The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-14 00:00:00

MUSIC.

CAROL FOR THE NEW YEAR. Written by Miss
A. Samuda. Music by Charles F. Desanges
This is the best New Year's Carol that has appeared
for many a season. Miss Samuda has given us a
poem, a beautiful poem in Engli.h, which Mr. De-
sanges has admirably translated into the universal
language, music. We cannot convey to our readers
a better idea of this work than by transcribing the
words of Miss Samuda, and then desiring the reader
to recollect that the composer of the melody has ac-
curately given expression in music to the feelings
which the perusal of the poem is calculated to excite.
llail ! all hail ! to the dawning new year,
The mother of months is laid on her bier,
But we sing no dirge, and we shed no tear, -
We look to the future with hope not fear.

Then with dance and song, and wassail we'll throng,
To welcome the advent of this new year.
The fair young year bath never a stain,
Nor a blighted hope nor a throb of pain,
Its hours are are whisp'ring of Spring again,
And fancy is weaving a rainbow chain :
Then with dance and song, and wassail we'll throng,
To welcome its beams with its fairy train.
The dark old year dealt many a blow,
Struck down here a friend foster'd there a foe:
'how'd us bright things begun to end in woe,
Bade us heart sickness and pain to know.
Let the old year die, we'll not heave a sigh,
Away to her tomb she may gladly go.

But the rising year will alas grow old,
All unknown the fate her seasons unfold,
When time the record in his hand shall hold,
And many of these merry hearts be cold,
Oh then let us pra; in the hour that we may,
By mercy and love its course be controll'd.
Thy lesson old year, be ne'er forgot,
Tho' full of the pangs of our mortal lot,
It may teach us yet in the future hours,
To shun the thorns as we pluck the flow'rs ;
Then a smile and sigh, hope and memory,
To the new year's sun, and the old year's show'rs.

SONGS OF CHRISTMAS FOR FAMILY
CHOIRS. Selected and adapted by a Clergyman of
tire Church of England, and arranged in Vocal Score,
with Symphonies ands Accompaniments for the Piano-
,forte. By W. H. Kearns.
This is an adaption of sacred words to secular
tunes. Such is. object of the editor, as stated by
himself in his preliminary advertisement ;—the vocal
score, the symphonies, and the accompaniments,
have been arranged with considerable ability by Mr.
Kearns, the organist of Verulam Chapel, Lambeth,
and a member of the Philharmonic Society, and those
who, like Rowland Hill (the preacher, not the post-
man), are of opinion " that it is a shame that Satan
should have all the pretty tunes," and who, therefore,
do not disapprove of these somewhat incongruous:unions
of the sacred and the secular, will be pleased with this
volume.

THE MUSICAL HERALD. Part VIII.
This part completes the first volume of this classical
Musical periodical, which is, even in these cheap days,
a marvel, not only of excellence but of cheapness also.
We have in this part music by Corelli, Purcell, Ives,
Harrington, Haydn, Mathew Locke, Dibdin, and
Brown, among the classics. A joyous old Christmas
Glee, by the Rev. Mr. Wills, which was published about
fifty years ago, and which may be considered as one of the
curiosities of music, and some excellent music by
modern composers, some of which (a Romance for
the piano-forte for histance, by Frederick Bow
Jewson) has been composed expressly for this work.