I 



BIRMINGHAM MUSICAI/ FESTIVAL. 231 



the singer, it is to them immaterial whether the song be So}i' Ver- 

 sin or Non Piu di Fiori. Of such, the endeavour to improve the 

 taste is, we fear, useless. The best seed here falls into barren 

 ground, or is blown away by the wind before it reaches it. Let us 

 not, then, throw away our words in the idle attempt : let us rather 

 address ourselves to those who really feel their deficiencies and de- 

 sire to see the rising and future generations enjoying the benefits 

 of which thei/ know only the want. 



From our thorough conviction of the high rank which Music 

 holds among human attainments, from our knowledge that the 

 power to obtain a certain degree of proficiency in the art is common 

 to aJl men, we form the conclusion that it is at present far from ef- 

 fecting the good and difi'using the happiness of which it is cai)able. 

 How few know what Music is ! how many accept the dross for the 

 ore ! how many set a higher value on the manual dexterity of the 

 performer than on the mind of the composer ! Lamentable, indeed, 

 is the thought that, for the majority. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, 

 have hitherto lived in vain ; that their brightest conceptions and 

 noblest combinations speak no more pregnant meaning than a suc- 

 cession of chords without connection. It will not, cannot, always 

 continue so ; the many have slumbering within them the power to 

 appreciate genius ; but few only, under existing circumstances, are 

 allowed the opportunity of cultivating the faculties they have re- 

 ceived from their Creator. On this universal capacity we found 

 our hopes. From that musical establishment, the profession, we 

 expect little. Its members have their own ends to serve; and 

 as far as their private interest coincides with that of the art by 

 which they live, they will doubtless exert themselves for the im- 

 provement of the latter. Beyond this they will not go; nor is it to 

 be looked for. But the gains of the few must not be suffered to 

 oppose the happiness of the many ; and we perceive cheering tokens 

 that these are at length beginning to understand their own in- 

 terest.* 



We hope to see the time when the love for the sublime and the 

 beautiful shall triumph over personal vanity and mercenary selfish- 

 ness — when the meaner feelings which have so long clung to and 

 disgraced the fair fabric of the arts shall no longer bring opprobri- 



• We hope, through the medium of The Analyst, at some future time, to 

 return to tliis important subject, and endeavour to point out the nunns by 

 which the imperatively called for improvement in tlie ])ublic taste may be 

 Itrou^ht about. 



