service of a private gentleman, as secretary, and as such led an exem

father.

After the departure of his nephew, Beethoven seemed to regain his old spirit, which was fostered by the presence of the son of his old friend, Breuning, then eleven years old, and now a practicing physician in Vienna. The lad seemed to be able to make the master forget, if only for a short time, the anguish of his disease. His sickness had commenced as inflammation of the lungs, induced by a severe cold. But soon it assumed the phase of abdominal dropsy, and showed such alarming symptoms that December 18th the first tapping became necessary; January 8th the second operation; followed as soon as the 28th of the same month, by a third.

In this crisis Beethoven thought of his former friend, Dr. Malfatti, who meanwhile had become a celebrated physician. He was anxious not only to consult him with regard to his sufferings, but also to press once more his hand as a friend. Malfatti, who, with many others, had been offended by the master, refused several times to comply with his wishes; but at last his pride was conquered, and reconciliation took place. The regimen of Dr. Wawrush was at once put aside, and the patient had simply to take every day a large portion of punch ice, which really did him so much good that he soon wished to resume his work of composing. But this was strictly forbidden; the only occupation allowed being reading of light literature. Just then the novels of Walter Scott were extensively read, and Beethoven easily yielded to the fashion. But while he was reading "Kenilworth," he threw the book on the floor, exclaiming: "The fellow does write only for money after all." He again returned to his old friends, Plutarch, Homer, Plato, and Aristotle; and as to music, he profited by an opportunity offered him by his friend, Schindler, to go over some new songs by Franz Schubert, such as "The Young Nun," "The Hostage," "The Diver," "Elysium," and the "Ossian Songs," which compositions gave so much satisfaction to the great master that he exclaimed: "Truly there is a divine spark in Schubert." At that time, however, only a few of Schubert's songs were published.

If it had not been for his anxiety to defray the expenses attendant on the cure of his disease, which, according to his physician, might require a long time, Beethoven would have felt comparatively easy, surrounded as he was, by a few loving and anxious friends; but how could he live, when every attempt at composing was strictly forbidden? In these circumstances, it was but natural and right for him to think of the debt owed to him by Prince Galitzin, for the second and third quartets, written upon his order, as well as for the dedication of the great overture in C, op. 124. The payment of this debt, 125 ducats, might be hourly expected, as the works had been sent during the winter of 1825-26. Only after a long season of expectation, Beethoven addressed himself to Messrs. Steiglitz & Co., in St. Petersburg, who, according to the letter sent to the master by the prince, March 11, 1824, would pay the amount upon Beethoven's requisition. The bankers answered that Prince Galitzin had gone to the army in Persia, and that they had no order to pay the amount due Beethoven. It was about the middle of December, 1826, when Beethoven received the following letter from the prince, dated Charkoff, Nov. 10-22, 1826 :

"My dear and worthy Mr. Beethoven:-You must consider me very thoughtless and undutiful in leaving you so long without an answer, especially after having received from you two new masterpieces of your immortal and inexhaustible genius. But alas! for unfortunate circum

NEW YORK, MARCH 2, 1861.

CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM.

THE Court musician, Johann Baptist Schaul, (see his Letters on Taste in Music,) says, amongst other things: "What a difference there is between Mozart and Boccherini! (Trios, Quartets, etc.) The former leads us between rugged rocks, into a thorny forest, with only here and there a flower; while the latter takes us into cheerful scenes, to blooming fields, pure, rippling brooks, and thick groves, where one gives way with pleasure to the sweet longings, which refresh the soul even when distant from these lovely visions. Yes, I admire the art of that musical Dædalus (Mozart), who knows how to build such large, impenetrable labyrinths, but I cannot find the Ariadne who offers me the thread to discover the entrance, much less the path of egress."

"It is a pity," says a voice from Vienna, (in January, 1787,) “ that Mozart, in his artistic and really fine compositions, loses himself in too high regions, in the effort to become a creator. His new quartets, which he has dedicated to Haydn, are somewhat too much spiced, and what palate can bear this long?"

Sarti (the same composer whom Mozart has made immortal by in‐ troducing a motivo of his in the music of the second finale, where Don Giovanni is at supper) tried to prove, in a passionate article, that the composer of those quartets had written some music intolerable, in consequence of most surprising transgressions of rules and offenses to the ear. Nageli criticized Mozart's Symphony in C very sharply, in order to show that Mozart was without style, and often flat and confused.

In Berlin, where "Don Giovanni" was performed December 20, 1790, for the first time, one might read the following criticism in one of the papers: "If ever an opera was anxiously expected, if ever there was a work by Mozart raised to the skies before its performance, it was this 'Don Juan.' The composer must not speak to us by overloading the instruments, but with heart-feelings and passions; then he writes grandly, then his name will go down to future generations, and a perennial laurel will blossom for him in the Temple of Immortality. Goetry, Monsigny, and Philidor will prove this. Mozart intended, in his 'Don Giovanni,' to write something unusual, inimitably grand; certainly the unusual is there, but not the inimitably grand. Whim, caprice, pride, but not the heart, was the creator of 'Don Giovanni.'"

In a Berlin correspondence in the Journal of Fashion (1791), it is said: "The composition of this opera is fine, but here and there too artificial and overloaded with instruments."

"Nobody," remarks the Monthly Musical Journal, "will fail to recognize in Mozart the man of talent, as well as the experienced and agreeable composer; but until now I have not heard him considered by any thorough musician as a correct, less as a perfect artist, and still less with regard to poetry, as a correct and fine composer." In Berlin at that time Dittendorf's little opera, "Doctor and Apothecary," was preferred to "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni." It is well known that in Florence, the birthplace of the opera in general, "Don Giovanni," after six and thirty rehearsals, was laid aside as impossible to be performed; and later, after the first performances in 1818, it met with a failure. In 1857 they hissed there "this worn and

start for Persia to make war. Before that I certainly shall send to Messrs. Steiglitz & Co. the sun of 125 ducats, and I cannot but offer you my thanks for your works, and my excuses for having so long neglected to give you a sign of life."

Let us say that, in spite of the promise of the prince, Beethoven never received the sum mentioned above.

(Conclusion in our next number.)

second time. In Milan, this opera was also hissed at its first performance (1814), and "The Magic Flute" met with the same fate in 1816 and 1818 in both places, the Italians considering it to be a "musica scelerata" -without any melody.

The Quartets by Mozart, mentioned above, being supposed to be full of typographical errors, were returned from Italy to the publisher; and the Prince Krozalkowitz, a great amateur in Vienna, destroyed the parts of the same quartets as containing nonsensical music, while he enjoyed very much the Symphonies by Gyrowetz.

THE LARYNGOSCOPE.

[From the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik," in Leipzig.]

Dr. George Lewin, of Berlin, has invented an apparatus, by which it s possible to recognize at once, and to remove by an easy, sure, and local method the numberless obstructions and diseases of singers, which exibit themselves in the organism of the voice from the trifling hoarseness up to the most dangerous sufferings of the larynx.

It was the celebrated singing master M. Garcia, in London, who originated the idea of this invention, in attempting to obtain a view of the inside of the larynx by the use of a small reflector; the observations which he made were published in the English PhilOsophical Magazine, &c., 1855. After Garcia, a Professor Czermak, in Pesth, (Hungary,) tried to introduce the "Kehlkopfspiegel" (larynxmirror) into medical science. But to Dr. G. Lewin of Berlin belongs the credit of inventing an apparatus, by which it is not only possible to see clearly the organs of the larynx, and even the air-tubes, but also to apply locally the efficient remedies. He, too, was the first, who, by the use of his apparatus, adopted the local treatment in diseases of the throat, and obtained the most satisfactory results. Among other cases, we will simply mention one, where a man, having been for ten months almost voiceless, and after using in vain every other treatment, regained, after a short operation, his powerful clear voice, as is reated in the "Medicinische Central Zeitung" for September, 1860. Just so a crowned head was cured of a very bad hoarseness, which had lasted for years, and which had resisted all remedies applied to it. A Feature of this treatment is, that it causes neither pain nor fright.

The laryngoscopù apparatus of Dr. Lewin consists of a mirror, by means of which a pencil of intense light is reflectively thrown into the cavity of the throat, and the beams made to fall upon the most hidden oronchial organs, so that the view of all these parts comes clearly beore the eye. Thus one can watch the highly interesting movements of he vocal cords, and observe phenomena highly important to the teacher of the voice.

We think it but right, even in this journal, to call attention to this nvention, because so many singers are obliged to close their career in onsequence of so-called incurable diseases of the throat, and because we know singers who have been so fortunate as to regain, by the treatent of Dr. Lewin, their voices lost for years. Yes, we feel convinced hat soon the time will come when singers will have the organs of the oice examined by the laryngoscope before entering the profession. RUD. VIOLE.

MUSIC IN NEW YORK.

"PRAISE TO GOD," ORATORIO, BY G. F. BRIstow. THIS composition was performed at Irving Hall, by the members of e Harmonic Society-Miss Brainard, Mrs. Jameson, Messrs. J. R. homas and Haselwood, and an orchestra. The work consists of nineen numbers, including an instrumental introduction. There are Choses, Duos, Quartets and Soli. Each number treats the same subject, at is, "Praise to God." It is for this reason that the work is not extly what in our days is called an Oratorio; that is to say, there is no tion, no dramatic interest whatever in it, and there being, conseently, very little scope for variety, the task of the composer is so uch the greater: considering this difficulty, we must say that Mr. istow has done remarkably well. Whether authors with more imagition and creative powers would not have done better, we will not cide for the present; it is honorable enough to have accomplished the sk as he has done. There is an especial want of contrast, not only ith regard to ideas, but also in treatment-such contrast as modern thetics require. Mr. Bristow dates with his music in a past period our art; his motivos, his modulations, his whole treatment indicate is. This would be all very well, if that was not wanting which one lives through the ages, and which alone makes us seek to revive e musical past-a large style, great ideas, power. Mr. Bristow has ne of these qualities; but, considering his native musical disposition,

it is certainly commendable, that he never aims to display them. He seems to be willingly guided by the hand of Mendelssohn, for instance, and others, without even making an attempt to move independently. There is nothing original, nothing striking about his music, nothing to excite us; no stirring discords, no flashing bits of new ideas-all goes along smoothly, evenly, correctly, decently, but occasionally in a very tiresome fashion. The ideas are not exactly taken from this or that score, and yet they remind one of something previously heard. For instance, the motivo with which the Introduction (which is, by the by, well made and finely scored) opens certainly cannot be called new. It is poor, and yet Mr. Bristow evidently dwells upon it with delight. A remarkable feature in this Introduction is the Andante in A minor-a fine melody, a kind of Nocturno, which, as far as we could ascertain from one hearing, had no connection either with the Introduction itself or with the whole work. It is somewhat hastily introduced and abruptly ended. Now, if this Andante had been taken up by the composer in the vocal part, he might have easily gained a good effect, and its occurrence in the Intro

duction would have been to some purpose.

The work, which was in some respects well performed, received the entire approbation of the small audience gathered to listen to it. And this is but right. Such distinguished and honorable efforts, as Mr. Bristow has made in the cause of musical art in this city, such high

aspirations, ought to meet with encouragement, and we were glad to

see that several numbers of the score: for instance, the Chorus in A flat, "The holy Church "; the Solo for Soprano in D minor, "When thou tookest upon thee," (well sung by Miss Brainard), the Duo for Alto and Tenor in G, "Day by day we magnify thee;" pleased so well as to call forth an encore.

Mason & Thomas's Fourth Soiree.

PROGRAMME.

I. Trio in G minor, No. 8, op. 110, for Piano forte, Violin, and Violoncello-Schumann; (În four movements,) Messrs. Mason, Thomas, and Bergner. II. Violoncello Solo, Morceau de Salon-Stransky; F. Bergner. III. Piano-forte Solo, (a) Deux Rêveries, 1, Au matin, 2. Au Soir, (b) Valse-Caprice-Wm. Mason; Wm. Mason. IV. Quartet in F major, No. 7, op. 59-Beethoven; 1. Allegro, 2. Allegretto scherzando, 3. Adagio, 4. Allegro, Theme Russe-Messrs. Thomas, Mosenthal, Matzka, and Bergner.

The Grand used on this occasion, from the factory of Steinway & Son.

THERE can be no doubt that these soirées enjoy the favor and patronage of our artists and amateurs, for with each successive concert Dodworth's room is better filled with such listeners. At this last soirée the room was crowded.

The trio, by Schumann, which was played on this occasion, is, in our opinion, one of his very best compositions. There is all that humor in it, and that originality, those fine traits of genius, that beautiful blending of the music given to the three instruments, and especially that naturalness of conception and freshness of idea, which can be found in the works that belong to the first period of his career as an instrumental composer. Of course one hearing alone is not sufficient for impressing the listener with all the beauties of such a work; but there are so many striking points in it, that even a single hearing, in our opinion, inspires many a one with a desire to become more acquainted with it. The quartet in F, op. 59, by Beethoven, is the first of the three which he wrote in the winter of 1806-7, and published in 1808, with the dedication to Count Rasumovrsky. It was most probably in deference to the nationality of the latter amateur, then Russian ambassador in Vienna, that Beethoven introduced, in the finale of this quartet, as well as in the third part of the one in E minor, a Russian theme. As we mentioned on a former occasion, when the above quartet was played, it shows more depth, a more independent treatment than were apparent in his first three quartets, published in 1801. There was a great step between them and the three published in 1808, and we should think it but probable that Beethoven referred to the above quartet in F, as well as to the two others, included in op. 59, when he wrote to his friend, Karl Amenda: "Do not give away your quartet, as I have altered it very much, not knowing, till now, how to write quartets."

HARR НАЙ