ON THE PRESENT STATE OP THE OPERA IN LONDON. 209 



would be equally appropriate : this circumstance sufficiently ac- 

 counts for the great liberties which singers take with his text. To 

 alter, add, or omit one note in an aria of Mozart, would be, not only 

 to change its character, but, probably, to render it grammatically 

 incorrect. With Bellini, on the contrary, it is a matter of chance 

 whether the music is improved, or the reverse, by the alteration. 

 What object had he in view in inserting, according to his constant 

 practice, a noisy instrumental symphony between the phrases of his 

 most tender and plaintive songs ? The answer would properly be, 

 that he wrote the first passage that occurred, regardless whether its 

 effect would be to strengthen or destroy the impression suggested by 

 the poem, and faithfully rendered by the vocal motivo. In regard 

 also to the precise moment of adding the usual Italian close to a 

 song, it would be vain to seek a reason in its connection with the 

 preceding passage, because this connection can rarely be found to 

 exist. When Mozart, Cimarosa, and Paer, introduce analogous 

 passages, the reason and the object are alike conspicuous, the one to 

 'follow out the course of a composition, the other to express a feeling 

 with propriety. Were some ruthless hand to expunge three or four 

 of the preceding bars, and then add the finale, the absurdity would 

 be instantly detected by the judicious auditor. With these com- 

 posers every successive bar appears to be a consequence of the last, 

 and the entire composition presents the result of a scheme carried 

 into execution with a degree of success dependent on the propriety 

 of the means employed for its accomplishment. 



It is, however, possible that Bellini might have a plan in view, 

 although its nature is not obvious : if he had, it has terminated in 

 producing a certain number of arias, cavatinas, and duettos, each 

 adapted to the respective singers, and pleasing to the public taste. 

 That some of these are appropriate and dramatic has been already 

 admitted, or rather that the theme is dramatic, its treatment irrele- 

 vant. Were it possible to invent a series of motivi suited to every 

 situation in the poem, it is certain that these would form, not an 

 opera, but a succession of ballads : it is evidently an equal misno- 

 mer to dignify with the title of opera a series of pieces composed 

 of a subject frequently taken at random (though sometimes strik- 

 ingly beautiful), repeated until the composer himself becomes weary, 

 of noisy instrumental passages, and vocal flourisl*es selected from 

 the newest collection of solfeggios, and terminating by the recapitu- 

 lation of the whole of the first part, to which is added the " favour- 

 ite finale." In short, the character of Bellini's music is essentially 

 undramatic, and the manner in which it is performed and listened 



VOL. VI. — NO, XX. DD 



