MUSIC IN BOSTON. BY JOHN S. DWIGHT. THE cold city of the Puritans, weary, as it were, of being considered the intellectual brain and literary" Athens" of America, is rapidly becoming the chosen home of the warmest and most sympathetic of the Fine Arts. Whether it be the fruit of well-directed, persevering special efforts, like those of its "Academy of Music," its "Handel and Haydn Society," &c., whether it be that there is a greater average of cultivation, and a more settled tone and sphere of social refinement, or whether it be owing to the compactness of Boston, whereby the whole of the musical element in its population may be more readily summoned together, than in a vast, multifarious, distracted, hurried cosmopolitan world like New York; true it is, that the higher order of musical performances meets there with more constant audience than in any other of our cities. Boston has, what perhaps can be found in no other American city, a large permanent audience of quiet lovers of the deepest and best works of the great composers. There is a steady demand for "classical" music, both in the forms strictly so called, and in the more generous and general sense which includes compositions of established genius, as songs, and operas, and the best of the piano-forte music of the romantic modern school, as well as the strict symphony, sonata, quartette, or concerto. The whole of the past winter, or long musical season, embracing autumn, winter, and spring, in Boston, has been remarkable for the almost total discontinuance of those great, showy, miscellaneous, "monster" concerts, so called, with their long and startling programmes, in which music descends to a competition with mountebanks and circus-riders for the public favour; and by a steadily deepening interest in the serial concerts of societies and clubs, who study to interpret the enduring works of the great masters, in the form of the orchestral symphony, of chamber music, of the oratorio, and of all those genuine organic forms of art, which never grow old, but increase in meaning and interest with the hearer's taste and power of appreciation. Even the Italian Opera, for such short time as MARETZEK and his famed tragic star, PABODI, were vouchsafed to Boston, has been less eagerly resorted to than oratorios on Saturday and Sunday evenings. And among the operas available, Mozart's "Don Giovanni" seems to have weighed more than the whole list of "Ernanis," "Normas," "Gemma di Vergys," and Italian "Favoritas," in producing a subscrip tion towards a recall of MARETZEK and his troupe in May. It was somewhat significant, too, that PARODI, who had borne the name of "peerless" in New York, and whom many proclaimed so much greater, in the essentials, than JENNY LIND, was only measurably admired in Boston. Indeed, the enthusiasm which welcomed her first advance to the foot-lights, ere she had sung a note, left a tide-mark high and dry above the topmost ebullition of any feeling that succeeded. She was admired for her rich, sweet, and expressive voice, her smooth and skilful execution, and a certain tragic energy of passion. But the passion was not felt to be of the deepest; it was a physical and savage kind of energy; it often over-acted itself; it was thought to lack that quiet, pervading sentiment of art, which called forth a heartier unanimity of enthusiasm even in the weaker voice and much more unpretending action of the unfailing favourite, TRUffi-BenDETTI. In JENNY LIND we felt imagination, genius; in PARODI, only talent and strong impulse, which is not passion in the deepest sense. Such, at least, was the impression which soon settled down upon the majority of music-lovers in Boston. In the concert-room, the experience of all preceding winters has been reversed. The vocal morceaux of MOZART, SCHUBERT, MENDELSSOHN, &c., have been more frequently sung than scenas and cavatinas from BELLini, DoniZETTI, and VERDI. Madame ANNA BISHOP, who lost favour in several miscellaneous ballad and operatic concerts, more than redeemed it by the solid programme and artistic execution of one evening, when she sang the great songs from HANDEL'S " Messiah," "Judas Maccaboeius," "L'Allegro," &c.; "With verdure clad," from the "Creation;" SCHUBERT's Ave Maria, and the Gratias Agimus of GUGLIELMI. As for pianists, those of the HERZ and STRAKOSCH and DE MEYER school, with their ingenious tours de force, and brilliant variations, have scarcely made their appearance. On the contrary, there is a growing taste for the solid classic beauties of the Sonatas of BEETHOVEN and MOZART, the "Songs without Words" of MENDELSSOHN, and Liszr's admirable transcriptions of the immortal songs of SCHUBERT. In this department, Mr. PERABEAU and Mr. LANGE have frequently officiated, pleased to find an audience for that which they themselves love best. Nothing during the winter has been more admired than Mr. SCHARPENBERG's performance of a concerto by HUMMEL, and a Caprice by MENDELSSOHN, with the accompaniment of the "Musical Fund" orchestra. In this connexion, it may be remarked, that the music publishers afford a surer index than the concerts, of the taste for music in a place. ; stant audience for such music. This winter During the year, the "Songs without Words" they have given a dozen "Chamber Concerts" of MENDELSSOHN have been republished entire, in Boston, with an average attendance of from in Boston. The same publisher has commenced, three to four hundred listeners, varying the in numbers, a complete edition of the thirty or entertainment with now and then a good pianomore great Sonatas of BEETHOVEN; another forte piece, or a good song of SCHUBERT, or publisher has found reason to do the same from one of MOZART's operas. In the large thing for MOZART, and another for HAYDN. towns near Boston, too, they have found like Each month gives us at least one Sonata from employment for nearly every evening of the each of these great masters. We cannot but week. A beautiful festival, quite German and congratulate the students of the piano upon artistic in its sentiment, was given by this club having their attention turned from the mere upon the 3d of February, in commemoration of finger-music of the day, to these solid and in- MENDELSSOHN's birthday, when the music was spired classics of the instrument. As the piano- entirely of that lamented composer's. forte is now an inmate in almost every house, where "the humanities" are cherished or affected, and as it is, more than all things else, the medium of musical culture throughout the community, it becomes really a matter of deep concern that the genuine masters and poetsters of song. The other two have produced who have written for that instrument, that the BEETHOVENS, MOZARTS, MENDELSSOHNS, and CHOPINS, should be at least as well known among us as the ephemeral fire-eaters of the new school, who write for the fingers rather than for the soul. 66 3. Messrs. BREISSMANN, LANGE, and SUCK, have given another, and an equally choice and charming series of Chamber Concerts. The first named gentleman is a tenor singer, who most truly interprets the great German mas the Sonatas, for piano and violin, of MOZART and BEETHOVEN, interspersed with fine solos for either instrument. 4. The HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY have given four performances of HAYDN's “Crea tion," three of MENDELSSOHN'S "Elijah," and one of the "Stabat Mater" of RosSINI. The music of Boston, then, for the season 1850-51, sums itself up essentially in the doings 5. The MUSICAL EDUCATION SOCIETY have of its several societies, as follows (of course twice performed the " Messiah," twice the there has been no lack at the same time, of "Israel in Egypt," and once or twice the "music for the million." The simple, and "Jephtha" of HANDEL. They have a chorus of often truly beautiful melodies of "Negro Min- two hundred and fifty voices, a good orchestra, strels," Harmoneans," "Eoleans," &c., but have relied upon their own amateur forces which shun the artificial on the side of nature, for the solos, except in "Jephtha," where they as the classic music shuns it on the side of art, have had the valuable aid of Mr. ARTHURSON'S and therefore are a part of our genuine musi-highly cultivated tenor and true appreciation cal growth, have always had their audiences). of the Handelian style. 1. The MUSICAL FUND SOCIETY.-This is the fraternity of the best resident musicians, who compose an orchestra, now of near sixty members, and who devote themselves to the study and performance of the great symphonies, overtures, &c. This season, they have given eight concerts, uniformly attended by about two thousand persons, during which they have performed four Symphonies of BEETHOVEN (viz., the 4th, 5th, Pastoral, and 7th), one of MOZART (in G Minor), one of HAYDN (the "Surprise"), and one of MENDELSSOHN (in A Minor). They have also weekly rehearsals through nine months of the year, attended by some four hundred subscribers, who thus get the first taste of many new symphonies, &c., tried over with a view to the concerts of next year. 2. The MENDELSSOHN QUINTETTE CLUB. This consists of five young artists, mostly Germans, who first formed the habit of meeting together, from their own love of it, to practise the string quintettes, quartettes, &c., of HAYDN, MOZART, BEETHOVEN, MENDELSSOHN, SPOHR, ONSLOW, and the like, and who now find con But our space is exhausted, and we must close with a single caution. We would not have it understood that the children of the Puritans are becoming mere purists and pedants in their preference for classic music. We have cited the concert experience of the past winter as certainly significant. But the inference we would draw is, that it is significant rather of the intrinsic and enduring power in music of that kind to interest the human mind and heart, wherever it has frequent chances to be heard, than of any superiority of Boston audiences in respect to taste. We would urge the example upon concert-givers and musical societies in all the cities and large towns. Lighter and more brilliant styles of music need not to be so jealously fostered. Italian opera, and wonderful singers and solo-players, will still have their turn of audience, and sometimes of furore, in Boston, and everywhere else. But in a resumé of the musical facts of the times, such a fact as we have been describing, is singularly encouraging to those who long to have Americans become a musical people. ART NOTICES. EMBELLISHMENTS OF THE JUNE NUMBER. "OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SHUT YOUR EYES."-The class of art to which this subject belongs, is that known among connoiseurs by the technical term "genre pictures,”—works of the familiar, conversational, domestic sort; a class, perhaps without exception, the most extensively popular of all, especially in this country and in England. The higher and nobler branch of historical painting has always stood first in the estimation and encouragement of the Italians, and of late years of the Germans too, possibly, for the adornment of the interior of their public edifices. But the "genre picture" is for beautifying and enriching the walls of home, for the parlour, study, or sitting-room; and in whatever land the genial influence of the domestic virtues is most felt, there will this style of art be most encouraged, together with portraiture. The scene of the embellishment now under consideration, is by the gothic entrance to the open court of an old collegiate building, and at a stand for the sale of fruit placed against the wall. The girl who keeps it has evidently just sold a dish of cherries to a youth-apparently one of the students-and is in the act of pouring them into his cap. He, meanwhile, is occupied in playing off a well-known trick upon a younger companion, who, with closed eyelids, and mouth wide open, and no doubt watering with expectation, is confidingly waiting for the delicacy. But we see, although he does not, that this is destined to prove "a slip between the cup and the lip," for his amused tormentor pops the bright bunch of cherries into his own mouth, and merely touches with a finger of the other hand, the disappointed lip of his friend. Sharpe, the author of this work, was for many years among the most popular painters of this kind of subject in England, and many of his works having been engraved, are tolerably well known here. One of them, the "Barber Politician," has been a particular favourite. The style of his colouring was rich and agreeably harmonious; his method of composition and effect may be in a measure judged of by the engraving. classic story of "Pyramus and Thisbe," represented Pyramus clad in modern top-boots and small-clothes, like a horse-jockey, perpetrated no worse anachronism than Rembrandt's ordinary practice exhibits, even in his most serious moods. How great, then, must have been the other merits of this artist, that notwithstanding such defects, he should have achieved so mighty a reputation, the glory of which has never yet shown symptoms of waning. The prices paid for his works, long since as tonishingly high, continue on the increase; and when the last of his paintings shall have perished under the sure hand of time, the printed impressions from his numerous engravings will still survive to preserve and justify his fame. It is greatly to be regretted that the method of engraving called mezzotinto, had not been discovered be fore his time, because of its peculiar adaptation to the effects which he always aimed to produce. What he accomplished in engraving, with such rude and imperfect means at his command, suffice to show what wonders of effect would have resulted, had he possessed the facility which the mezzotinto manner would have afforded him. Rembrandt is represented as being excessively fond of money, and appears to have valued fame chiefly as a means to pecuniary gain. It is related of him, that on one occasion, in order to sell off his stock of pictures secumulated on hand, and at the same time enhance their money value, he pretended to have died, and procured the ceremony of a mock funeral. The desired end being se complished to his satisfaction, the facetious painter resumed his post at the easel, chuckling over the success of the ruse, and proceeded in the production for his customers of a few more of the same sort." It would appear that a spice of personal vanity was not wanting in his character, if we may judge by the number of portraits of himself which he engraved and published. Of these there are no less than twenty-seven. J. S. BOOK NOTICES. STILLING'S PNEUMATOLOGY. Edited by the Rev. George Bush. J. S. Redfield; New York. For sale by Zieber. 286 "LESBIA," our second plate, is from a picture by Frith, pp., 12mo. This seems to be a volume of American no and forms one of that artist's beautiful illustrations of characters in the writings of the poet Moore. It may be presumed that the poem is sufficiently familiar to most readers, and need hardly be copied here entire, especially, too, as it is mostly devoted to "Nora Creena," for whom the keen-witted lady is merely used as a foil or set-off. "Lesbia hath a beaming eye, But no one knows for whom it beameth; But what they aim at no one dreameth. "Lesbia hath a wit refined, But, when its points are gleaming round us, Who can tell if they're designed To dazzle, merely, or to wound us?" "TOBIT AND THE ANGEL."-The third plate of this number is from a celebrated picture by Rembrandt van Ryn, so called, from his birthplace having been on the banks of one of the branches of the Rhine, near Leyden. He was born in the year 1606, and lived to the age of eighty. In point of originality of style, he was beyond comparison the most remarkable artist that has ever appeared, not excepting John Martin, whose ideas of effect are clearly derived from Rembrandt. His most striking characteristic is intensely powerful effect in light and shade; and next, picturesque arrangement and variety of composition. But the splendour of his effects and groupings cannot conceal the meanness and gross vulgarity of his personages, who are always and uniformly utterly destitute of dignity. This glaring imperfection is no less conspicuous in his scriptural, than in his more commonplace subjects; nor were the costumes of his figures more consistent with the time and place of the piece, than the character of the figures themselves. The painter who, in depicting the tions-Rochester knockings, mesmerism, &c.,-done into German metaphysics. It professes to reply to the ques tion, what ought to be believed or disbelieved concerning presentiments, visions, and apparitions, and contains, first. a very large array of instances of supernatural appear ances in all ages of the world, and secondly, a formal theory by which these are all explained. This theory o cupies some ten or a dozen pages near the end of the book, and is a condensed abstract of the present science (?) of mesmerism. Those of us who have been in the habit of laughing, or scolding, at our good old "Pilgrim Fathers" for having had so much imaginary trouble with the "witches," will have to reconsider our opinions. Perhaps the "Salem Witchcraft" was no sham after all. We re commend to the American editor, in his next edition, to quote largely from Cotton Mather's Magnalia. The re cords of the New England colonies are a perfect mine of facts (!) which the mesmerists have not yet even begun to explore. We would not be surprised if "broomsticks" were once more to come into fashion, as the most approved method of clairvoyance! THE WORKS OF IORACE. By Professor Lincoln. Appletons. It is difficult to speak too highly of this admirable edition, which is certainly destinel to become classical. It is equally difficult to know which to praise most, the judicious selection of the matter, its lucid arrangement, the scholarly elegance that pervades the whole, or the stainless splendour of its appearance. To turn over its pages is a perpetual feast, equally to the eye and the mind. N. B. A large number of reviews and miscellaneous notices have been crowded out this month by the press of other matter. |