The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-30 00:00:00

No. 111.

SEBASTIAN BACH. •
•
If Music possesses among the works of her numerOtio
Expositors any that deserve to be, and will doubtless be,
immortal, they may truly be said to be found in greater
abundance among the writings of this the greatest
theoretician that ever breathed. And these works will
prove their own undying worth from the very principle
which they contain—the living essence of .trueis, of
science, and natural feeling—truth, which extends over
countless worlds and immeasurable time—science, which
is the foundation and the resolution of that which is
and that which will be—and natural feeling, which
creates the emotion to understand and appreciate the
uttermost sublimity of thought. True it is that the
French taste for the unreal instead of the true and
solid science, and the Italian natural instinct, if I may use
the term, for a simple rhythmical form of melody,
which so vilely influenced the European schools of
instrumental music, had very nearly spread its baneful
effects on the family of this glorious old iuguist, for it
did not escape the infection, and his " well•tanopered
clavier" was forsaken for the flimsier and less satisfactory
works of Ilullmatalel, Schobert, and Paradies ; but--
these dear buts how opportune they are—but it was
only for a time. The honest, deepbrowed old organist
—the Milton of Musicians—the culosral king who
towered above all in the realms of music, was sought
for and found, the period of usurpation and neglect
bewailed—yes, sought for aid restored " to his own
again," like the Swiss champions of thtir superstitious
age, with deep penitence ; for he who was calmly, even
sadly, awaiticg, as in the silence of the tombs, the
moment when he should be summoned—he, both in his
heart and in his art a Prophet, ANEW that the time
must arrive—to claim and recover his olden, his rightful
heritage, and was it otherwise? 0 World ! 0 Time ! I
ask ye! If ye could reply your solemn voices would
cry with the deep clangour of the eternal trump,
" Aye!" for To•day he stands before ye and us; his
gigantic form, as vigorous, unlessened, and unhurt by
the neglect of the one and the devastating doom of the
other of ye, as the youngest enthusiast who crowds with
worshipful heart to honour, and whose spirit breathes,
while it partakes, of the Immortality of Joint SEBAS-
TIAN Bacet ! And shall we not say the same of the To-
morrow ? Verily we may a little vary the beautiful
thought:

"Death! ere thou halt kill'd another
Wise and great and good as he
Time shall aim a shalt at thee."
THE HARP.

The harp is generally, and with every apparent
truthfulness, considered to be the most venerable musical
instrument extant; for from sacred history we learn that
Jubal (the seventh in descent from Adam) was deno-
minated the father of all those who wcke strains from
the kinnor or lyre. David, the second Israelitish king,
was a great master of the harp, and the instrument upon
which he performed before Saul was called in Hebrew
" Kinnor" or " hazeer," meaning an instrument of ten
strings; and no nation has equalled the Ancient Britons
in their veneration of, and in the perfection which they
attained on the tilyn. It formed an important adjunct
to all Druidical processions and religious celebrations.
Giraldus Cambrensis, who flourished about 1180, wrote,
" Travellers in Britain (Wales) who arrive at early
hours are entertained by the conversation of young
women and by airs on the harp all along the evening,
for every family of but little consequence possesses its
damsels and harps assigned for that purpose!" The
present harp in use in Wales contains three rows of
strings, invented in the fourteenth century, the extreme
rows tuned in unison, the middle bearing ti,le flats and
sharps. M. Simon, a native of Brussels, invented the
pedals rather more than eighty years ago, and it is to
M. Erard, who improved considerably on the inventor,
that the credit of introducing the double action is due.
This is simply effected by each pedal raising a note
either a whole tone or a semitone, which renders the
instruments of the present day almost perfect, for their
compass exceeds six octaves, and the pitch can be raised
or lowered by means of the pedals, ready at the per-
former's pleasure, while the most diflieult compositions
Hof Beethoven, &c., can be played on them with as muck
ease as on the pianoforte.