ON THE PRESENT STATE OP THE OPERA IN LONDON. 231 



before Mozart had attained to that peculiar style which spread his 

 fame throughout Europe, although containing many great and ster- 

 ling beauties, yet, when compared with his other works, the style 

 appears deficient in expression, and on the whole too prolix. It is 

 still frequently performed in Germany, and, had we a real English 

 opera house, would probably become a favourite on our stage. 



Idomeneo. — The grandest heroic opera ever written. Like Tito, 

 it unites the majesty of the old with the pathos of the modern 

 school ; the period at which it was written, and the nature of the 

 subject, were more favourable to sublimity and less to the trifling 

 graces so captivating to vulgar minds. It may appear somewhat 

 singular that, both on the continent and in England, so extraordi- 

 nary a production should alone, of all Mozart's works, have been 

 laid on the shelf; but the fact is that neglect must inevitably be the 

 portion of some of the greatest master-pieces ever composed, as long 

 as attention continues to be given rather to the form in which they 

 appear than to the ideas which they embody ; as long as admiration 

 continues to be lavishly bestowed on the drapery to the neglect of 

 the beauty and truth of the figures themselves. In criticising an 

 ancient painting, it is considered no disparagement to the artist that 

 the robes with which he invests his figures agree not with the fa- 

 shions of the present day ; nor would it be possible to place Michael 

 Angelo below Sir Thomas Lawrence on the ground of the draperies 

 of the latter being more in conformity with modern taste. And yet 

 because the cadences in Idonie?ieo differ from those which Rubini and 

 Grisi daily teach us to admire — because the instrumental accompani- 

 ments remind us rather of Handel and Gluck than of the sparkling 

 phrases we have heard in the last piano forte concerto, on grounds 

 equally frivolous and nugatory are we debarred from ever listening 

 to one of the greatest triumphs of the dramatic art. But with 

 trifles such as these the art has no concern, nor can they affect its 

 master-pieces ; oblivion will never be the lot of master-minds like 

 Handel, Bach, and Mozart, as long as human voices continue capa- 

 ble of executing their divine harmonies. The beauties of Idomeneo 

 are of too lofty an order to pass away with the conventional phrases 

 and turns of melody fashionable at that period. No event would 

 produce a more favourable impression on the musical taste of our 

 country and time than the revival of Idomeneo. It would be a 

 giant step in the progress of good taste ; an admission of the princi- 

 ple that conventional forms ought invariably to be considered as 

 subordinate to the ideas which they invest. It may be feared that 

 the King's Theatre is not the place in which a resuscitation like 



