SEBASTIAN BACH AND HIS WORKS. 15 



doubt, nay, utterly to deny, the propriety of giving the name of art 

 to that which concerns itself only with a constituent and, in truth, 

 insignificant portion, and leaves all the rest in comparative neglect ? 

 Such, however, is the principle laid down and acted upon, with 

 more or less strictness, in the generality of solo songs. Their har- 

 mony is poor in exact proportion to the want of interest in the me- 

 lodies which compose it, and in them melody is cultivated at the ex- 

 pense of harmony ; thus gratifying almost exclusively one only of 

 the faculties which the art has the power of bringing into exercise, 

 namely, the mental faculty which discriminates, and finds pleasure 

 in discriminating, difference of pitch — in other words, the percep- 

 tion of harmony. Now it will be admitted that the composition 

 which affords delight to other powers of the mind, in addition to 

 the one we have mentioned, is entitled to a higher rank than that 

 which pleases this alone. The only question, then, is whether a 

 more complicated style of composition, which should produce this 

 effect, be appropriate to the species of writing whose objects we are 

 now investigating. A priori, we should have answered, decidedly it 

 is. Nay more, the only reasons why it so seldom is thus applied 

 are the jealousy entertained by singers of any applause not bestowed 

 on themselves, and the incompetence of the majority of the public 

 to appreciate the higher excellencies of the art. A posteriori, we 

 are fully and satisfactorily answered by a reference to Bach's 

 acRievements in this style. Bach's solos are, strictly speaking, ra- 

 ther concerted pieces, in which all the parts take an interesting 

 share, not at all interfering with each other, but all contributing to 

 make a complete and homogeneous whole. As in his fugues, so 

 here, the interest continues increasing to the end, each idea flows 

 naturally out of the preceding ; the melody given to the voice is 

 never doubled in the accompaniment, and those in the accompani- 

 ment cease when they have completed what they have to say, only 

 resuming their functions when they can contribute to the common 

 stock anything really valuable. Hence tliere are no arbitrary notes 

 appearing on the paper, as if dropped from the clouds, a propos de 

 rien, and producing a chasm in the succeeding phrase which the 

 composer is at a loss how to fill up ; no abrupt changes of key, re- 



dresses. Viewed in this light, music has fiir higiier claims upon our regard 

 than is commonly imagined. It addresses itself directly to many of our 

 highest faculties, and indirectly there are few to which it has not something 

 to say. Had we space, we could go on to shew that the degree of ])raise to 

 lie awarded to particular styles of music may de determined in like manner. 



