234 ON THE PHESENT STATE OF THE OPERA IN LONDON. 



by the melodious beauty of any one. Let lost time be redeemed by 

 the diligence with which we resolve in future to cultivate an ac- 

 quaintance with Mozart. No nation is so ignorant of his works as 

 the English : during his life, when they were performed to enthu- 

 siastic audiences over the whole of Germany, his fame had not yet 

 reached this country ; a solitary specimen was at length introduced, 

 and the public taste lagged so far behind as to be incapable of dis- 

 cerning its merits — even at the i)resent day, they are not seldom 

 stigmatized by the epithet old fashioned ! Thus, while in Germany 

 the admiration for this great master amounts nearly to veneration, 

 the greater part of the English have advanced little farther than to 

 have heard that such a composer has existed. The influence pro- 

 duced on the public taste of the two nations by this difference in 

 circumstances, requires to be witnessed in order to be credited. I 

 therefore repeat that we can only expect to atone for past supine- 

 ness by encreased exertions. 



A similar analysis of some of the principal works of the great 

 writers, both Italian and German, who adopted the principles which 

 Mozart was the first fully to develop, would prove equally useful 

 and interesting ; but this article having already encroached too much 

 on the space which it is entitled to occupy, I must postpone, for the 

 present, that part of my plan, and rest satisfied with the mention of 

 the names of those authors whose works could not fail to impart 

 increased attraction to the now monotonous Italian opera. Winter, 

 Cimarosa, IMayer, and Paer, occupy a conspicuous place on all the 

 principal boards of Germany. That they are excluded from our 

 own, is but a natural consequence of the absence of an enlightened 

 taste to control the indolence and the carelessness of the performers. 

 Should it accord with the views of the Editors of The Analyst j it is 

 my intention, in a future number, to endeavour to rescue these 

 charming authors from the oblivion into which they have undeserv- 

 edly fallen in this country. I hope that I may, in the mean time, 

 venture to indulge in the expectation that the readers who have 

 taken an interest in this subject will, by becoming acquainted with 

 the specimens which I have already cited, have advanced at least 

 one step towards qualifying themselves to confirm or to refute the 

 statements which may be hereafter advanced ; always bearing in 

 mind that the mere possession of a work of art will not constitute 

 ability to criticize, without a thorough knowledge of the rules and 

 principles on which the art itself is founded. 



There remains one point in reference to the present mode of con- 

 ducting the opera, to which this notice may possibly be instrumental 



