; 
No. 70. 
NOVEMBER 1, 1801. 
THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
[ No.4,0f Vor.12. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS, 
To the Editor of the Monibly Magazine. 
SIR, ; 
OCAL-MOUSIC is likely to form fo 
prominent a fearure in the polite 
-amufements of the prefent winter, efpeci- 
ally in thofe of the theatre, in London, that, 
serhaps, the following obfervations on an 
} Ged & Is 
art fo pregnant with rational delight, and 
cherifhed and cultivated by every civilized 
country, will not be uninterefting to,a 
confiderable part of the readers of your 
widely-circulated Milcellanys 
Tiere are, I allow, other’ provinces of 
the, mufical {Cierce, which are not only 
more generally practifed, but which alfo 
afford employment to a much greater num- 
ber of profeflors, than that of finging ; 
bot certaisly no one is fo univerfally at- 
tractive, and, at tlie fame time, fo difficult 
of acquifition, as that of vocal-perfor- 
mance, and in the purfuit of which the 
practitioner is fo liable to fall into er- 
roneous pra€tice and obviou’s imperfection. 
In inftrumental-performances,. though 
unmeaning flights and tortured modula- 
tion, falfities of expreffion and mifplaced 
Sortes and pianos,may too trequently wound 
a.nice and judicious ear, yet, provided 
the notes are truly and clearly given, the 
melody is priferved, and, at leaft, the har- 
mony of the compofition faithfullyrendered ; 
and, though the execution fhould fail in 
time or ftyle, yet, if the performer poffeis 
the leaft delicacy of ear, it will’ be in 
tume: the inftrument will be true to the 
mechanical operation of the finger, and 
give, with a correfponding exactnefs, ail 
the founds within its compa{fs. But in 
Jfingizg, in the employment of that natural 
inftrument, the woice, the praétitioner is 
continually liable to a defeét the leaft fuf- 
ferable of any—that of being out of tune, 
by which both melody and harmony are 
injured, expreflion de(troyed, and, to a 
cultivated ear, abfolute pain fubftituted for 
that pleafure which fine finging is fo par- 
ticularly calculated to produce. 
- Some matters have carried this idea fo 
far as to affert.that the accomplifhment of 
finging, however alluring to the novice, . 
fhould never even be attempted, but wich 
the greateft {crupulofity and caution; and 
that, before the inc.ination to vocal-per- 
formance be too freely indulged, ‘the tafte 
and feeling of the candidate for praife in 
MonrHiy Mac, No, 79. 
x 
this department of the harmonic-fcience 
fhould be confulted, and the powers of 
difcrimination in the auditory faculty be 
{crutinized and afcertained. . 
Certainly this firft and fine effort of 
the {cience merits too much deference and 
refpect to be lightly and inconfiderately 
attempted ; the qualification, at leatt, of 3 
good ear feems indilpenfable to fuccefs in 
its practice: tafte, feeling, and a fine 
voice muft not be too rigoroufly infifed 
upon ; they are atiributes which Heaven 
has not beftowed on the many ;” but, 
whenever they happily combine, then it is 
that the lovers of fine vocal-mufic are 
treated with fuch performe’s as Billing~ 
ton, Storace, Mara, Banti, Duflek, Parke, 
Braham, Harvifon, and Bartleman; and 
that the meft charming effects of infru- 
mental-performance-yield to the fafcinating 
powers of the voice. in a word, it is 
then that melody, uniting it'elf with fenti- 
menf, paffion, and eloquence, at once en- 
chants the ear, and captivates the foul 
We, however, muit allow, that there ig 
another defcription of vccal-performers, 
whofe merit is all their own; who, by the 
aid of perfeverance, both in ftudy and prac- 
tice, execute much with little voice, and: 
expreis more than, perhaps,they are capable 
of feeling ; and to fuch fingers mui be 
given all the praife due to acquired powers s 
powers which, when confined to what is 
called part-/inging, as im quartetts, trios, 
duetts, catcnes, and gle-s, are -feme- 
times produékve of very charming and im- 
preflive effects. Singers of this caf, by 
practifing together, and learning to blend 
their tones, and tocover, by mutual accom= 
modation, each otters na:ural defects» 
have often proved how high a degree of 
excellence may be attained even without . 
the aid of fine voices or exquilite fenfh. 
tions. 
Though ail the nations of Europe at 
prefent encourage and cultivate the vocal- 
art, ftill to the Italians will every nation 
of true tafte give the palm in all the prin- 
cipal qualities of fine performance  In~ 
deed, while they not only feem te pofefe 
fome exclufive and natural advantages, 
their language, it is almoft fuperfluons ta 
oblerve, is peculiarly adapted to mufical 
exprefion: it is fo melodized by its nu- 
merous vowels, as at once to open the 
Co lungs 
