THE MUSICIAN ABOUT TOWN. 495 
turns, by curing the king—not with Farinelli’s song, but with a 
good dinner and a bottle of wine! The composer, too, has com- 
mitted a physical anachronism by making his hero a bass singer, 
whereas he was an artificial soprano. There was the less necessity 
for this violation of historical truth, inasmuch as there were two 
other principal basses, and only one tenor ; and that one among the 
subordinates. Add to all these detractions a dialogue ill-written, 
and without a single point of wit or humour, and we have the 
ground-work of Mr. Barnett’s grand opera. 
The prevailing characteristic of the music in Farinelli is, that it 
is monotonous, and that monotony of a rather grave character. The 
influence it had upon the unsophisticated portion of the audience 
was perfectly distinct. It was listened to with all the respect due 
to a man of acknowledged and high talent ; but it produced no si- 
multaneous indications of pleasure. The nature of the applause 
which did succeed some of the movements, was not to be misunder- 
stood fora moment. The strength of Mr. Barnett’s talent appears 
to lie chiefly in his orchestral accompaniments, wherein he manifests 
exquisite taste and discrimination. They are always rich and full, 
never overloaded. He is fertile in resources, and is intimate with 
the genius aud capabilities of each instrument ; we have, therefore, 
no smothering of non-effects by a prodigal employment of the brass 
band. His full effects are always well built up, and conspicuous in 
their parts. His fortes are fine constructions of harmony, not mere 
torrents of noise. Add to all this, there is a handsome disdain of 
all clap-trap in his music. He does not care to win the good opi- 
nion of coach-guards and cads by writing calf-like obligati for the 
bugle horn. Heis content to write as much as he can like Mozart, 
and he is always choice and judicious in the character of his accom- 
paniments. The most beautiful compositions in the Farinelli are a 
duett, with clarinett and flute obligati (‘ Fairest lady, fear no dan- 
ger’) ; an excellent piece of fugue writing, at the close of the first 
scene ; and a very charmingly constructed quintett (“ Alas! entreaty 
will prove vain”) in the first act. In the second, we particularly 
distinguished the opening recitative and air by the king, “‘ Where 
shall I turn for rest ?” in the latter movement of which there is a 
good progression in the bass that bore a strong family likeness to the 
manner of Mozart. And, lastly, an air by Leonora (Miss Poole), 
to our taste, the sweetest melody, as a solo, in the opera. It begins, 
** Cold deceiver, fare thee well !” 
Taken as a whole, the music in Farinelli has given us less plea- 
sure than that in the Fair Rosamond ; for the reasons that we think 
