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Untitled Article
rather the poetic nature . Hence it is difficult to disentangle the exclusively musical , from the properly poetical , excellence of many of the finest compositions . The latter is essential to good vocal music ; and even instrumental music produces comparatively little effect , unless there be developed in it a poetical idea .
What would be that famous passage in ' The Creation / where the instantaneous production of universal light is expressed by the crash , which , in like manner , momently fills all space with sound , but a trick to make people start , if it were Hot for the poetical conception conveyed by the sublime words which are so accompanied ? The whole would degenerate into Toodle loo ,
loodle loo , loodle loo , loodle loodle ; toodle loo , I oodle , loo , loodle , bang ! !! Some composers , and mem of name too , would perhaps maintain , at least to that point do their principles tend , that these words would have been as good for the purpose as the words of Moses . But it will not do ; language must be more than a peg to hang the notes upon , or the poetical , and a large
portion of the popular interest in the performance will be sure to break down . A good subject will often bolster up the success of a poor composition . That old sw eet Scotch song , * My heart ' s in the Highlands / produced an encore for an insipid and inappropriate melody , from a crowded and well-dressed auditory , which had been listening very patiently to a fine German ballad ,
finely sang too ,, by Mr . Edward Taylor , and the Italian of Paer and Cimarosa , merely because its simple poetry was understood and felt by everybody . They would have encored the recitation of it , just then ; in fact , they would have done so more enthusiastically , for the wistful regret of the verse had to struggle against the false emphasis and false sentiment of that jolly and jingling
air . There are very few people who have German and Italian enough to have any poetical enjoyment of the music of untranslated compositions in those languages . With a few stock pieces , eternal repetition makes them familiar ; as to the rest , it is only the sense of sound , guess-work , and affectation . This barrier to the popularity of great musical performances might as well ,,
therefore , be at once removed . It would do good to the Art , and improve people ' s morals . We should be relieved from the formal assumption , that pearl ear-drops are conductors of intelligence from an unknown tongue to the brain . A fallacy which pervades most concert-rooms , kept up by mutual consent , and much outward effort , while all are internally conscious what a
fallacy it is . In some cases , education contributes largely to the poetical enjoyment of music ; it furnishes the material of costume , character and scenery ; it gives the words their significance and power ; but , happily , the highest kind of poetry , and that on which the noblest powers of the greatest musicians have been employed , is of a description essentially popular . There is universality in its sacredness . The Bible is trje people ' s book , and
Untitled Article
Reflections on the Norwich Musical Festival . 757
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1833, page 757, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2626/page/25/
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