338 PINE ARTS. 



which have so long obscured the name of this truly great man. 

 At present we must content ourselves with quoting a passage from 

 his life by Forkel, a work which cannot be too highly praised, as well 

 for its dignified estimate of the art, as for its constant inculcation 

 of whatever is greatest and noblest in that art : — 



" When an artist has produced a great number of works, which are all of 

 the most varied kind, which are distinguished from those of all other compos- 

 ers of every age, and have in common an abundance of the most original 

 ideas, and a most lively spirit which charms every one, whether connoisseur or 

 not, there can hardly be room to ask whether such an artist was a great ge- 

 nius or not. The most fertile fancy ; the most inexhaustible invention ; the 

 most acute and accurate judgment in the just application to every object of 

 the rich flow of thoughts issuing from the imagination ; the most refined 

 taste, which cannot endure a single arbitrary note, or which does not duly 

 accord with the spirit of the whole ; the greatest ingenuity in the suitable use 

 of the most delicate and unusual resources of the art ; and, lastly, the high- 

 est degree of talent in the execution — qualities in which not one, but all the 

 powers of the soul, in the most intimate union, must act — these must be the 

 characteristics of real genius, or there are none such : and he who cannot 

 find these characteristics in the works of Bach, is either not acquainted with 

 them (the works) at all, or else not sufficiently so. He who does not know 

 them, cannot possibly have an opinion of them, or of the genius of their au- 

 thor ; and he who does not know them sufficiently, must consider that works 

 of art, in proportion as they are great and perfect, require to be the more 

 diligently studied to discover their real value in its full extent. That butter- 

 flxj spirit which flutters incessantly Jrom flower to flower, without resting upon any^ 

 can do nothing herc.^'' 



Grand Duet, in three movements, for the Piano-forte or Organ. By 

 Samuel Wesley. London : J. Dean, 148, New Bond-street, 



This duet is neither entirely fitted for the organ, nor for the 

 piano-forte. The parts are often too straggling and detached to 

 produce a good effect on the former, while the general character of 

 the piece is too heavy and spiritless to be suitable to the latter in- 

 strument. The last movement, a fugue on two subjects, is decidedly 

 the best of the whole, and would make a good organ piece played 

 by itself, or with a short introduction ; but nothing that we can see 

 in it at all justifies the title of the ** English Sebastian Bach," 

 which one of his admirers has bestowed on its author. Mr. Wesley 

 is a very respectable composer, but certainly no Sebastian Bach. 



Favourite Airs. In two books ; selected from Cimarosa's opera '^^ II 

 Matrimonio Segreto." Arranged for two Performers on the Pi- 

 ano-forte. By W. Watts. R. Mills, 140, New Bond-street. 



When an arrangement from a great work is in contemplation, 

 what is the object which the arranger should propose to himself.'' 

 Certainly, if he has any respect for his author, to give the clearest 

 and most adequate idea of the work from which he is arranging, in 

 a manner consistent with the character and capabilities of the in- 

 strument to which he is adapting it That Mr. Watts, however, is 



