ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE OPERA IN LONDON. 219 



shipped to the exclusion of all others. The operas of Sacchini 

 maintained their ground longer than others, but they are never per- 

 formed at present ; whereas the works of his German cotempora- 

 ries continue to exercise over the public taste an influence nearly as 

 great as they did on their first appearance. This is a confirmation 

 of the maxim that it is not the most simple, the most intelligible, or 

 the most popular compositions at the time, but those which display 

 the highest power of mind, that endure as monuments of genius, 

 that create an era in the art, that become the test by which the 

 musical historian judges of its state at the period when they were 

 produced. Nor at the present day is the tendency of music towards 

 greater simplicity ; it gives, on the contrary, evident signs of an in- 

 crease in piquancy, variety, interest, and animation. Its limits are 

 enlarging daily ; new resources are discovered, new paths are struck 

 out by every successive candidate for immortality: and, provided 

 the proper means are adopted, we may reasonably indulge in the ex- 

 pectation of seeing a genius arise who will unite in one splendid 

 whole the varied and scattered excellencies of his predecessors. 



In order to induce my readers to extend their researches, and 

 thus to qualify themselves for the detection of the countless plagia- 

 risms committed on their predecessors by the soi-disant maestri of 

 the present day, I will present them with specimens from some of 

 the greatest masters of the Mozart school ; these will, I trust, be 

 sufficient to establish the superiority of their melodies over those of 

 the modern Italian school. 



Confusa, agitata. — Aria (Calypso). 

 lo mi pasco di sospir. — Aria (Calypso). 

 Mio dolce tesore. — Aria (T Jratelh rivali). 

 JThe maid who'd wish to slumber. — Quintett, 



Winter s (Opferfest). 



I There was a time ere sorrow. — Air (Opferfest). 

 Mi lasci o madre amata. — Trio (Proserpina). 

 Men'andro al Giove. — Duet (II triomfo del amor 



fraterno). 



Martini* -J Perche tu m'ami \(Una cosa rara). 



i Piu bianca di giglio 

 ,-< Perche tu m'ami 

 (^Dolce mi parve un die 



• Martini may be regarded as the connecting link between the school of 

 Sacchini and that which adopted the principles of Mozart. Una cosa rara 

 was brought out at Vienna in 1786, at the same time with Mozart's Nozxe 

 di Figaro, and was for some time more popular than that immortal work. 



