit of procuring the esteem among the best judges of their best singers of the day, to perform own nation and times. And these, at them, privately, at his house in London. this period, unanimously thought every This gentleman had at length the spi- species of musical composition below rit and enterprise to publish a volume criticism except canons and fugues. of Italian madrigals, entituled, “ Musi. Indeed, what is generally understood ca Transalpina, Madrigales transla- by taste in music, must ever be an ted of four, five, and six parts, chosen abomination in the church; for, as it out of divers excellent authors; with consists of new refinements or arrangethe first and second parts of La Vir- ments of notes, it would be construed ginella, made by Maister Byrd, upon into innovation, however meritorious, two stanzas of Ariosto, and brought unless sanctioned by age. Thus the to speak English with the rest." These favourite points and passages in the pieces seem to have given birth to that madrigals of the sixteenth century, passion for madrigals which was af. were in the seventeenth received as terwards so prevalent, and thus be orthodox in the church; and those of came the models of contemporary mu. the opera songs and cantatas of the sicians. The next composer of any seventeenth century, are used by the note was Orlando Gibbons. He died gravest and most pious ecclesiastical at an early age, soon after the acces- composers of the eighteenth.” Of sion of Charles I., to whom he had the skill of the performers, for whom been appointed organist. This mas- this music, still listened to and adter composed several madrigals, but, mired, was written, he also observes, like his predecessors, he devoted him. “ that the art of singing, further than self principally to sacred composition. necessary to keep a perforThe secular productions of Tallis, mer in tune, and time, must have Byrd, and Gibbons, together with been unknown;" and that “if £500 those of contemporary composers of had been offered to any individual to inferior note, are, for the most partperform a solo, fewer candidates now forgotten; but the sacred music would have entered the lists than if of these three masters still forms a the like premium had been offered for was filying from Salisbury steeple over Old Italian composers. The fact, that Sarum without a balloon.” For our Purcell was under obligations to the selves, we do not hesitate to acknow- Italians, may startle many of his moledge that, in our opinion, the ser- dern admirers; but with a candour vices of these patriarchs of the Eng- worthy of himself, in the dedication lish school surpass the great majority of his Dioclesian to Charles Duke of of similar productions by our later Somerset, he says, that “music is yet masters. They may, indeed, suffer but in its nonage, a forward child. when compared with the masses of 'Tis now learning Italian, which is its the great continental masters; but best master.” And in the preface to they nevertheless possess a certain his Sonatas, he tells us that he “faithdegree of simple majesty, well suited fully endeavoured at a just imitato the primitive character of the ritual tion of the most famed Italian masof that church which disdains the use ters," An able critic has also reof ornament, and on principle declines marked, that he thinks he can perceive to avail herself of any appeal to the the obligations which Purcell had to senses as an auxiliary to devotion. Carissimi in his recitative, and to We have been the more particular in Lulli both in recitative and melody; our notice of these early masters, be- and also that it appears that he was cause, long without any rivals, their fond of Stradella's manner, though he church music even now stamps the seems never to have pillaged his paspublic taste, and is still held in the sages. Many of our readers are doubt. highest esteem by many among whom less aware, that Purcell's opera of their names alone suffice to hold the King Arthur has been lately revived judgment captive. at Drury. Lane, where it has had a It is needless to advert to Humphrey considerable run. The public prints and other composers, some of whose have been loud in its praise; and this productions are still in vogue; enough work has been styled “the perfect has been said to show with what rea- model of the lyric drama of England." son the absolute correctness of Eng. The intervention of spoken dialogue, lish taste in sacred music, in which by many in their innocence hitherto we suppose ourselves so peculiarly to supposed to be a defect in the conexcel, may be called in question. struction of a musical drama, is strange We proceed to sketch the history ly metamorphosed into a beauty in of the other branches of the art in King Arthur. In short, from some England, and commence at once with of these critiques, King Arthur would Henry Purcell, the greatest of our appear to be the only perfect drama native masters, previously to whom or opera which the world has ever music is said to have been manifestly seen. To show the real value of these on the decline during the seventeenth criticisms, we may mention the fact, century. It has been often remarked that in an elaborate article of a jourof Purcell, that he had “ devancé son nal now before us, in which many of siècle." Many of his faults, defects, the pieces of this opera are enumerated or crudities, may undoubtedly be at- and highly commended, the writer has tributed to the age which he adorned. curiously enough passed by in silence The tide of public approbation has of two airs, of which Dr Burney oblate set strongly in his favour; and serves that they contain not a single could the fulsome panegyrics, of which passage which the best composers of he has been the object, be implicitly his time, if it presented itself to their received, Purcell would be considered imagination, would reject; and on one as nothing less than a prodigy of of which he also remarks, that it is genius. Several attempts at dramatic “ one of the few airs that time has music had been made before Purcell's not the power to injure; it is of all time. Matthew Lock had already ages and all countries." There is set the songs of Macbeth and the doubtless much in Purcell, which, Tempest, and had also given to the though quaint and antiquated, the world “ The English Opera, or the musician may nevertheless admire; vocal music in Psyche,” in close imi- but excellence of this kind is necestation of Lulli, the long famed com- sarily lost upon a general audience. poser of Louis XIV. Purcell follow. Melody in his day was rude and uned in the new track, taking for his polished; for there were no singers to models the productions of the first execute, even if the composer had the ability to conceive. Thus Purcell's melody, though often original and expressive, is nevertheless more often rude and ungraceful. In the words of a recent writer on this subject, "We are often surprised to find elegance and coarseness, symmetry and clumsiness, mixed in a way that would be unaccountable, did we not consider that, in all the arts, the taste is a faculty which is slowly formed, even in the most highly gifted minds." We suspect that the pageant saved King Arthur; the scenic illusions by which contending armies were brought upon an extended plain, together with the numerous transformations, continually commanded that applause which the music alone failed to elicit. With many, however, the mere spectacle was not all-sufficient; but Opinion was written down, and independently of the prestige attached to the name of Purcell, the press would have effectually put down all exhibition of disapprobation. The theatre might be seen to become gradually deserted, and party after party, stunned by the noise and blinded by the glare, might be observed to glide noiselessly away as the performance proceeded, while an air of fatigued endurance, and disappointment, was plainly visible on the countenances of those that remained behind. This opera has been frequently revived; how much of the success which it has met with may be attributed to what Rousseau, when speaking of the operas of that period, terms "a false air of magnificence, fairyism, and enchantment, which, like flowers in a field before the harvest, betokens an apparent richness," may be matter of speculation; but it is recorded that even on its first introduction on the stage, it caused a heavy loss to the patentees, in consequence of which their affairs were thrown into Chancery, where they remained some twenty years. Even Purcell's fame is confined to our own shores, and we are not aware that his music was ever known upon the Continent. Arne, who established his reputation as a lyric composer by the music of Comus in 1738, is the next composer whom we think it necessary to mention. To this master belongs the singular glory of having composed an English opera-a term by which, as will be seen hereafter, we mean a musical drama in which the whole of the plot is carried on without the intervention of spoken dialogue. Artaxerxes, the only work of the kind which we possess, was first produced in the year 1762. Though the music is of a form now obsolete, this opera has seldom been long a stranger to our stage, having been from time to time revived for the debut of new and ambitious singers. One of these revivals has recently taken place; the piece, however, was performed for a few nights only, and perhaps popularity may be, at length, deserting Artaxerxes. This "standard work of the English school" appears to be of more than doubtful parentage. Arne is stated to have crowded the airs, those of Mandane in particular, with all the Italian divisions and difficulties of the day, and to have incorporated with his own property all the best passages of the Italian and English composers of his time. With the exception of Comus and Artaxerxes, none of his pieces or operas met with great success; and he seems to be principally remembered by those compositions which were the least original. "Rule Britannia," by the combined effect of the sentiment of the words and the spirit and vivacity of the music, now become a national song, does not possess the merit of originality. Long before it was nationalized-if one may use such a word-by Englishmen, it was observed that in an Italian song, which may be seen at page 25 of Walsh's collection, the idea-nay, almost all the passages-of this melody might be found. In the well-known song, "Where the bee sucks, there lurk I," passages occur taken almost note for note from a cantabile by Lampugnani. According to Dr Burney, Arne may also claim the glory of having, by his compositions and instructions, formed an era in the musical history of his country. The former relates that music, which had previously stood still for near half a century, was greatly improved by Arne in his endeavours "to refine our melody and singing from the Italian ;" and that English “taste and judgment, both in composition and performance, even at the playhouses, differed as much from those of twenty or thirty years ago, as the manners of a civilized people from those of savages." Dr It of recitative in its simplest form, the other, of accompanied recitative.* would seem scarcely credible that so powerful an agent of the lyric drama should be utterly neglected, among a people who undoubtedly claim to be considered a musical nation, and whose composers certainly esteem themselves among those to whom musical fame might be justly awarded. But such is nevertheless the fact, and we are not aware of any modern composer of the English school who has fully availed himself of its powers and capabilities. It has been said of Artaxerxes, that the attempt then made to apply recitative to the English language is unsuccessful; but it may be asked, whether the long-continued popularity of this work may not, in some degree at least, be owing to the absence of the incongruous mixture of speech and song. However this may be, it is at least a singular coincidence, that the single opera of our language, in which dialogue does not break and interrupt the unity and consistent action of the drama, should be the only musical work which has been distinguished by such constant and enduring marks of popular favour and approbation. Another species of dramatic music, the cantabile of the Italians, is equally neglected among us. The cantabile includes much of the most exquisite music of the Italian masters, and we know of nothing more touchingly beautiful, throughout the whole range of musical composition, than many of the andante cantabili of this school. This, also, has been rarely attempted by the English masters, and their puny efforts will bear no comparison with the rich, graceful, flowing measure of the true Italian. How conferred by mere sounds. beautiful are the scenes, about to follow, depicted in the overtures to Der Freyschutz and Oberon; what wild diableries are not suggested by those wonderful compositions! There are sounds of awful mystery, proceeding, as it were, now, from the dread rites of dark malignant beings of another world, now, from the mad frolics of mischievous and reckless imps; in the midst of which a stream of beauteous, gentle melody-like a minister of grace -breaks forth; now,gliding smoothly along, now, rushing on impetuously, or, broken and interrupted in its course, as though the powers of good and evil were striving for the mastery; and at length, as if the former were victorious in the strife, that melody again bursts forth, loud and expanded in the bold exulting tones of triumph, with which the imaginary scene is closed. Similar observations might be made of many other pieces of instrumental music; but these effects depend upon the imagination of the hearer, there being no words to convey definite ideas to the mind. In vocal music, where the words express no passion or emotion, the voice becomes little more than a mere instrument of the composer or the performer. Now, the national music of our country is for the most part adapted to words of this description, and the anthem, the madrigal, and glee, are thus necessarily deficient in dramatic power and expression. The glee has been described as quelque chose bien triste," and few but the fanatics of the school who have listened to a succession of glees, will, we think, deny the accuracy of the description. The oratorio is often highly dramatic; but we have few, if any, oratorios of merit, of native production. Our operas we have already designated as plays, with songs scattered about at random. Thus, music of the highest class is rarely attempted in this country; and the neglect of the one great requisite of musical excellence, may have prevented our composers from assuming that rank, to which they might otherwise have shown themselves entitled. There is, however, another class of composers whom we must not omit to notice: we mean the song-writers of *No, cccxxvii. p. 137. |