210 ON THE PRESENT STATE OP THE OPERA IN LONDON. 



to by his countrymen is a striking confirmation of the correctness of 

 the assertion. To the chorus, the orchestra, and the inferior per- 

 formers, they are totally indifferent ; on the appearance, however, 

 of the prima donna, or primo tenore, the audience are hushed into 

 attention, not on account of the dramatic situation, but to catch 

 every note of their roulades and cadences ; they are absorbed, not 

 by pity for Elvino or Amina, but by admiration of Rubini and Ma- 

 libran. The principal singers, however, requiring occasional repose, 

 chorusses, &c., are inserted between the songs, in order to fill up 

 the time ; and if they may be said to receive as little attention as 

 the music between the acts of a play, it must be confessed that they 

 have frequently no greater degree of connection with the solos 

 which they precede or follow. 



The assertions contained in the Edinburgh Review for April, 

 1836, in a notice of Hogarth's excellent History of Music, afford 

 an opportunity of examining certain fallacies too generally received 

 on this subject. The reviewer, after observing that he does not con- 

 cur in Mr. Hogarth's sweeping condemnation of the modern Italian 

 school, supports his opinion in the following manner : — " Bellini's 

 operas are not merely to be examined on the face of the score, but 

 to be judged of, like a well-painted scene, by their effect on the au- 

 dience. * * There are few of those critics so acute in finding 

 out errors in black and white who would be able to detect them in 

 the course of the performance. Amidst scenes of deep interest, 

 such as Bellini has represented, they are seldom, if ever, observable ; 

 and where it is otherwise, it appears to us that we have no more to 

 do with the original score than with the paper on which it is writ- 

 ten." I would, in reply, beg to refer to an assertion made in the 

 former part of this article, that to a musician the score and its per- 

 formance are one and the same. What rational person would find 

 fault with a score, except on account of the effect which he knows 

 will be produced by its performance ? Suppose that he discovers 

 the same subject repeated several times in the course of a song, 

 without any variation except an increase of noise in the accompani- 

 ment, he feels confident that this reiteration must have the effect of 

 palling upon the ear. Suppose, on the other hand, that he hears 

 the song without having previously seen it on paper, the repetition 

 of the melody in the same key is equally wearisome ; whether, 

 therefore, he blame the song or the score, the result is the same. 

 It may, however, be J)olitic in an advocate for the modern Italian 

 school to endeavour to deter his readers from an inspection of the 

 scores : what a mass of confusion do they exhibit ! It has been a 



