An Address to the Philharmonic Society on the following subjects: 1. On Musical Education.-2. On the general state of Musical Taste and Knowledge in this Country.-3. On the Study of Music in Score.-4. On a work now in the course of publication, entitled Vocal Sonatinas, &c. and on a system of Education connected with that publication; to which is prefixed a Proem, explanatory of the Address. By T. D. Worgan, Professor of Music. London. Wilson.

This work proceeds from no common mind. There is a depth of thought, illustrated with a firmness and temper which indicates strong character. The object of the verbal illustration of the musical compositions alluded to is to condense a series of instructions into a system, having for its object the restoration of the wholesome taste for simple and beautiful melody combined with rich harmony rather as an alternative to than as a substitute for the present rage for extreme execution, and this MR. WORGAN proposes (as far as he has hitherto gone) to accomplish by making the rounds, catches, and other short pieces of old masters, the models, and indeed the basis of his superstructure of accompaniment and various adaptation.

There are some very pertinent remarks in the address, from those which illustrate the difference between the taste of the professor and the amateur. We extract the following sentences, which we think must "draw blood."

"Every master, zealous for the advancement of his art, would wish to illuminate a pupil of talent, so as to make her taste, as nearly as possible, congenial with his own: he will be superior to the narrow, mercenary, and mistaken policy of keeping his pupils in perpetual darkness, and humouring their taste for the disgusting trash, from which he flies for relief to classical restoratives. Yet would ask any musician, alive to the enjoyment of classical excellence, if at present he is accustomed to recreate himself with the compositions he is obliged to teach ?"

MR. WORGAN sets forth as follows his own objects in writing the vocal sonatinas, and in the work of personal instruction.

1

"To take a comprehensive view of the subject then, I suppose my pupil to learn both the piano-forte and singing; and to be about the age when girls are on the point of leaving school-but she may be older. My plan is this: I take a very short, and simple composition, say, White sand and grey sand,' No. 10. I first

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teach the principles and practice of fingering, so far as relates to the lesson; 2dly, the time; 3dly, the proper intonation of the notes; 4thly, the hitting of distances; 5thly, the singing of the melodies, as a single air, and as a round; in every way, in regard to the beginning and accompanying herself; 6thly, the intervals, as applied to the melodies; 7thly, the same, as applied to the plain counterpoint, in two and three parts, exhibited in the vocal parts, and the florid counterpoint in the accompaniment; 8thly, the thorough bass, practically and theoretically; 9thly, and lastly, the compass and powers of the voice and instruments, for which the round is composed." This is indeed setting about the work of instruction honestly.

In the discussion of the present system of teaching, he thus describes its most common effects and appearances.

"If any proof were wanting of the frivolity of a taste, however refined, that is not consolidated by knowledge, such proof can easily be found. On questioning ladies, who have attended concerts, where the first performers have been engaged, and the most masterly compositions performed, I have generally found, that almost every harmonious impression has been effaced by some trifle, such as an old ballad, a new face, or the performance of a child: and I will venture to affirm, that if the Philharmonic Society were to exert themselves to inspiration, and in the course of their performances, to put an infant with a fiddle in his hand on a table, nineteen in twenty of a female audience, would the next day remember little or nothing of the concert but the child and the fiddle. This may be attributed to, sexual levity; but I have reason to believe, that under the influence of a good education, ladies may become as attached to rational amusements as gentlemen; and consequently, by means of a proper musical education, they may be made to perceive and feel the intellectual pleasure of music-that contemplative, and exquisite enjoyment, that gratifies the eye as well as the ear.'

MR. WORGAN has built, we have said, on the basis of old catches and rounds, and if his scheme fails, we think its failure will mainly be attributable to the words of the themes his veneration for the sound musical learning of the masters he very justly exalts, induces him to select. His reasons are ingenious, but they will not bear down the general regard for interesting words, expressively treated, which, in the general estimation, constitute the grand recommendation and superiority of vocal science. As we shall give the author's own defence, he will not consider it unfair in us to state that music as a language is exceedingly vague, not to say unintelligible to the million, and however susceptible mankind may be of the beauty of sounds, they interpret those sounds by the sentiments with which they are associated. Nor can this rule, which alone can give deter

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minate ideas to sounds, be ever infringed or overleaped with impu nity. MR. W. however defends his adoption of the subjects he has chosen. It appears to us that it will be more easy to evade than to obviate the objection, and we submit this alternative to his consideration as not at all interfering with his system of musical progression. The materials not liable to our very obvious suggestion are sufficiently numerous to afford him abundant choice, and his employment of those he has adopted is certainly very ingenious and interesting.

"It has been said of rounds and catches, that by the simultaneous performance of different words, they distract attention and cause confusion. If this objection be really tenable, it is equally applicable to fugue, imitation, and every species of point in vocal music : it subjects the genius of a PALESTRINA, a MARCELLO, and a HANDEL, to the fetters of impotence; annihilates florid counterpoint, and enervates the whole system of musical composition. The strict correspondence of sense and sound, attributed to the obsolete system of the ancients, is undoubtedly incompatible with that of the moderns, and will not I think he required by any person susceptible of the charms of vocal harmony. The ear accustomed to the combination of musical sounds is easily reconciled to this imaginary defect; and the mind wanders, in a pleasing abstraction, from word to word, and from note to note. The rational pleasure to be derived from music is not so much in the appropriation of notes to words as in the investigation and analysis of harmonical combinations."

We have made these few remarks and quotations as a preface to a communication we have received from MR. WORGAN himself upon this subject, in order that we may not be suspected of suppressing our own opinions. MR. W.'s letter is perhaps something out of the usual course, but it seems to us entitled to a place in our miscellany, by the temper, frankness, independence, strong sense, and perseverance it carries on its surface.

AN APOLOGY FOR A PUBLICATION ENTITLED
VOCAL SONATINAS.

The plan and tendency of this publication, being detailed in the Author's address to the Philharmonic Society, it is not his present intention to recapitulate that detail, but merely to state what may be considered as a supplement to that exposition, where it is remarked, that "tasteful and brilliant execution has arrived at a summit, beyond which the author supposes no intelligent musician expects, or

wishes the art to aspire." Such, however, is the imperfection of human acquisitions, that what we gain one way, we frequently lose another, and the calm, lasting, and intellectual pleasures of science are often sacrificed to the exquisite but intoxicating pleasures of art. Simplicity, the criterion of good taste, or what is the same thing, of good sense, is vitiated by ornament; and in the splendour of the superstructure, the foundation is forgotten. To apply these remarks to music, it may be observed, that what is called execution, and particularly instrumental execution, is now so generally aimed at and achieved, that to sit down to a piano forte without exhibiting velocity of finger, is to produce disappointment. Pathos is an opiate, and the only passion or emotion that music is expected to excite, is admiration. But this epicurism of taste, this vehement demand for high excitement, will probably in the end supply a remedy for the disorder it produces. The epicure returns to plain food. Admiration is a short-lived passion. The volcano is disregarded at Sicily and Naples, and in tropical climates the sublimity of the tempest is unheeded. But as art is founded on science and science on nature, there is a primitive germ in art, that may be obliterated, but cannot be destroyed. This germ is conspicuous in the master-pieces of the antients, which in music, as in sculpture and painting, will always be the earliest models upon which the student in the science or the art ought to work. To begin with the moderns is to begin at the wrong end, and to end with the antients is to end where we ought to begin. However, those who begin with the moderns, rarely turn to the antients for any good purpose, or with any salutary feelings. To them CORELLI and PURCELL are insipid, HANDEL old-fashioned, and SCARLATTI intolerable. Few visitors go from the Exhibition at Somerset House to contemplate the productions of PHIDIAS, at the British Museum. Yet to confine ourselves exclusively to any parti cular school, is to wed prejudice, to discountenance talent, to contract our minds, and to abridge our pleasures. Far be it from me to discourage the spirit that delights in the encounter and in the conquest of practical difficulties. It is the noblest ambition of the art, and the portal to every species of classic excellence. I would only not have the means mistaken for the end, nor our senses bewildered by the brilliancy of execution; which, however fascinating, is, after all, but one style of composition, and that by no means of the highest class. A passage of canon, a touch of pathos, an ebullition of senti

ment, a whisper of nature, a beam of energy, a flash of sublime molulation, infinitely surpasses in exemplary merit, mere velocity of finger, or of vocal utterance; and it is remarkable that this opinion has been uniformly transmitted from age to age, by the greatest composers and performers, and continually disregarded by a large majority. However, it is not to be expected, that enjoyments which are the offspring of thought and feeling, will ever become as popular as those obtained only at the cost of manual labor. To wonder, and to excite wonder, are natural and consequently universal propensities. But velocity of finger is now no wonder, and children can execute passages that forty or fifty years ago would have staggered masters. Execution, therefore, is not conjuration now, but the charms of music are actually on the wane-at least, in refined society; for the fastidious ear, familiar with rapidity of notes, requires the variety which such rapidity does not afford; and while it is disappointed with not finding novelty, is habitually excluded from the touch of affecting simplicity. That velocity of finger is an equivalent for the time and labour bestowed on its attainment, is a point upon which opinion is by no means unanimous. Granting the affirmative, however, and acknowledging the generality of execution, yet still, the cost of time and application, indolence, distaste, and other pursuits, are such bars to its attainment, that a great majority in the musical world, not excepting even professors, are excluded from the practical acquirement of a style, of which rapidity and difficulty are the prominent characteristics. This large majority, therefore, are left to admire and applaud the conquest in which they have no share. How lasting may be the admiration, or how fervent the applause of people so circumstanced, let those who are versed in the human heart decide. It is to this majority that the Vocal Sonatinas principally, but not solely appeal. In the performance of these compo. sitions, the meanest proficient may take a share, and consequently an interest; and those performers who cannot shine, may nevertheless become sociable and useful. What they want in brilliancy, they may compensate in steadiness, and at least become good timists -an important acquisition, of which an exclusive attachment to solo playing deprives us. As harmony is the basis of composition, so should it be the principal, and the constant object in view, in the study of the musical classics; and the intention of thorough bass, is to habituate us to this object; but eternal solo playing, on the con