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Untitled Article
hunted , gamed , intrigued , and debated ; and in the other , mast have spent some years in soldering spoons and hammering kettles , the probability is , that we should have had but little , and that little late , of musical composition from him . He might have struggled so successfully with the difficulties as to have just begun
when death compelled him to leave off . There is a buoyancy in genius which will rise even from the lowest depth of ocean to its native sphere . It were better not for society to cause the waste of so much power , by heaping upon it an ocean of difficulties . — To reap all the advantages of social union , the nature of a youth ' s intellect and character should be tested like that of a metal , to be
employed afterwards according to its worth and strength . Such combinations as those of Purcell ' s youth , show what humanity may be made capable of in one particular art : we may reason by analogy to all arts and pursuits . Abundance of bright , and lovely , and glorious beings may be produced in every generation , if communities think the result worth producing . Providence shows us , from time to time , what may be done by bringing to bear upon the appropriate organization , even such circumstances as it is in our power to arrange . Shall we ever take the hint ?
One circumstance of his maturer life ( of mature life he had but little , he died in his 37 th year ) must be added to the propitious influences of his youth . He was led by rapid gradations to the expansion of his genius in every direction . While the duties of his situation , as well as his own taste , conducted him to perfection , in those solemn and lofty strains which belong to the music of devotion , he was also led to , and immediately excelled in
dramatic composition , nor were there wanting inducements to distinguish himself in those lighter lays that ladies loved , or the noisier expression of Bacchanalian merriment . * A great number of songs and airs , rounds and catches , and even dance tunes , set by him , are a proof of Purcell ' s extensive genius . ' But all real musical genius , not enslaved by habit to some particular form , is universal . Music is the inarticulate expression of emotion , whether with or without the words which render that emotion
definite , and gives it a local habitation and a name . ' Now the organization which is capable of strong emotion at all , is capable of it in all its varieties ; and may easily be excited to almost any of its varieties . The psalm and the jig may be the same tune in different time . The capacity of strong feeling , and the capacity
also of expressing that strong feeling by musical composition , is one and indivisible . When the highest talent for any particular species exists separately , it is an indication that the original power of the composer has been restricted by unfavourable circumstances . And few circumstances can be more unfavourable
than those which make up the present state of the musical world . It is no wonder that we have no Purcells . Every department is a monopoly , teachers of schools and families are compelled to
Untitled Article
Henry PurceU . 293
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1833, page 293, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2614/page/5/
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