ON THE PRESENT STATE OP THE OPERA IN LONDON. 225 



may admit of doubt whether Don Giovanni will ever be equalled, 

 surpassed it cannot be. It is, therefore, to be hoped that the mana- 

 ger may be compelled, by the improving taste and growing know- 

 ledge of the public, to produce, more frequently than he has hitherto 

 done, so stupendous a monument of dramatic genius. 



Le Nozze di Figaro, although it does not rank so high as a work 

 of art, possibly on account of the subject requiring a more one-sided 

 treatment, is nevertheless replete with enchanting melodies, inte- 

 resting yet natural harmonies, and above all it contains concerted 

 pieces which will ever serve as models in this difficult, and therefore 

 now neglected, part of dramatic composition. How skilfully are 

 the various characters exhibited ! how clear is the expression of their 

 feelings ! and how rich their effect when brought into collision by the 

 concerted pieces ! Perhaps the finest, though least generally known, 

 parts of this opera are the sextet Riconosci in quest* amplesso, and the 

 finale to the second act. Among the airs may be mentioned Al desio 

 di cki fadora, as a specimen of the true style of the opera song. 

 Would that our great artists displayed their powers more frequently 

 on such compositions ! And although the attention and applause 

 usually bestowed upon the performer would be shared by the com- 

 poser, yet if the former have a proper sense of the dignity of his 

 calling, he will prefer rendering the conceptions of the mighty mas- 

 ter, and producing in the minds of the audience the feelings and the 

 effects which he intended to create, to the poor ambition of exciting 

 astonishment by feats of mere mechanical dexterity, which, in the 

 estimation of the enlightened critic, hold no higher rank than the 

 iours de force of a tumbler or a rope-dancer. 



Cosifan tutte, in comparison with the two former operas, pro- 

 duces a similar effect to a water-colour drawing by the side of an 

 historical painting. This may be in part attributed to the flimsy 

 materials, the entire absence of plot, and the miserable diction : to 

 supply the deficiencies of the poet and to construct a dramatic whole 

 on so imperfect a foundation, called for no ordinary degree of skill 

 in the musician. As the characters are of his own conception and 

 invention— (in the hands of the poet they are mere sketches) — they 

 require to be examined and criticized accordingly. It is, therefore, 

 to be regretted that Mr. Hogarth should have revived the old charge 

 brought against Mozart's comic operas, that they contain too great 

 a degree of seriousness and sentimentality.* As, in the present in- 

 stance, however, had the music been constructed on the model of 



* Musical History, p. 265. 

 VOL. VI, — NO. XX. PF 



