ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE OPERA IN LONDON. 205 



of art fails to accomplish its own lofty purpose — that of imparting 

 instruction. These sentiments will doubtless occasion surprise to 

 many in this country, but that it is possible to render music a me- 

 dium of moral culture may be demonstrated both by argument and 

 fact. At Berlin the opera not only constitutes a school of art, but 

 is likewise considered a powerful mode of moral cultivation ; whereas 

 in London its highest aim is an exhibition of vocal skill. The truth 

 of the assertion of a German critic, that an opera by Gluck is more 

 favourable to morality than one by Rossini, will not be contro- 

 verted. Music is now admitted to exercise a more powerful influ- 

 ence over the feelings than painting, sculpture, or even poetry : if, 

 then, the highest virtue and the utter degradation of vice receive 

 the same musical treatment, if the most fearful crimes are recited 

 and acted to light and sportive measures (the natural expression of 

 gay-hearted innocence), this abuse of the powers of the art must 

 inevitably lead to a confusion in the feeling of right and wrong ; 

 the association of the music with the action will produce a perma- 

 nent impression. It is futile to assert that music can never influ- 

 ence belief or change opinion ; man is a sentient as well as a reason- 

 ing being, he acts as frequently from impulse as from conviction. 

 The general diffusion of modern Italian music among the people 

 would probably tend to lower their moral character in the same de- 

 gree that a familiarity with that of Gluck and the classical German 

 composers would conduce to its improvement. In the operas of 

 Gluck, the boundaries which separate right and wrong are clearly 

 defined, the feelings unconsciously side with the judgment ; in the 

 modern Italian school, the allurements of sense too often triumph 

 over the mental and moral faculties. When Gluck drags before us 

 Orestes tormented by the furies, we feel under the same spell as 

 when perusing the history of the fate-pursued monarch in the im- 

 mortal pages of the Greek dramatist ; we become enveloped in the 

 dark unwholesome atmosphere of crime ; we labour under an insup- 

 portable oppression, and long to escape. The same tragic power, 

 although on a subject less revolting, is displayed in his opera of 

 Ifigenie en Auliade. Nor is the master's regard for truth less con- 

 spicuous when he depicts peace of mind and calm content by a sweet 

 and soothing andante or a sustained and lofty adagio ; such passages 

 will ever remain among the finest specimens of pure musical beauty 

 which the art affords. In no instance does he sacnrifice expression 

 to a love of display in the singer, or to a vitiated taste for ornament 

 in the audience. Thus did this great musician constantly aim at 

 and attain the highest object of art, that of rendering virtue attrac- 



