Niagara Falls 



1844 criticism of N. P. Willis, and one of Mrs. Lydia Maria Childs are 



Bull included in this account. Portions of both these criticisms are quoted 



below. 



Willis says: 



We believe that we have heard a transfusion into music — 

 not of " Niagara," which the audience seemed bona-fide to 

 expect, but of the pulses of a human heart at Niagara. We had 

 a prophetic boding of the result of calling the piece vaguely 

 " Niagara," — the listener furnished with no " argument " as a 

 guide through the wilderness of " treatment " to which the sub- 

 ject was open. . . . 



The emotion at Niagara is all but mute. It is a " small, still 

 voice " that replies within us to the thunder of waters. The 

 musical mission of the Norwegian was to represent the insensate 

 element as it rvas to him — to a human soul, stirred in its seldom 

 reached depths by the call of power. It was the answer to 

 Niagara that he endeavored to render in music — not the call! 



Mrs. Childs says: 



. . . The sublime waterfall is ever present with its echoes, 

 but present in a calm, contemplative soul. One of the most poetic 

 minds I know, after listening to this music, said to me : ' The 

 first time I saw Niagara, I came upon it through the woods, in the 

 clear sunlight of a summer's morning; and these tones are a per- 

 fect transcript of my emotions! " In truth, it seems to me a 

 perfect disembodied poem; a most beautiful mingling of natural 

 sounds with the reflex of their impressions on a refined and 

 romantic mind. This serene grandeur, this pervading beauty, 

 which softens all the greatness, gave the composition its greatest 

 charm to those who love poetic expression in music ; but it renders 

 it less captivating to the public in general than they had antici- 

 pated. Had it been called a Pastorale composed within hearing 

 of Niagara, their preconceived ideas would have been more in 

 accordance with its calm, bright majesty. 



736 



