422 



NATURE 



[Afarc/i2S, 1878 



tration of a gigantic joke upon his readers. For I have 

 looked in vain through this large volume for anything 

 that can well be called Science j with the one exception of 

 some remarkable experiments due to Fresnel, to which it 

 is well that attention has been called. 



In conclusion, though I cannot make pretensions to 

 any minute acquaintance with the German language, I 

 think I may venture to suggest to Prof. Zollner, for his 

 next edition, a title which shall at least more accurately 

 describe the contents of his work than does his present 

 one. I cannot allow that the title " Scientific Papers " is 

 at all correctly descriptive. But I think that something 

 like the following would suit his book well : — 



Patriotische 

 METAPHYSIK DER PHYSIK, 

 fiir moderne deutsche Verhaltnisse. 

 Mit speciellem Bezug auf die vierte Dimension und 

 den Socialdemokratismus bearbeitet. 



With this little hint, which I hope will be taken, as it 

 is meant, in good part, I heartily wish him and his work 

 farewell. P. G. Tait 



A DICTIONARY OF MUSIC 

 A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. By eminent 

 writers, English and Foreign. With Illustrations and 

 Woodcuts. Edited by George Grove, D.C.L. (London; 

 Macmillan and Co., 1878.) 



NO better proof of the spreading interest in musical 

 subjects which is now taking place in England 

 could be found than the publication of this important 

 work. Although similar " Lexicons," some of them 

 extending to the portentous dimensions which German 

 monographs are apt to assume, are not uncommon in that 

 country, there have, as far as the writer knows, been 

 hitherto none in our language which exactly occupy the 

 position aimed at by this. Those which most nearly 

 approach it, are either somewhat antiquated, or, like the 

 excellent little work of Dr. Stainer, propose to themselves 

 a far more restricted object. Nor indeed is the reason of 

 the difference in this respect between the two countries 

 difficult to assign. In Germany the whole population is 

 more or less musical ; every little town or village has 

 abundance of practical musicians, mostly playing stringed 

 instruments, among its inhabitants, who not only can 

 take their part efficiently in a quartette, or in a local 

 orchestra, but who are sufficiently informed in musical 

 theory and literature to furnish an intelligent public 

 which can support and encourage extensive undertakings 

 of a scientific and historical character. 



In England, on the other hand, unlike Germany, there 

 has been, until quite lately, as little of representative 

 musical culture as there has been of really national 

 soldiering. We had been content to leave the defence 

 of our country, no less than the executive realisation of 

 great artistic master-pieces, to a separate and stipendiary 

 class ; while the bulk of the nation had merely " assisted,'' 

 according to the French sense of the word, by listening 

 and applauding. In both instances we, to a considerable 

 degree, realised the dreams of Plato's Utopia ; and 

 though in the one case our (fivXaKes, the army, in spite of 

 its small size and its professional leaders, for education and 

 gallantry are probably unparalleled, it is, perhaps, to be 



feared that the artistic class, the fiova-iKoi, have somewhat 

 suffered from isolation and lack of responsibility. 



To this cause, and to unthinking prejudice, must be 

 referred the tone of depreciation if not of contempt, which 

 in the last century attached to the name "fiddler." It is 

 conspicuous in the " Tweedledum and tweedledee " 

 epigram of Handel's day, and frequently crops out in the 

 Johnsonian, and even in later periods. The altered 

 feeling of the present day cannot be better illustrated, 

 than by the public estimation of Rubinstein or Joachim, 

 or the genuine national grief at the early death of Titiens. 

 But the reform in the republic of sweet sounds must 

 come, and is coming, al> extra. Audiences themselves 

 must be fairly proficient in an art to esteem its higher 

 developments and manifestations. The supply, according 

 to the laws of political economy, must precede the demand ; 

 nor can true asstheticism of any kind fully prosper until the 

 bulk of the population have been educated up to its intel- 

 ligent and critical comprehension. For the moment it 

 may be that in this particular branch the outsiders have 

 distanced the regular executants. It would be a severe, 

 but not altogether false statement to make, that in modern 

 England — which has really become a musical nation — all 

 classes are musical except the musicians. It is certain 

 that our grandest celebrations, such as those of Handel 

 and that at Leeds, are festivals where the latter are only 

 secondary to the hearty and enthusiastic willingness of a 

 voluntary but well-disciplined non-professional choir. In- 

 deed it might, a priori, be anticipated that such would be 

 the case, since the fondness for music, although it may be 

 materially developed by circumstances and education, still 

 remains very much of a gift ; and this gift, which forms 

 the strongest motive to exertion in acquiring it, is far more 

 likely to exist in one who turns to the subject from love 

 than in those who have simply adopted its study by chance, 

 or as a means of earning a livelihood. 



That such is to a certain extent the fact, receives ample 

 illustration from the very first page of Mr. Grove's initial 

 number, in which are recorded the names of the con- 

 tributors to the work. Including the editor himself, who, 

 though not a professional musician, has earned, under the 

 familiar initial which he here again adopts, a full title to 

 speak with knowledge and authority on musical subjects, 

 a large proportion of the writers are not dependent on the 

 art or practice of music for their social status. Among 

 them will be found clergymen, a consul, a colonel, a 

 doctor, an engineer, a Queen's counsel, a schoolmaster^ 

 and many others, whose devotion to the cause of music 

 must be purely voluntary and a labour of love. As it 

 cannot be doubted that all alike have given proofs of their 

 competence to undertake the task entrusted to them, it 

 is surely no forced conclusion to regard their co-operation 

 as evidence of the depth to which educated English 

 society is now penetrated by this subtle and once 

 neglected branch of aesthetic culture. To the same class, 

 moreover, the work appeals for support, a support which 

 is more than justified by the laborious care, the pains- 

 taking and punctilious accuracy displayed by the editor 

 in its compilation. 



The present instalment of the work is the first of a 

 series of quarterly parts, and only contains the letter A, 

 with part of letter B. On turning over the pages the 

 articles which attract the eye are one on Abbreviations 



