WE announced in our last the intended Concert of the pupils educated at the Royal Academy. Of this in stitution, we have several times had occasion to speak. It has now been opened about twelve months, there are upon the foundation ten girls and eleven boys, and five boys and nine girls students not on the foundation, The donations amount to a total, something above 6000l., and the an nual subscriptions to about 8204. There are twenty-five Visitors, twenty-nine Directors, and twelve Committee-men, chosen from amongst the nobility and gentry who have subscribed; and no less than forty-four Professors, or about two masters for each pupil are enumerated. But all this apparatus is not so much for service as display. The Committee of Management has, it should seem, contrived to expend nearly all the money; for the few Professors who do attend were in January solicited to give instruction gratis for one quarter. Such a statement is sufficient to prove how excellently this Academy (for the education of about thirty musicians) is planned and organized. But to the concert. It was in two acts, and there was APRIL, 1824.

much variety, the young performers exhibiting on the pianoforte, harp, violin, violoncello, and hautbois (solo), besides performing in concerted pieces, and accompaniment, as well as singing. There are, certainly, some children of great talent: Blagrove, on the violin (who promises to be a second Mori), Miss Chancellor (pianoforte), Phipps and Packer (on the same instrument), Miss Morgan (the harp), Cooke (the hautbois), and Lucas on the violoncello. Miss Porter is the best of the singers. It is curious that in a national academy the selections should chiefly be Italian, but the lady who teaches is an Italian (Madame Regnandin), and we believe that no teacher of English singing has yet attended this national school. The pupils, however, manifested the fruits of talent, diligence, and care in themselves, and of able instruction generally. How far their acquirements are the result of a nine months' tuition is not a question, several of the best having made great proficiency before they entered the walls of the academy, and most of them having previously acquired at least the first rudiments of those branches of the art they pursue. But

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that such a school must produce able players and singers, there can be no doubt. Can it be better done (that is, less expensively and more usefully) than by private means? This is the simple inquiry from the public. The first year's accounts of the Academy will solve the query. Whether such an institution be called for at all is doubtful, but if called for, it is quite clear that the establishment is begun upon a scale too vast, and indicating very little of reflection or of reasoning upon what is required. Three-fourths of the display is mere gratuitous ostentation. Many of the nominal Professors never gave a lesson at the Academy, nor ever desire to enter it.

As the list now stands, it serves as a pompous advertisement for subscriptions, a fallacy which the Directors ought not to countenance. Let the true and exact merits of the case be known-let the accounts be published, and the benefits fairly stated, if it be in the contemplation of the officers to aim at continuing the institution. In the present state of our acquaintance with the plan, and its execution, it appears to be most expensive, and nearly fruitless, a very pretty plaything for a few amateur Lords and Ladies, and two or three dilettanti Baronets, very amiable persons, who love twaddling, and are not displeased with the semblance of patronage.

The series of Subscription Concerts announced to be held at the Argyll Rooms has been abandoned for want of support. The Ancient and the Philharmonic are now the only permanent establishments, and these may be said, on account of the difficulty of obtaining admission, not to be accessible to the great body of the public. And yet a concert, supported by the individual interest of five such professors as Messrs. Bellamy, Braham, Hawes, Mori, and Welsh, with the addition of "all the talent," could not muster more than 150 subscribers! This fact speaks volumes, and if Directors do not take the hint, and determine to abate the demands of the great singers, and lower the expensiveness of concerts generally, music in private will be the substitute for public exhi-bitions of the art.

The Oratorios, or "Grand Performances" as they are now called, form however a concert of general resort, and a very cheap concert too, when the variety and quantity of excellence produced are justly estimated. When Mr. Bochsa first entered upon the management of these performances, we defended him against charges of monopoly, which were (invidiously as it appeared) fastened upon his engagement of both theatres. He hired both to avoid the competition which had been fatal to the previous conductors, Sir George Smart, and Mr. Bishop. This precaution was attended with no ill effect to the public; on the contrary, it was beneficial, for after the abandonment of the concert by two men of such prudence and judgment, it is but too probable that there might have been no one hardy enough to undertake an adventure which the talents and interest of these eminently clever professors were inadequate to support with profit to themselves. Mr. Bochsa took no advantage of his monopoly by advance of prices, or otherwise. He engaged all the talent that could be enlisted, both foreign and English, and no one could have been more solicitous to introduce the most agreeable novelties than he has been. Indeed, he has lately shown the most judicious and praiseworthy attention to national predilections, by the predominance he has given to native talent. In spite of all this precaution and all this attraction, there is strong reason to fear that the concern has not been profitable to him.

At such a moment, then, the commencement of such a competition as the Concerts Spirituels (given on the Friday nights, at the Opera House) seems alike injurious to the proprietor of the Oratorios, and uncalled for by the public; and, it appears a little extraordinary, that the Lord Chamberlain, who has guarded the interests of the winter theatres with singular care against all encroachment, should not have given more consideration to the circumstances of this case, before he granted a licence to the lessees of the Opera House. It does seem a little hard upon Mr. Bochsa, after having presented to the public the best and cheapest concert in London, and without a due

recompense to himself,-it does seem a little hard that a new competitor should be allowed to enter a field where he was not required. The public will not be benefited, the lessees of the Opera House cannot be gainers, but the proprietor of the Oratorios will probably be a considerable sufferer.

The Oratorios (for we must still keep the original distinctive title) have been brought nearer to their primitive design this season than has been observable of late years. The sacred and secular parts have been kept asunder. The vocal performers are nearly all English, which, if it has not absolutely excluded the commixture of the pieces from the Italian Opera Buffa, has, at least, prevented their elbowing in profane contiguity the most solemn scriptural compositions. The plan has apparently been to give two acts of sacred music (Acis and Galatea, an act of the Creation, or of selections from Handel, for instance) with one miscellaneous, of a lighter quality, from modern authors. On the 17th of March, an Oratorio, new to this country, called Jerusalem Delivered, and written by the Abbé Stadler, was performed. It has far greater claims to celebrity than the unhappy Day of Judgment. The overture is masterly and original. There is a chorus, with occasional solos, which, after the manner of Rossini's splendid duet, Ah se puoi in Mose, introduces the image of an army in march, by means of the accompaniment. There was also a tenor song, which was very effective. But every thing of this sort fails to a certain degree in this country, from our intimate acquaintance with Handel; the recollection of whose grandeur always leaves an English audience dissatisfied with every other composition of this species. Thus the public has nothing to blame in the conductor, and much to praise, for he is liberal in his engagements, active in pursuit of novelty, and judicious both in his selections and arrangements, while the preference and patronage he extends to English talent ought to obliterate all prejudice against him as a

foreigner, and to insure the respect of the English public, whose estimation and whose predilections are both consulted.

The concerts of ancient and modern sacred music at the Opera House are, on the contrary, entirely supported by foreign singers, with the exception of poor solitary Miss Love; and be it remembered that these Concerts Spirituels are, half of them at least, pieces from Italian operas; Madame Catalani has been, in point of fact, the attraction upon which the whole fabric rests. On the first night she sang Rule Britannia, Gratias agimus, Angels ever bright and fair, and Martin Luther's Hymn. But even her strong attraction fails-the houses have been very thin, and we know that boxes, tickets, &c. have been offered at less than half price by the music shops. These are facts which should be known to the Lord Chamberlain, because it proves that the public are not sufficiently interested to extenuate an opposition which may be ruinous to one individual who has absorbed so much as Mr. Bochsa in the Oratorios, without benefit to others or to the public. The veteran Clementi produced a symphony on the first night, and presided at its performance. It is a delightful composition, written with as much vigour as any of his early works. Rossini directs the whole.

Many benefit concerts are already announced, and, it is to be presumed, that from the absence of concerts of general admission, they will be better attended than in former years. Mr. Ries, the composer, who retires from professional life, and from England, takes his farewell on the 8th of April. We hope he will experience that support which his genius merits, and which will shed a bright though parting gleam over his retirement. He will, it is understood, still continue to compose.

We have reserved the last place in our report for the re-appearance of Madame Catalani on the boards of the King's Theatre. Often as she has been seen and heard in the orchestra since her arrival in England,'

never was she more eagerly expected both by the fashionable and musical world. The Italian opera will, this season, have afforded the richest novelties. Rossini and his wife, Signora Colbran Rossini, have scarcely risen above the horizon, ere their splendour is eclipsed by the blaze of Catalani's greater light; and Signora Pasta, the finest contralto in Europe comes after Easter.

On the night of Catalani's appearance, the house was filled in even a shorter time than on that of the opening of the opera; in the pit there was not standing room, and the boxes displayed a very splendid circle, notwithstanding that the season was so little advanced. She was received with the loudest applause, but from the embarrassment arising from disuse, her powers were in a slight degree paralyzed, and she did not recover her composure throughout the evening. Her second essay on the succeeding Tuesday showed her in full possession of her powers.

Il Fanatico per la Musica, was the opera in which Madame Catalani may be said formerly to have established her fame in this country as a singer in various styles. Il nuovo was prefixed to it this evening, in order, we suppose, to admit of various additions for the purpose of giving a wider field for the exercise of her powers. The principal pieces she sung were the songs Pucitta's Il mio ben, La di Marte, Cianchettini's Se mai turbo, and Rode's air with variations, which, with the duet, Con pazienza, and the Terzetto, Cessino al fin, gave abundant room for display. Her hair was dressed with two magnificent bandeaux of diamonds, and the rest of her dress was very rich, though plain and in perfectly good taste. In person Madame Catalani is more beautiful than ever. She still retains her immense power, her expression, and her facility, but the tremendous exertions she has made, have certainly begun slightly to impair the beauty and freshness of her voice. Madame Catalani has ever disdained the ordinary rules of science -effect was all in all with her, and she has attained that object by trampling on difficulties, and surmounting obstacles that would have appalled any other singer. Yet from this very

licence it will be easily imagined that such extraordinary energy must de generate into violence, and thus overstep the limits which bound the judgment and sympathy of the hearer. The bursts, which are now the peculiar characteristics of Madame Catalani's singing, display so much of this violence as to shock rather than to astonish. Artists should never forget that art can only be exercised according to its means. When the musician, seeking for effect, ceases to be musical, the ear cannot receive pleasure.

This is the great defect of modern artists, and of Madame Catalani among the rest. Her most enthusiastic admirers must perceive the excess into which she is hurried, and must regret that she is led by her enthusiasm and her power beyond the limitations which science and sympathy place upon art.

On the succeeding Tuesday evening Madame Catalani had regained her self-command, and sang with more brilliancy and richness of tone, but still her feelings and her force carried her too far. The house was not so full as on the Saturday night, but, as a test of her attraction, not so thin as to afford any discouraging proof of the failure of the public allegiance to her supremacy. It is re ported that she received in payment for her performance half the receipts of the doors of the pit and gallery with the moiety of the returns derived from those boxes which were not let at the time of her signing the articles. All profit to the lessees, it is confidently asserted, is out of the question.

Signor de Begnis' performance of Il Funatico may certainly be said to have divided the applause with the great idol of the evening. He possesses more genuine humour, entirely free from coarseness or vulgarity, than any Buffo we ever saw. His performance was inimitable, and personified the musical madman, whose servants are to be all musicians, whose daughter's lover is to be a musician, and whose daughter herself is the finest of musicians, with a truth and vigour quite indescribable. In his duets with his daughter and her lover he was perfect, and the scena in which (on Saturday night)

he was both soprano and basso, and in the song wherein he gives directions to the orchestra for the performance of a song of his own composition, he was alike excellent in singing and in imitation. Signor Vimercati, who plays in so extraordinary a manner on the Mandolino, was introduced on the second night of Il Fanatico, into the Academia, which makes up nearly all the second act, and his performance cannot but excite much wonder. He executes the most difficult passages with the ease, precision, and rapidity of a violin player, but his talent is wasted on an uninteresting instrument. Its tone is wiry and tinkling, and it can only be said to excite admiration at difficulties overcome.

NEW MUSIC.

The new publications which we have selected from the mass as worth attention are as follows.

Il faut partir, Romance de Blangini, with variations for the pianoforte, composed by Ferdinand Ries. This is one of the most agreeable compositions of the master. Although very expressive in the subject, its original form would appear little fitted for a theme for variations, but Mr. Ries has overcome this difficulty, and by preserving its character in some of the variations, and adopting an opposite style in others, he has given the piece much interest and variety.

His

A second Divertimento, op. 117, also by Mr. Ries, is an elegant lesson, not very difficult, full of melody, and having many passages of very sweet expression. twelfth Fantasia, with the favourite themes in Rossini's Semiramide, is little more than a selection and arrangement. It will gratify the public curiosity respecting this opera which it is said will be produced at the King's Theatre this season.

Les Adieux de Bayard à sa Dame, Rondeau pour le pianoforte, composé par D. Steibelt. There is some imagination although perhaps a little wildness in this piece. Triplets predominate too much, and give it somewhat of sameness; with this exception, it is a work of merit.

The last few weeks have produced several publications for the pianoforte and violoncello, in which the latter is made the principal: this would argue that the instrument is not only becoming fashionable, but that the proficiency of amateur violoncello players is in proportion to that of vocalists and performers on the piano, violin, and flute. Mr. Crouch has published the first number of Select Movements, in which the violoncello part is difficult, but beautiful, the

pianoforte being sufficiently prominent. The foreign publishers, Messrs. Boosey and Co., and Cocks and Co, have also each issued a work in numbers for the pianoforte and violoncello, selected from the works of foreign composers.

for the harp, which he styles Angloise, Mr. Steil has composed four Fantaisies Galloise, Ecossaise, and Irlandoise. The subjects, Rule Britannia, Of a noble race was Shenkin, O Nanny, the Young May Moon, and Coulin. The second and third are the best; they are none of them difficult, and will be useful either as practice or recreation. Mr. S. has also published a light and easy duet for the harp and pianoforte, founded upon an Air de Ballet, by Bishop.

themes from Rossini's operas, by Cipriani Pot Pourri, for the pianoforte, the Potter. This composer's fondness for modulation, and his excursive fancy, are not sufficiently under the influence of sound taste. These faults deform the piece before us, which in other respects is the work of no ordinary mind. In order to avoid the repetition of the same epithets, in the detail of the several compositions of minor importance which fall under our observation, we shall class the following pieces according to their merits; they are all light and easy, though somewhat common-place, but we are aware of the difficulty of avoiding this fault in writing for players of moderate ability.

Les Plaisirs de Noel, by Calkin.

A Divertimento, by Rawlings, founded on the Airs in the Cabinet.

Introduction and Rondo, by J. Barnett, on a favourite air from the Beggar's Opera.

Gentil Annette, arranged by J. Dussek. The New Andalusian Waltz, by Horncastle,

Amongst the arrangements are the continuation of several of the works mentioned in our preceding reports. The novelties are selections from Zalmira for the harp, by Bochsa; for the pianoforte, by Bruguier, Camille, Pleyel, and Watts; the latter are duets; and the overtures to Il Turco in Italia, and L'Italiana in Algieri, by La

tour.

Five of the vocal pieces from Zalmira are out, the Quintett, Ah m'illuse un sol momento, one of the most effective parts of the opera, the duet In estasi di gioia, the cavatinas Cara deh! attendimi, and Che vidi! amici, and the aria and chorus, Riedi al Soglio. There are also four pieces from La Semiramide, two duets, a trio, and a grand rondo. A comic duet for a bass and soprano Conte mio se l'eco avesse, from Rossini's Pietra del Paragone, though not in his highest style, is very pretty.