THE ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA. 



IT is peculiar to the English to lavish more money upon musicians 

 than the whole of Europe besides,, and yet to be abused throughout 

 the Continent for having no music themselves, and for knowing little 

 or nothing about it. To be English, according to foreigners, is to be 

 unmusical ; and, if we compare English with foreign music, sharp 

 though the satire be, it would seem to be not altogether untrue. 

 Even the Irish and the Scotch, who for centuries have ceased to 

 rank as separate and independent people, have not ceased to make it 

 a reproach to their fellow-countrymen that they have no national 

 music. Friends and foes concur in the censure, and one would 

 suppose that, in so bad a cause, the best course were to keep still 

 and do nothing. Nevertheless, some " Britons bold " there are, who, 

 in the teeth of all disadvantages, have conceived and put forth the 

 project of a NATIONAL ENGLISH OPERA. Whether they have done 

 this because they believe that the elements of good music lie dor- 

 mant in the nation, and only require cultivation, arid a favourable 

 vent to become conspicuous ; or, whether it is that, seeing how the 

 English always have been, and evidently still are, determined to ex- 

 pend hundreds of thousands every year on music, they only think it 

 were just as well for their fellow-countrymen to be put in as a fair si- 

 tuation of obtaining a portion of the outlay, as foreigners, we care not 

 just now to ask : the project has been put forth, and it is our duty to 

 consider it. We confess, if possible, we would do something for our 

 own flesh and blood. 



The gentlemen who have been so hardy as to propose an " English 

 National Opera," are Mr. G. Herbert Rodwell and Mr. J. Barnett, 

 the former, favourably known to the public as the composer of much 

 pleasant music for the little theatre in the Adelphi ; and the latter, a 

 highly popular ballad writer, and the author of some successful 

 operas, at what are falsely called the " great" houses. The merit of 

 having originated the plan of a theatre for English music only, rests 

 with Mr. Barnett.* Last autumn, in conjunction with Mr. Bishop, he 

 forwarded to his Majesty, a petition on the subject ; the King re- 

 ferred the question to the Duke of Devonshire, and his Grace refused 

 the prayer. Mr. Rodwell then took the matter in hand, and laid 



* " To His Most Gracious Majesty, &c., &c. 

 " The Memorial of John Barnett, Musical Composer. 



" Humbly shows : That the cultivation of'Music, both vocal and instrumental, 

 has greatly increased in England of late years, but that, during such time, neither 

 the character or success of English Music or of English Composers have 

 improved. 



" That up to a recent period, English singers and English composers were al- 

 most exclusively emploved in certain London theatres, but that latterly, the 

 works of foreign musicians, obtained at little or no expense, and foreign singers, 

 hired on very expensive terms, have nearly excluded English music, vocal and 

 instrumental, from the larger London theatres. 



tw That the continuance of such a state of things seems to threaten the extinc- 

 tion of Music as an original science in England. 



" That if a new theatre were to be licensed for th3 performance of operas, or 

 M.M. No. 96. 4R 



