The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-04 00:00:00

1192

T H

The Foreign Count. Song. Written and Com-
posed by Henry Walker. London: Cocks
and Co.

THE frontispiece of this song, which presents a
capital lithographic sketch of a hairy foreign
swindler, is its greatest attraction ; although the
words certainly are not bad in their way, and
might doubtless be made a great deal of by a
clever comic singer. The music is absolutely
null. It evidences, indeed, no pretension what-
ever, and therefore does not challenge serious
criticism.

Dear Voices of Home. Song. Written and Com-
posed by Anne Fricker. London : Cocks
and Co.
THIS, too, is a remarkably simple production,
in a musical point of view, but tuneful and
easy to sing and play, whilst the verses, although
by no means soaring to the heights of true poetry,
are smoothly written, and sentimental without
being maudlin.

Do you Think of the Days that are gone, Jeannie 1'
Ballad ; and The Rhine Maiden, Song. Com-
posed by Henry Smart. London : Cramer,
Beale, and Chappell.
HERE we have two more specimens of the Pot
au feu style of Art. We know right well that
Mr. Henry Smart can write very much better
things than these insipid trifles, but, like Mr. G.
Macfarren and many others, he is unable to live
on " love and fame "; (the Shelleyan diet for true
poets), and therefore must work for publishers.
Do we blame him ? Most assuredly not; any
more than we do his distinguished brethren in
Art, or the " many others" at whom we have
glanced. No, we blame the hypocritical age
which pretends to worship the " mighty Handel,"
the "divine Mozart," the " sublime Beethoven,"
&c., and only buys the most vapid, maudlin
trash for its private delectation. We know that
such men as Macfarren and Smart would say
with us, "I'd rather be a kitten and cry mew,
"than one of these same metre ballad-mongers ;"
but, then, alas ! stern necessity puts its icy hand on
their warm hearts, freezes the genial current of
the soul, and forces them to cry " mew," or any-
thing else, if they would gain an honest livelihood
for themselves and their families. Would that
the influence of the press could produce a better
state of things !

Russian Air, known as " Those Evening Belli."
Transcribed for the Pianoforte by W. Vincent
Wallace. London : Cocks and Co.

r.VERYTIIING that Mr. W. Vin,:ent Wallace (the
genial composer of Maritana) does for the in-
strument of his predilection is gracefully and well
done, and thoroughly " pianistic "—that is, in the
modern sense of the word. Where the." supposi-
tion " that this " Russian Air" was composed by
Beethoven came from we know not, but are in-
clined to doubt, despite the semi-indorsement of
the opinion by Mr. Wallace, that the great Ton-
I)ichter had anything at all to do with its com-
position. It looks a great deal more like one of
the chorales of the Greek Church, and although
not a very fine specimen of the class of art to
which it would seem to belong, is nevertheless
sufficiently interesting to justify the trouble
which Mr. Wallace has taken in arrang►ng it for
the piano, and certainly serves to display his
talent to considerable advantage. We regret,
however, to find Mr. Wallace lavishing his
powers upon such trifles as this. The nian who
could compose the charming trio, "Turn on Old
Time "—not to speak of other eminently gracetul
and musicianly things—ought to be much better
employed.

Nine Choral Songs. With an Accompaniment
for the Pianoforte. By Elizabeth Stirling.
London: A. Novello.

ELIZABETH STIRLING (Miss or Mrs. ?) is favour-
ably known to the admirers of tuneful part-
music by her " All Among the Barley," which
has frequently been sung in public by the
" Vocal Association," and other choral bodies,
and very seldom without an unanimous encore.
Well, that now generally popular part-song may
be taken as a fair specimen of the lair com-