202 ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE OPERA IN LONDON. 



(keej)ing the ornamental in due subordination) is the test of a great 

 composer, then will Rossini assuredly not fall under that honorable 

 appellation. His element is the flippant, the playful, the light : he 

 is occasionally sentimental, but never rises to grandeur, still less 

 to sublimity. Had he possessed the power of raising emotions suita- 

 ble to sacred subjects, Mose in Egiito would have afforded him an 

 opportunity of treading: in the steps of the great masters who had 

 previously handled the same theme. This drama contains scarcely 

 a movement calculated to produce devotional feeling: it is cast in 

 the same mould, and is made up of the same ideas, as his secular 

 works. IMany of the airs, duets, &c., are exquisitely beautiful, and 

 would have been entitled to unqualified praise had they been era- 

 ployed to illustrate a less lofty theme. Of the choruses, I confess 

 my inability to discover any one which is deserving of the eulogium 

 bestowed by an ingenious author* who describes them as " profound 

 and majestic." He cannot surely allude to All etra, al del, the sub- 

 jects of which are borrowed from the hunting scene in the finale to 

 Winter s Calypso ! The efiect of the genuine oratorio chorus de- 

 pends on the contrapuntal treatment of the vocal jiarts. Haydn and 

 the modem German school rely more on ingenuity of instrumental 

 writing. Rossini has employed neither of these resources ; common 

 chords, unisons, and unmeaning instrumental clamor form the staple 

 of his choruses, which are in reality unworthy of the name. Even 

 the celebrated Preghiera, so often misnamed sublime, is, in fact, 

 merely a pretty cavatina and quartet in the common-place Italian 

 style ; nor can any thing be less appropriate to the solemnity of the 

 w^ords than the triplet accompaniments and the affected accentuation 

 on the second syllable, in which Italian singers so much delight. 

 Thus does Rossini treat every subject, not according to its own pe- 

 culiar character, but as a mere vehicle for his one-sided ideas. How 

 immeasurably superior a power over the feelings must that compos- 

 er exercise who is master of every style — who can pass from grave 

 to gay, from the pathetic to the sublime ! how far more noble must 

 be his genius, how far more deeply must he have penetrated into 

 the secrets of his art ! Rossini is never serious ; he is neither 

 thoughtful himself, nor is he capable of exciting thought in others ; 

 he is a trifler who never penetrates below the surface. What a 

 contrast is presented between the Preghiera and the chorus of 

 Egyptian priests in the Zauherflote ! The latter is in the true 

 church style, yet no composer more excelled in the ornamental than 



• Mr. Hogarth, Hhtory of MmiCf p. 392. 



