who, like ourselves, may have sought such things without knowing exactly where to find them: Another excellence they possess is, that they are eminently calculated to be sung without accompaniment, the genuine method of part-singing. SIR JOHN STEVENSON's glee is convivial in its strongest sense, and we esteem it rich in that bold and generous spirit both in sound and sentiment which, well timed and well given, adds zest to the flavour of the wine, and kindles the sudden flash of animation which (like the burst of a pack of fox hounds,) forms the extatic moment of boon companions. We look upon the Irish to be better judges than the English of the merit of such a work, and we happen to know that the Beef Steak Club of Dublin has decided with especial favour in behalf of this glee-authority indisputable. To our understanding of the thing, one of its principal recommendations is, that it is full of the esprit du vin, without degenerating into coarseness. Forget me not, tho' thus we part; composed by George Goss. London. Phillips and Mayhew. Because it looks like you; by Dr.Jay. London. Phillips & Mayhew. Every Hour I lov'd thee more; by J. Blewitt. London. Power. The Maid with a love-beaming Eye; by J. Emdin, Esq. London. There is scarcely an individual in the kingdom perhaps, except a very few most largely engaged in the sale of music, who can form any competent notion of the multitude of compositions which now issue from the press. In proportion to their numbers the task of the Reviewer becomes more nice and difficult; for it seems to be expected that some general idea of the talents of the rising generation of composers should be afforded, as well as justice done to those whose acknowledged excellence makes it almost imperative that their works should be the first object of his regard. In order to reconcile, so far as we can, these conflicting claims, we find it necessary to class, according to their proportions of merit, a series of those compositions of the minor order, of which little can be said separately. The ballads whose titles we have here brought together just reach mediocrity, and do not soar above it, yet may perhaps rise a little each above each, from the first to the last. DR. JAY's compositions are deformed by small grace-notes of anticipation here and there, which are, we beg to assure him, not only in bad taste, but most injurious to the singer, since they tend to engender an habitual want of firmness in coming at intervals, fatal to the best principles and purposes of vocal art. In this list the amateur beats the professor, it is to be observed, which in ballad writing does not seem to be a solitary instance. I love thee dearly; by His Grace the Duke of Marlborough. London. Chappell and Co. Oh! wear for me this blooming Rose; by His Grace the Duke of Marlborough. London. Chappell and Co. Him who sighs for thee; by J. Emdin, Esq. Londen.-For the Author. Phillips and Mayhew. If e'er Compassion Shelter found; by G. Lanza. London. Chappell and Co. Inform me, O delicious Kiss; by G. Nicks. London. Clementi and Co. 'Tis vain to deck thy Brow with Pearls; by Joseph de Pinna. London. For the Author. Clementi and Co. The parting Look she gave; by Walter Turnbull. London. Power. To the list of noble composers we may now add a Duke, the descendant of the House of the illustrious MARLBOROUGH. His Grace's ballads have, from their peculiar accentuation, something of the air of national melodies, and rank just above the class of songs we have just dismissed. They are distinguished from the common by their quaintness. MR. LANZA's air is remarkable for its conjunctive resemblance to "Sleep you or wake you," the trio in The Castle Spectre, with the exact notes of which it commences, and to MR. BRAHAM's celebrated "Is there a heart that never loved," to which there is somewhat of a general likeness. We mention these, but really there is no end of similitudes in modern ballads, and therefore if there be not manifest and direct plagiarism, they amount to nothing more than proofs that new and more appropriate combinations of old though short phrases is all that is to be hoped or expected. MR. NICKS's song has a good share of melody, and is particularly fitted, by its words and by the latitude it allows to a singer of expression, for the table, where we think it would be found particularly effective. MR. DE PINNA's is the taste of an earlier date, and is sounder and sweeter than those we have put before it. There is one miserably bad vocal passage-the arpeggio of the chord of E, in a division on the second page. Any arpeggio, of a common chord especially, is always to be esteemed (considering the rule) as more instrumental than vocal-the instances where such combinations can be successfully employed are the exceptions. MR. TURNBULL has given a pleasing and spirited adaptation to words which have been set before, (by MR. WALMISLEY.) He has however taken for his theme (unconsciously we doubt not) a strain from one of the national airs. We regard his song as very agreeable and melodious, and as possessing far more originality than belongs to the million. Oh! Woods of Green Erin; by Wesley Doyle, Esq, London. Power. Oh! if those Eyes deceive me not; by Sir John Stevenson, Mus. Doc. London. Power. The high-born Soul, Recit. ed aria; by George Perry, of Norwich. London. Phillips and Mayhew. Thou white rolling Sea; by Wm. Horsley, Mus. Bac. Oxon.* London. By the Royal Institution. In the first two ballads we ascend to a high though not to the highest order of this species. MR. DOYLE's has the characteristic expressiveness of his writings, SIR JOHN STEVENSON's the melody and sweetness which captivate so much in his songs. We consider these amongst the best produced by either hand. MR. PERRY, (a young man whose genius is cramped but cannot be repressed by the incessant labour of superintending the orchestra and leading the band of the Norwich Company,) has given us a bass song for an orchestra, consisting of a recitative and bold allegro, and an andante cantabile. This is after the model of Dr. Calcott, adopted both by Mr. Bishop and Mr. Horsley in his Tempest, a song which has not yet, from not having beeu sufficiently often sung, been duly appreciated, but which is alike splendid and beautiful. MR. PERRY'S is certainly composed with ability, but the middle movement is in a style never very powerful and now a little passé, the theatrical manner of SHIELD in his “As burns the charger," and like songs. The cantabile part is sweet and melodious, and there is unquestionably the indication of a mind of power in the whole. From MR. HORSLEY's great name our readers will naturally expect a composition of mature and solid excellence; there are accordingly the marks of thought, science, and that delicacy for which, above all their other qualities, the works of this gentleman are distinguished. The song is wholly descriptive, and the contrast between a * Within a very short period this most industrious musician has composed nearly two entire oratorios, one of which has been performed entire, and a part of the other. They are highly creditable compositions, and their author eminently merits patronage, both by industry and talent. breathing melody and a picturesque accompaniment is finely drawn and kept. Mr. H. is not a man to compromise his reputation, and in this little piece there is the purity of taste and of imagination which is visible in all he has done the same graceful flow, the same simplicity and delicacy of expression.* A Musical Vade Mecum, being a compendious Introduction to the whole Art of Music. Part 1, containing the principles of notation, the gamut or great scale, intervals, diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic scales, keys, and their modes, transpositions, &c. by W. Keith. London. Keith. We recommend this little work to the notice of beginners. It comprises a greater quantity of information concerning the first rudiments of musical instruction in a more reduced and popular shape, than any book of the kind we ever saw. *We have just received the Asylum Hymns by this composer, but as they reach us when our time is too short to do justice to the simple majesty and beauty of these compositions, we defer the extended notice they deserve till our next number. |