40 ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE OPERA IN LONDON^ 



total disregard of both ? A person tolerably conversant with mu- 

 sical science, if he have mixed much in society, must be aware of 

 the ignorance and presumption which may be said almost univer- 

 sally to prevail on the subject ; in fact, it is scarcely hazarding too 

 much to affirm that a larger portion of nonsense is uttered in con- 

 versation respecting Music than on any other topic. In proof of 

 this assertion, I have myself repeatedly heard Mozart called heavy, 

 Haydn dull, Rossini sublime, Beethoven's Fidelio very mediocre,' 

 Bellini's Puritani the most beautiful music in the world ; in short, 

 I have been doomed to hear nearly all the great composers abused, 

 while the inferior were lauded to the skies. Good singers are de- 

 cried when the piece they select happens to be beyond the compre- 

 hension of their self-constituted judges; bad music is pronounced 

 delightful when well performed ; merits are condemned as faults, 

 and defects exalted into beauties. 



But, it may be inquired, why so desirous of enlightening us ? — 

 If we are pleased with bad music, and bored by that which is good, 

 we have surely a right to the enjoyment of our own opinion and 

 taste, while we leave you to the free and undisputed enjoyment of 

 yours. True ; but if it be possible to point out a mode by which a 

 diminution of expenditure may be effected, and, at the same time, 

 the gratification which you derive from Music incalculably aug- 

 mented, will you not allow the attainment of these two important 

 objects to be a subject worthy of consideration ? 



We have been denominated a nation of shopkeepers ; as regards 

 Music, however, our trading propensity cannot be said to have been 

 successfully exercised or our schemes wisely planned ; it is not a 

 very business-like habit to expend largely, and passively to accept 

 in return commodities of inferior quality. Now what adequate 

 compensation, what profit, let me ask, does a lady herself derive 

 from the consumption of three or four hours daily at the piano 

 forte, during a period of ten or twelve years ? or in what degree 

 are her parents and friends remunerated for the time, attention, 

 and money, expended to procure for her this highly-valued privi- 

 lege ? She has been taught to scramble through some half-dozen 

 difficult concertos, and a proportionate number of airs, with varia- 

 tions, divertimentos, &c., written in the prevailing taste of the 

 day ;* and it is to this fashionable '^ accomplishment" that she has 



• This reminds us of the dancing-master in the Provincial Sketches, who 

 began his musical instructions with " Hooke's Lessons" and ended with the 

 " Battle of Prague," as the summum bonum of the art ! mutatis mutandis ; 

 this, we fear, is too often the case in the present day. — Eds. 



