formers will find move ; 
the modern. 
ing to uniformity’ of mere, 
982 Compartfon of Ancient and Modern Mufie. 
cured, very indifferent players were 
competent to make up the reft of the 
- Orcheftra, the principal parts being ge- 
nerally played tngle, whilft the Repie- 
nes were doubled, pr even trebied, -In 
modern mufic, oe all the violins 
and baffles are generally obliged to take 
oe parts... Amateurs, therefore, 
who have ap »plied to mufic as sa fecondar y 
amufement, and as fuch, have not {pent 
the greater part of their leifure in the 
practice of it; never: heless, find them- 
felves at a lofs, and are difconcerted in 
not beiag able to fupport their patts fo 
well in modern pieces as they did in the 
ancient. 
But though modern mnufic, for thefe 
ea may not be fo greatly enjoyed, 
yet furely ir by no means follows that it 1s 
inferior cicher in its kind or quality, ef- 
pecially fince the apparent cice of 
it are not found to be fo great as to oc- 
cafion apy deficiency of good performers. 
Fhofe who have principally applied 
themfelves to modern mufic, find it, 22 
fome rvéfpedis, eahier to perform than the 
“Fepiend parts of the old. Concertos, 
wherein gteat accuracy Is required i in 
counting the refis, and keeping the time 
in fidagios, Fugues, &c. 
Inftead, how ever, of attempting to 
determine which of the two ityles is the 
bef, or the moft rational, I shall fubjoin 
afew thoughts onthe merits and deme- 
Tits of each. j 
The ANCIENT Music, ‘in all th 
Clafic Authors, abounds with fine ae 
thony, fimople melody, and with good 
dnd natur at moduiaticn. The melody 
1s however, fre equently not confined, as 
"modern .mi afic, to a fingle part, to 
whic h the others are, mere accompani- 
ments, but difperfed throughout all the 
parts. The Geona vioun part is nearly 
as airy and of as muc h confecuence as 
the frft. The Bafs fometimes (parti- 
cularly jn Corelli) is of as much or more 
eonfequence than either. of the -viciins, 
confequently, although a firf violm per- 
former may find lefs air in the ancient 
than in medern mufic, yet the ihe: pote 
and to an andi= 
ence, who judge of the cifeat from the 
whole, there will, perhaps (in many 
pieces that may ee flected) feem to be 
2s much air in the ancient ftyle as in 
The ancient compofers 
were alfo, in general, very ¢ correct and 
accurate in their com npofitions, perticu- 
larly with regard to the avoiding of con- 
fecutive fifths and eig hths, and in atten id- 
in’ every 
fizain. hae 
[Sup. 
The demerits of the ancient mufic 
feem to proceed from the Author fre- 
quently being content with mere cor- 
rectnefs of compofition, and adheyin 
clofely to the fubjeét, without regard to 
light and fhade, or to what is underftood 
by modern amateurs, under the general 
denomination of ofc. Many entire 
movements (and fometimes whole pieces ) 
of ancient corpofers, have nota fingle 
piano marked in them. ‘There is alfo, 
from the fame caule, fometimes a bar- 
renne{s of air or melody. They a ppear 
to have frequently thought it fuficient 
that their works fhould poffefs good har- 
mony and claifical RECURACY, and ftand 
the teft of theoretical examination. This, 
however, at beft, is but negatiye praife. 
The fame merits might exift without 
melody being much atcended to, melody. 
being, indeed, of a mere arbitrary, na-_ 
ture, cannot be fubjected to thofe me- 
chanical rules of ¢riticifm by which. 
harmeny is judged. Oa thefe accounts 
many ancient pieces, in which all the 
rules of compofition are. more firictly 
obferved, than in many modern picces, 
prove dry and uninterefting, and totally 
devoid of tafte and effe@. 
if in medern mufic harmony be not 
fo frac attended to, nor made fo effen~ 
tial a requifite as in the ancient, yet 
melody is certainly more regarded, and 
rendered more diftinét, from its being 
generally confined to the uppermotft part 
in the compofition. Though the air is 
frequently divided among the different 
parts as in the ancient ftyle, and is not 
always engrofled by the ftrit violin er 
leading part, ftill whichever part pof- 
feffes the air, or pro tempore takes the 
lead, that part for the time ts ufually the 
upper one. This certainly renders the 
air the more predominant . and intclligi- 
ble than where i: is inclofed, if IT may 
fo fpeak, between accompaniments. 
Greater attention is alfo generally paid 
by modern compofers to “contrat and 
effeét. Thefe they produce, partly by: 
the more general ufe of Pianos and Farfes, 
and the introduction of the crefcende aon 
dimunuendo, and partly by the intro- 
duction cf a greater variety of inftru- 
ments than were in common ule among 
the ancients. Wind initruments, in 
particular, which are now in general ufe, 
were formerly never introduced, except 
in theatrical accompaniments. Tn refpect 
to modulation, it feems, at the prefent 
period, to be quite as much, if not more 
attended to than it. was formerly. oe 
new ei Abe in modern muiic are almoft 
tole! y 
