SPAIN. 



improvements in inttrumental mufic at the opera, was 

 thought worthy of being introduced, on great feftivals, into 

 the church, in Roman Catholic countries : on other days, 

 canto fcrmo, and mades fet alia Paleftrina, were continued, 

 and are ftill continued in the cathedrals of Italy ; though, 

 even in the i6th century, maffes concertati, or accompanied 

 with a band of indruments, according to Montaigne, 

 (Journal d'un Voyage,) were common throughout Italy 

 and Germany. 



We know not what the date of ecclefiaftical mufic may 

 fee in Spain at prefent ; but we have always underftood that 

 the mulic, a capella, i:i Spain, was more folemn and learned 

 than ellewhere. The poet Yriarte, w-hofe judgment and 

 tafte are correft and elegant, aiid who has no prejudices, 

 except in favour of good mufic of every kind and country, 

 Ipeaks highly of the mufic of the church in Spain. 



But Feyjoo's Eday is conflant complaint and cenfure. 

 Yet from the time of Charles V., an excellent mufician 

 himfelf, the Spanifh monarclis have patronized mufic in a 

 ;iiore dillinguilhed manner,, both in the church and the 

 theatre, than any other fovereigns in Europe, till the late 

 Charles VI., an amoufos, who fucceeded Ferdinand IV., 

 and who turned Farinelli out of the kingdom, whofe good 

 conduft merited equal praife with his talents. See Fari- 

 nelli. 



The author before us afl<s, whether all the mufic of the 

 church (hould not be grave ? We anfwer, no ; not invari- 

 ably. Are there not days and pfalms of jubilation and 

 thankfgiving, as well as of penitence, forrow, and fuppli- 

 cation ! As the Calviniits confine all mufic to fyllabic 

 pfalmody, this pious Spaniard would have no other mufic 

 tolerated in the church than canto fermo. 



We own the impropriety, and have cenfurcd it, in the 

 admiffion ot fecular mufic in our cathedrals during the reign 

 of Charles II. and ais fucceflors ; when, in the compofitions 

 of Weldon and Dr. Greene, the divifions and ritornels 

 wanted due gravity and dignity, and were manifelUy intro- 

 duced to dilplay an active throat and a lively finger, for 

 want of judgment and decorum in the compofer, who forgot 

 the place and occafion of the performance. 



The Spanifh writer very jultly cenfures the admitting into 

 the church tlie produftions of infipid pretenders to compofi- 

 tion, witliout genius or fcience ; and finds, as is found 

 every where clfe, that the number of bad compofers and 

 bad performers fo far exceeds the good, that men of true 

 genius and due cultivation are phenomena that rarely ap- 

 pear. Don Feyjoo has celebrated a Spanilh compofer, 

 Don Antonio de Litcres, whole name has never penetrated 

 into other parts of Europe, in the highell terms of pa- 

 negyric. 



The Ell'ay on Church Mufic was written about the 

 middle of tiie lall century, when the general ftyle of Italy 

 was frivolous, and that of Germany rude, pedantic, and in- 

 elegant ; but fo many great compofers have appeared fince 

 in both countries, that Don Feyjoo's ftrifturcs have lolt 

 their force. There have been bad compofers in ail ages, 

 but perhaps never more good ones at any period of time, 

 than within the lalt 30 years. 



Duron, the author, we fuppofed, meant Durante, 

 was not only one of the greatell mailers of harmony 

 himfelf, but formed difciples of the greatell abilities that 

 have ever itl'ued from the Neapolitan fciiool ; but we find 

 in Yriarte, that there had been among the mailers of former 

 times a Spanifh compofer of the name of Duron. 



The relt of this Eflay is exaggeration of invcftive, either 

 to mortify Farinelli, and the great Italian compofers and 

 fingers whom he engaged for the court of Spam, or to 



flatter the fucceflor of Ferdinand, who hated mufic, and 

 expelled all the Italian muficians from his court. 



The fame anonymous gentleman has given us a tranflatioa 

 of a letter of the learned Benedi£line on the fubjeA of mufic, 

 entitled " The wonderful Etteas of Mufic, and a Parallel 

 between ancient and modern Mufic." 



Here the author relates all the old (lories of the mira- 

 culous powers of ancient mufic. He, however, doubts of 

 the fadls ; and relates, per contra, what we have been told 

 of the power of modern mufic over difeafe and the paflions. 



No new materials appear in this letter, or ingenious eon- 

 jetlures to determine the difpute, whether the ancients or 

 the moderns had cultivated mufic moll fuccefsfully ; and 

 the author leaves the fubjecl juft as he found it, without 

 clearing up his own doubts, or thofe of his readers. He is 

 always, however, inclined to give the preference to ancient 

 mufic, without any thing to guide him but his prejudice, 

 his determination to allow nothing that is new in mufic to 

 be right, and the afieitions by writers in favour of ancient 

 counterpoint, that have been long fince clearly confuted. 



The lafl writer on mufic in Spain, that has come to our 

 hands, is the ingenious and agreeable poet, Yriarte, of 

 whofe charming poem, " La Mufica," we but lately pro- 

 cured the beautiful third edition, printed at the royal prefs 

 in Madrid, in 17S9, with elegant defigns well engraved. 



As this is a work but little known in our country, and 

 does honour to the author, and to the art of praiftical mufic 

 in all its branches, we fhall be fomewhat difTufe in our ac- 

 count of it. 



D. Tomas de Yriarte wTites like a man of the world, 

 with an enlarged tafte, and exteiifive knowledge of the fub- 

 jeft. He has illuftrated his dodlrines from the molt eminent 

 moderns. Canto I. gives ah outline of the general hillory 

 of the mnfical art ; calls on mufic itfelf to infpire and affifl 

 him, without applying to Apollo and his nine attendants, or 

 even repeating old fabulous accounts of the miracles per- 

 formed by Orpheus,, Amphion, Linus, Terpander, or 

 Olympus. 



He defcribcs the importance of tone and time. The firll 

 includes the formation of the fcale, and it^ divifions into 

 intervals ; the fecond, the time-table, or mufical characters 

 for meafuring the duration of founds. 



II. Mufical exprcflion ; its ufe in the church, the 

 theatre, the chamber, and to man alone ; its powers over 

 the paffions. 



III. The dignity and ufe of mufic, particularly in the 

 temple, the theatre, in fociety, and in folitude ; enumera- 

 tion of celebrated ancient Spanilh compofers. 



IV. Ufe of mufic in the theatre refumed ; Jomelli ; 

 dancing, architcilure, painting, poetry, decorations ; mo- 

 dern compofers for the lyric theatre celebrated. 



V. Ufe of mufic in private fociety ; eulogium on filcnce 

 at concerts, and inveftivc againfl thole who attend not with 

 due refpeft for th» art and for talents ; of opera fcenes in 

 concerts ; of iiillrumcnt:d nmfic proper for a concert-room ; 

 fonata, concerto, duo, trii', quartitto, fymphony ; nccef- 

 fity of variety and foreign mufic to keep ofl languor, and 

 excite attention ; praile of tiie German compofers of inflru- 

 mental mufic, particularly Haydn for invention ; of the 

 utility and delight which mufic affords in folitinle, as well 

 to thofe that arc ignorant, as thofe that arc learned in the 

 art ; of the lludy neceflary for a good compofer in examin- 

 ing the fcorcs of celebrated authors, to deleft errors and 

 phigiarifm, as well as to difcovcr how good cftefts arc pro-, 

 duced ; cenfures the pedantry of dry fugues and canons, 

 that have no other merit than the difficulty of compofing 

 them ; extraneous modulation ; confufion of multiplied 



parts 



