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sitions , and to transplant into the same situations geniuses of equal sphere , but of a different kind ; Michael Angelo , for example , Dante , Tasso , Canova , &e . &c * Is it not true that these exalted men might have commanded the veneration of men of all ages , and particularly of the ages above referred to , without
in the slightest degree varying the character of their genius ? Costumes , manners , actions , crimes , superstitions , miracles , victories , defeat ? .. Knight ' s-errant , enchanters , astrologers .. «• Wliat times J Michael Angelo would have lived joyfully in them , as in his proper element ; Dante would have vented torrents of bitter and generous bile ; Tasso would have gathered twice as many laurels as he did in a later age ; Canova would have found
there the models which he has formed by the energy of his mighty intellect ; those were ages created most favourably for the severe colouring of the painter of the Last Judgment , for the sublime imagination of the Florentine poet , for the majestic pencil that drew the character of Godfrey , for the hand which with the same chisel , extracted from a block of marble the Hercules and the Venus , the Laocoon and the Psyche ! Nor
would geniuses of the most noble nature remain half-way , because the times did not run in their favour : let the reader only take the trouble of fancying Raphael , Petrarch , or Ariosto , or any other he pleases , transported to another age , and let him see if they would not have forced themselves up to the exaltation , where they now are , without restraints upon or sacrifices of their primitive disposition ! All , except Walter Scott and Rossini . f
It is said that the following is Rossini ' s favorite maxim ; u Mantenet e il movimento" % Thence it is that he makes such frequent use of the musical figure called Terzina , not to mention other rhythms imitative of it , which do not allow the ear time to accustom itself to the monotonous and uniform movement of such notes as have not a measured accent sufficiently clear , or as it is called ,
prononce . The learned assert that he employs this artifice also where the subject will not bear it ; a charge into which I shall not enter , except to shew that Walter Scott likewise follows the same system , and splits upon a rock of the same sort , if indeed this predilection for a particular measure be after all really worthy of censure . I will not be so bold as to affirm that Walter Scott
has ever said , like Rossini , " Mantenete il movimento ; but certain it is , that the carrying this maxim into practice is one of the principal secrets , and perhaps the chief origin of the prodi g ious success of his works . In truth it is the secret of all ; for in works of imagination , it is not only necessary We confess we do not see the equality of sphere among all these men . Michael Angelo and Dante are of a different kind and quality from Tasaoand Canova . ¦—Rd . f The plot thickens . — Ed . i Freely translated •* Onward—keep moying !*"— Tran $ m
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Rossini and Walter Scott . 561
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 561, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/37/
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