TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 167 



much ill favour of the musical talent of the Brazi- 

 lians. Don Pedro, who seems to have inherited 

 from his ancestor Don John IV. a distinguished 

 talent for music, sometimes leads this band himself, 

 which, being thus encouraged, executes the pieces 

 laid before it with great zeal. Haydn's favourite 

 pupil, the Chevalier Neukomm was at that time 

 composer to the royal chapel at Rio. The musical 

 knowledge of the inhabitants was not yet ripe for 

 his masses, which were written entirely in the style 

 of the most celebrated German composers. Tlie 

 impulse which the genius of David Perez gave to 

 the Portuguese church music (1752 — 1779) is past; 

 and at present the first thing required of a mass is 

 that it shall proceed in cheerful melodies, and that 

 a long and pompous Gloria shall be succeeded by 

 a short Credo. This is the style of Marcus Por- 

 tugal, now the favourite composer among the 

 Portuguese. The degree of perfection which 

 music has attained among the higher classes at 

 Rio, and the other sea-port towns of Brazil, entirely 

 corresponds with the spirit in which poetry and the 

 belles lettres are cultivated ; for, in these, it is the 

 French literature that is preferred by the superior 

 classes in this country. The diffusion of the 

 French language, and the importation of innu- 

 merable French books, are the more surprising, as 

 there are only two indifferent booksellers' shops at 

 Rio de Janeiro. Besides the publications of the 

 day, with which the French Magasins des Modes 



