308 FINE ARTS. 



something inherent in an individual, as forming a part of his na- 

 ture ; it were more correct to consider it as that partial and imper- 

 fect cultivation of the mental powers which is the necessary conse- 

 quence of employing them upon the mean, the frivolous, and the 

 insignificant. Men natui-ally take as their standard of excellence 

 those productions of art with which they are acquainted ; and, if 

 informed of higher efforts, believe the evidence of their own senses 

 in preference to the I'eport of others. Hence, to lay before the pub- 

 lic really good music is more conducive to the improvement of their 

 taste than the most eloquent declamation. It were unreasonable, 

 indeed, to expect that a solitary specimen of sublimity or beauty 

 should suffice to counteract long-established usage and firmly-rooted 

 tastes ; but we have too much confidence in the powers of genius to 

 doubt its capability of overcoming dulness, provided a fair field be 

 allowed for the fight. Were it made the rule, instead of the ex- 

 ception, to place before the pupil classical music, as soon as she has 

 acquired (by means of exercises) execution sufficient to prevent me- 

 chanical difficulties from interfering with the requisite attention to 

 the meaning of the piece, then would bad taste become powerless by 

 being confined to the few whose intellectual powers are unequal to 

 the perception of beauty. And when we consider that the greatest 

 masters, from the time of Sebastian Bacii to the present day, have 

 composed for the instrument most commonly learnt by amateurs, 

 it seems, at first sight, incomprehensible that the majority should 

 have neglected works akin to inspiration, and devoted themselves to 

 the worship of mediocrity and commonplace. With the causes 

 which have induced the preference of fourth and fifth-rate writers 

 to those powerful minds who seem to have j^rasped the whole range 

 of art, we have at present no concern. Suffice it that Bach, Han- 

 del, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Weber, who all attained their 

 fame in the higher walks of the art, have condescended to write 

 for that miniature orchestra, the piano-forte. So all.pervading, too, 

 was their genius that their piano-forte works alone would have suf- 

 ficed to rank them as the most inventive and original of com- 

 posers. 



Truly delightful, then, is it to find that Mozart, whom Dr. 

 Crotch has justly termed the greatest of modern composers, has now 

 a fair chance of receiving his due share of admiration from that nu- 

 merous class, the piano-forte players of this country. It would 

 seem that in England no composer can become generally known 

 who does not favour us with his bodily presence. On other grounds 

 it would be difficult to account for the neglect of Bach, Leo, Graun, 

 &c., among church composers, and of INlozart as an instrumental 

 writer. Had not his premature death i)revented the fulfilment of 

 his engagement to Salomon, his admirable flights of fancy would" 

 have been found on every piano. While, however, his cotempora- 

 ries, Dussek, Clementi, Steibelt, Pleyel, and Woelfl, all immeasura- 

 bly his inferiors in creative power, though each possessing some ex- 

 cellence peculiar to himself, attained, during their respective life- 



