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which is very effective. The rest of the accompaniment is light and descriptive. The only song in the opera follows, and it is for Preciosa-the melody short and simple, with a tasteful accompaniment for the horn and flute. Altogether it is an extremely sweet and original composition. The second act closes with another light Gipsey Chorus, similar in kind but inferior to the first, both in melody and conception. The only music in the third act is a Spanish national dance. The fourth opens with the second chorus introduced into Abon Hassan, which is good, though not so good as the first. The melody is as usual simple, but the accompaniments are brilliant and well adapted to the subject. The closing scene to the opera is one on the same plan as the soliloquy of Preciosa in the first act. The principal part is here also allotted to her; it is purely dramatic, and depends indeed entirely upon the performer. Parts of the accompaniment are certainly beautiful, but these single traits of melody are not sufficient to keep alive the attention of an audience.

On the whole, though we cannot assent to Preciosa being a decided failure on the part of Weber, yet we must think he has not added to his fame by its production. There are some strong proofs of superior ability and originality of design, and the test of our belief that the music was not the primary cause of its failure is, that the overture and its two best pieces still continue before the public, in the orchestra and on the stage, whilst the numerous arrangements of the rest indicate a favourable opinion in the general.

The music in Abon Hassan has but little to recommend it to notice, in comparison with the other compositions of its author; nevertheless it has stoodi t ground in the London theatres. The two best pieces in it are the chorusses, which we have already noticed as being introduced from Preciosa. The overture is spirited and good, formed according to Weber's customary plan, with more regularity than always belongs to such compositions, on parts of the music in the drama. It begins like that to Preciosa, with the opening chorus, wherein all the melody, which is extremely pretty, is allotted to the accompaniments, whilst the voice parts are constructed in the simplest possible way. The bird whose song of gladness, a soprano song, although not one of the happiest efforts of the composer, is nevertheless an air of sweet expression.

The melody of the allegro movement is very pretty, but falls off for want of variety. It is easy of execution, and is tastefully accompanied. Pay pay is a chorus of great spirit and dramatic effect. The idea and construction of it are very good; indeed this is one of those pieces of musical fun which sometimes arrive so seasonably in the shape of finales, and assist by the combination of gay music and stage effect in enlivening the too frequent tedium of musical dramas of this kind. Wine, my fairest, juice divine, a duet, is purely dramatic: there are a few spirited passages in it, and as a curious proof of how much Weber's system of interweaving any favorite morceau with other ideas, he has introduced a passage of the opening chorus, for which, though we can see no immediate purpose, its own sweetness is a sufficient apology. Kind Genii hear me, recitative and air, is more in the mannerism of the composer than any thing we have yet met with. The changes of feeling in this song give room for the exercise of his imagination, and although the subject is not sufficiently elevated to call for a great exertion of talent, it is nevertheless treated with success; it consists of three movements, of which the two last are the best. The softness and languor of the second, besides its fit adaptation to the expression of the words, is well contrasted with the exultation of a milder kind expressed in the third. The song is certainly capable of considerable effect. The last duet, Hear me though love's first wild hour be o'er, contains rather more execution than the rest of the music. As a whole, Abon Hassan is a light production-such an one indeed as any body might have written.

Natur und Liebe (an offering to nature) is a cantata according to the oldest form. Its character may be at once collected from the following poetical lines, a part of the translation by Mr. Napier, and which has been adapted to the music by Mr. Hawes.

"Then nature doth her stores unfold,

To deck her fairy bowers;
Upon the trees are crowns of gold,

And gems within the flowers.

The massy clouds are in the West,

In many a glowing cluster,

And wood, and hill, and stream are drest,

In sun-set's shining lustre.

VOL. VII. NO. XXVI.-JUNE, 1825.

And o'er the wide etherial blue
A mellow veil of richest hue
In gleaming splendour closes;
And all around a purple dew,
As though distill'd from roses,
O'er tree and herb reposes.

And thus adorn'd by nature's hand,
The sky, and earth, and ocean,
In all their pride and glory stand,
A temple for devotion.

And there's a whisper on the gale,
A murmur in the fountain,
And peace is resting in the vale,

And silence on the mountain.

Above, below, on ev'ry side,

O'er ev'ry spot there seems to glide
A deep and burning feeling,
That spreads its spirit far and wide,
The wounded bosom healing,
And the Deity revealing.

Natur und Liebe is said to be one of Weber's early works-we are sure it is an inconsiderable one. With the exception of the last chorus, there is nothing from beginning to the end worthy a man of genius. The melody to which the words we have quoted are set is barely pretty, and even here the theme is repeated so often or varied so little as to be tiresome: the same remark applies more forcibly to a duet, "Fraught with melodies Elysian,” which is even in a more tinkling manner. The chorus to which we have alluded is certainly well worked, though part of it bears so obvious a resemblance towards one of Beethoven's, in the Mount of Olives, that it must we think be an intentional imitation.

We must observe that the Berlin score differs exceedingly from the publication in English from the Argyll Rooms. Mr.Hawes has probably obtained a subsequent and amended edition. If not he has interpolated other songs, for we do not even find the principal English air in the copy before us. The Berlin we therefore conclude to be an imperfect publication.

Looking then at the compositions of Weber which have been produced here since Der Freyschutz, we perceive nothing to sustain the reputation gained to their author by that production, and we cannot evade the conclusion, that his musical talent has been more over-rated than that of any composer we ever remember. The truth is, as we have stated, he has absorbed all the reputation that has attended the drama itself, and his name is emblazoned with the halo which national pride, exerting itself (with very good feeling) in a foreign country as well as at home, and individual interest has raised around it. The opera is certainly a work of genius, but hitherto we have seen little beyond it to lead us to believe that the power is great or far extending.

A New Treatise on the Art of Playing upon the Double Movement Harp; comprising the Rudiments of Music, a Series of Exercises with the Metronome, and a Concise Theory of Practical Harmony; by F. C. Meyer. London. Clementi, Collard and Collard.

Professors of eminence, we have often had occasion to remark, cannot do a more acceptable service to art, or to the rising generations of the followers of art, than that they perform in giving written records of the steps by which they have attained their eminence. Mr. Meyer founds his claims upon long experiencenot only his own indeed, but of his father also. "The name of Meyer" (he says) is identified in this country with the knowledge of the pedal harp; my father, Mr. Philip Meyer, having been the first person who introduced it here, and also the first performer thereon in public at the Hanover-square Rooms, in 1772; and my elder brother and myself have followed my father's views in extending the knowledge of it to the present time." In plain English, Mr. Meyer's family have been teachers of the instrument for something more than fifty years. The fact however is of more consequence than the phraseology, and it forms a strong ground of recommendation.

Mr. Meyer's work commences with the rudiments of musical instruction, notation, time, &c.* These are reduced into a brief form, and therefore are not very clearly explained. An explanation of the structure and action of the harp follows-the stringing and tuning and the position of the player. The principles of fingering and execution are next elucidated. Mr. Meyer has divided his rules more systematically and more minutely than the authors of preceding books, giving altogether nineteen distinct examples. These rules are followed by exercises, to call into effect the principles laid down.

Mr. Meyer considers that he has made a discovery of importance in adapting a series of exercises to be practised with the metronome. In the preface he says-"Power of execution being derived from the mechanical facility of the hand, a work which combines examples with the principle of acquiring that power in the readiest manner, must be of the greatest utility. To obtain this end, I have instructed upon a plan entirely my own, for some years, most successfully; and it is from long experience that I am convinced it is calculated for the attainment of fine execution in less time than any other method. In my treatise, I have combined numerous examples with a series of practices, which, by the assistance of the metronome, are intended to promote mechanical facility, by proceeding gradually from a very slow motion to the greatest degree of velocity; and the application of the metronome on this principle (which is exclusively my own), I find of the greatest importance to the student, as it at once points out present inability, shews the power of rapidity to be accomplished, and stimulates to exertion by distinctly shewing what remains to be done."

The value of this method (if indeed it possess any thing extraordinary) appears to lie in the simple fact, that by the limitations Mr. Meyer has assigned by the figures of the metronome, he has pointed out a method by which the pupil may begin, slowly advance in rapidity, note his progress, and finally ascertain when he has obtained as much celerity as Mr. Meyer thinks attainable

*This, though an indispensable part of knowledge, seems to us a very superfluous method of filling up an instruction book. Since the same principles apply to all instruments, why should not some elementary book, such for instance as Keith's Musical Vade Mecum, he put into the hands of the pupil ? Such a course would save the eternal repetitions to be found in all elementary treatises.

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