MUSICAL REVIEW AND Musical World. 5 CENTS SINGLE.] THE NEW YORK PUBLISHED FORTNIGHTLY, BY MASON BROTHERS. NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JAN. 5, 1861. MUSICAL REVIEW AND MUSICAL WORLD, Each number containing sixteen quarto pages, including four pages of new music. THE RE- [VOL. XII.-No. 1. MONEY for subscriptions, in sums not exceeding fire dollars, may be sent by mail, at our risk, provided it is inclosed in the presence of the post master, and he takes a memorandum of the number and description of the bills.Subscriptions may commence with any number, but none will be received for less than a year.-Be sure to write the name very plainly, and give the name of the post office, county and State. Subscribers desiring to have their post office address changed, must always give the name of the town to which their paper has been hitherto sent. The postage on THE REVIEW and World is thirteen cents per annum, payable quarterly in advance at the office where it is received; if within the State, the postage is one half that amount. Subscribers in Canada will remit twenty-six cents in addition to their subscriptions, as we bave to pre-pay to the line, at the New York office, one cent on each number. Agents are desired to extend the circulation of THE REVIEW AND WORLD in every town. THE MUSICAL REVIEW AND WORLD, as well as all our musical publications, may be obtained in Boston, Mass, of CROSBY, NICHOLS, LEE & Co., 117 Washington street, who are authorized to receive subscriptions for us. Mr. JOHN BOWER, 1514 George street, Philadelphia, is our agent for that city. PUBLISHED BY THE Ninth Symphony was finished, and the question arose-how could it be performed? But here the master met with more difficulties than it is easy to believe possible, considering the exalted position, as an artist, he held in Vienna. But it was nevertheless true that there was hardly a chance to hear his last colossal symphonic work. Another work of the same grand dimensions, the "Missa Solennis," had been finished for some time, but had not yet been heard in Vienna. The reason was simply this, that the large mass of the public in Vienna were charmed by the music of Rossini, who reigned at that time supreme there. How far the enthusiasm of the Viennese went, may be learnt from a correspondent in the Leipzig Musical Journal, in which the writer said, with regard to a performance of the opera "Corradino" by Rossini, "It was as if the whole audience were bitten by the tarantula; the whole performance was like an adoration-the hurrahs and vivas seemed to have no end." The same reception had been awarded to another opera of Rossini, "Zelmira." Fortunately "Corradino" and "Zelmira" have departed for ever, while in more respects than one Beethoven's Ninth Symphony reigns supreme at the present time. The great success Rossini achieved at that time was, however, not so much due to his music as to the masterly interpretation it received by the greatest Italian singers who have ever lived, some of whom we mentioned in one of our recent numbers. It is needless to say that such a state of affairs very much depressed our master. He profited therefore by an opportunity which was offered to him to ask Count Brühl, the manager of the Berlin theater, whether it was possible to arrange a performance of his two latest works in Berlin. The answer was very encouraging, but this had scarcely been ru̟ mored abroad, when a small number of influential amateurs in Vienna addressed a memorial to Beethoven, in which they begged him to increase the impression of his latest productions, by affording the public the pleasure of becoming acquainted with them first through himself. "Do not allow," the paper said, "your new-borns to be introduced in their native place in future times perhaps by strangers, perhaps by those to whom you and your spirit are foreign. Do appear soon amongst your friends and admirers!" It was further suggested that he should not give up his intention of writing another German opera, and this was urged the more earnestly as a good libretto had been offered to him by a distinguished poet. The whole memorial breathed the most hearty esteem and admiration for Beethoven's genius-statements which were so much the more to be appreciated, coming, as they did, from such distinguished persons as Prince Lichnowsky, Andreas Steicher, Anton Halm, Abbot Stadler, Anton Diabelli, Count Polfy, Count Czernin, Count Fries, J. F. Castelli, Prof. Deinhardstein, Ch. Kuffner, Count Dietrichstein, Carl Czerny, Court-Counsellor Kiesewetter, and others, that is to say, from the best representatives of the nobility, of art and science, at that time in Vienna. Beethoven was deeply moved by this token of sympathy, and will This is the opinion of a critic in Beethoven's own time; and yet in our days there are still some wiseacres who condemn this very Finale. The great success which attended the above concert caused the management of the theater to urge a repetition, on which occasion they would bear all expenses, and moreover warrant to the master one hundred dollars. The pecuniary straitened circumstances of the master induced him to accept these terms. The programme of the second concert included only the "Kyrie" from the "Missa," but there were several additions calculated to attract also those of the public who had a preference for the lighter muse of the Italians. The stars, Dardanelli, Donzelli, and Boticelli, sang the trio, "Empi tremati," and the most ! adored tenor of the Italian opera, David, sang the cavatina from Rossini's "Tancredi,” “ ," "Di tanti palpiti," written for contralto, but transposed a few tones higher for this grand occasion. The man was going to sing mostly with falsetti, and yet all this would not draw; the room was only half filled; and the management had to make up a considerable deficiency. (To be Continued.) ingly gave permission to have a concert arranged for him. However, The Musical Review & Musical World. this was not an easy task, as the master was apt to change his mind every day with regard to the performers as well as to minor considerations. At last, after a good deal of quarreling, and no little amount of explosions of his ill-temper, the concert was announced in the following manner : Grand Musical Academy, by Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven. The pieces to be performed are the newest by Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven. FIRST-Grand Overture. (It was the "Dedication of the Honse," from the year 1822, op. 124.) SECOND-Three Great Hymns, with Solo and Chorus. ("Kyrie," "Credo," "Agnus Dei," and "Dona," from the "Missa Solennis." In consideration of the length of the whole work, the "Gloria," "Sanctus," and "Benedictus" had to be omitted.) THIRD-Great Symphony; The Finale, with Solo and Chorus, upon Schiller's Ode, "To Joy." The Soli will be performed by Madlle. Sontag and Madlle. Unger, and Messrs. Haizinger and Scipelt. Mr. Schuppanzigh has undertaken the direction of the Orchestra; Mr. Conductor Umlauf, the direction of the whole, and the Musik- Verein will increase the Chorus and Orchestra. Mr. Ludwig van Beethoven himself will take part in the conducting of the whole. (He stood at the side of Mr. Umlauf, and fixed the time at the beginning of each part.) The prices of admission as usual. The theater was crowded, only the imperial box showed no signs of life, although the master had personally invited all the members of the Imperial family who were at that time in Vienna. The total receipts of the concert were 2,220 florins, of which, after deducting 1,000 florins for the management, and 800 florins for copying expenses, there remained about 420 florins for Beethoven, a result which was, of course, unsatisfactory to the master. But if the pecuniary gain was little, the glory Beethoven derived from the performances of his latest works was great. Unfortunately the master could not hear the thunders of applause with which his music was received. He showed this sufficiently by having his back turned towards the audience at the end of the performance. But the songstress, Caroline Unger, by a happy impulse, turned the master towards the Proscenium, and called his attention to the waving of hats and handkerchiefs in which the whole audience indulged. Beethoven bowed, and this was the signal for demonstrations of sympathy and admiration as-had been witnessed a short time before when Rossini's music was heard. This is not only characteristic of the Viennese, but of all gatherings which represent the public in artistic matters. A more valuable appreciation of the merit of the new Symphony and the "Mass" was found in the critical notice in the Leipzig Musical Journal. The correspondent said at the close of his letter:-"I am now sitting at my desk, and of course cooled down, but that moment (when the Chorus in the Finale of the Symphony, atter the invitation of the Bass-Solo, sings the "Praise of Joy,") will never be forgotten by me; art and truth celebrate here their greatest triumph, and one might well say 'Non plus ultra.' Who could surpass this?" NEW YORK, JAN. 5, 1860. DANCE MUSIC. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK MUSICAL REVIEW AND MUSICAL WORLD.] WHY is so much dance music published in this country? Whenever I look over your Sheet Music Review (which I do regularly, for it is, in my opinion, the only complete record of musical publications in the country), I find nothing but polkas, schottisches, waltzes, galops, and so on. And these are not done merely by the mass of indifferent composers, but also by the best we can boast of. How is this? Has music no other than dance forms? Can it speak in no other way than by appealing to the feet of our piano-forte players? Has it nothing to offer to occupy their minds, their intellectuality? Is the whole field of music but one large saloon to hop and polka in? Please inform me about this matter, for if music has no other aim than to make our boys and girls dance, I think it high time to discharge the musicmaster, and to shut up the piano. A CONSTANT READER. WE publish this letter, because it touches a question of vital importance not only to the musical, but also to the intellectual culture of the vast number of amateurs. Undoubtedly the extent of dance music in our pianoforte literature is immense; it covers at least seven-eighths of the whole ground. For the last twenty-five years, pupils in the old country, as well as in our own, have been fed with dance music, so that it must appear, after all, very natural for them to think that there is no other kind of music in existence, and to ask the teacher, if he happens to bring them something which does not follow this beaten track, whether it is a polka or galop. We readily believe that it is in most cases almost impossible to make a piece which is not a dance, acceptable to a pupil. But whose fault is it? In the first instance, the teacher's; in the second, the composer's. If the teachers would create a demand for something more intellectual and healthy in music than most of the dances in our days can offer, the composers would soon furnish the supply. But in most instances the teacher's course is not regulated by his own views, but by those of his pupil; if he obeys a larger ambition than this, if he wants to instil into the minds of those he instructs, by means of music, something healthy and good, he generally brings forward a long sonata, or an old-fashioned rondo, heavy and dull enough to frighten anybody. He wishes to occupy the mind of his pupils, but instead of this he stuff's it with matters which must at least sadly interfere with the faculty of thinking. Not that those sonatas and rondos were not superior music, but the pupil is not superior, and consequently you have to give him something which he can understand, which may awaken in him a world of fine sensations and thought, and yet not be a polka or a galop. It has been the aim of modern æsthetics to require in a musical composition a certain individuality of purpose, in fact some meaning, and we have had, and still have composers, who satisfy this natural and historically developed want of the times. But their music generally appeals |