New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-12-16
SKETCHES OF LECTU r ES.
Mr.. Fry's Lecture on Music.


Mr.. Fry's Lecture on Music.
Mr.. WILLIAM HENRY fRY's Third Lecture
on Music was delivered on Tuesday evening at Metro
poltau Hall-on which occasion full audience was
present Not only was the aasembage instructed by
the Lecturer but well entertained by the performance
of various examples of novel music. Specimens OF
Jewish choras presented TO shew that the radi-
tons Of the ants under Moses were certainly not
handed down The subject of the Lecture was Acous-
tics followed by history aud criticism of Egyptian
and Jewi-h Music The musical illustrations OF the
Lecture were performed by Madame Roe de Vries,
sisnora Pico vetd- sgnor Vietti and Sgnor Coeiti.
sustained by the orchestra and chorus OF upw ards OF
900 performers with Mr. g. F. Bristow as conductor,
and Mr. U. C. Hill a. leader Among the vocal and in
strumenta pieces -everl oriental melodies har-
monzed for the grand chorus two original ancient
Greek hymns, and specimens of medieval music from
eco to eco years old besides pieces OF modern music
Mr. Fry, in supporting the theory OF the 7r'l,a OF
Music the law of Sound referred the illustration By
orsrth in his cercature Of Perspective, of the vulgar
ignorance Of the rudmens Of the art Of Painting The
repres niaiion upon fat surfaces ola visible obsts Is
n science Gs well as an art governed by immutable
laws any attempt 70 violate which ia m outrage upon
Nature However varied my be the styles OF painers,
the mnthcnacs OF perspective undcrcs the most sub
tie faDcies necessarily does the skeleton every
form Of living and lovely humanity. There are many
WHO practically deny that Music Is based upon any
principles whatever. They regard a tune as a mere
caprice Of some apt ina nG,ion and pronounce for or
aeainst;hc graEdct inspirations and labors OF lyrical
genius according the accident OF their being or not
being pleosed The laws of Sound arc fixed az the
multiplication table; they govern every succession aud
combination Of musc notes rgdy as the laws OF at
traction govern planetary motions, or those OF affinity
govern chemical synthesis. Music is not good, phlo-
SCI hicclly speaking because adjudged good by the
bearer but on account OF it, innate qualities Things
beseess and tickle never influence the mind as those
known 10 be finn and enduring Our estimate of Mu-
ec dep, uds whether have explored its depths to
learn thai they solid the foundations of the
eor,h Who that has thoughtfully analysed his emo
tons in gazing at Niagara is not conscious OF themi
The pc pc,uy of the is the true element OF
our sub me reflections Az we know il s. VIC bceye il
was We doubt not il will be- That its cour is chang
les It is tremendous, is the paramount id Of the be-
holder. We shall See after examination Of few of
tie phenomena OF the sound-phcnomena, some of
which Ci tnacly and touriousy appeal 20 the safer
iud. mcu of cur eyes, and not of ears-we shall
then see that there stability in Music and that it ex
i,ts by virtue Of laws coexstent with matter itself
The science of Sound, in It's largest acceptation is
t.. med Acoustic under which title are embraced the
doctrines Of the cause nature and effects Of Sound,
whether depending on animal organs instruments of
music things producing inarculate noises. IL
il very comprehensive subject The treatise peri
Akouton) by Aristotle the earliest of the kind handed
down to US by classical antiquity Since his WORK,
there have been about five hundred writers that sub
jeet Algebra is deeply involved in the investigation of
Acoustic propositions Sound depends for its produc-
TO ayatir odi I. Ia no
transit through absolute vacuum. The raricd air OF
high mountsintops conveys sound mperfectly in pro-
portion to the altitude though at what hight i. would
fail altogether asceTtsinej The meteor of 1888
which Was half mile in diameter, and moved with
velocity O; 90 miles in second, exploded when at
least 80 miles above the earth, with noise which
distinctly heard az Windsor Castle full minutes
after the light ceased 10 be visible. This shows the
time required by sound for It's transit. We the
lightning long before hear the thunder the smoke
from gun distance preeeJes the report natural
inquiry Is, what IS the velocity of Sound The result
OF experiments by scientific and societies attested
by ms,hematca theories, show that Sound travels
1890 feet second when the temperature of the air is
at freezing point This is equal to 30 miles per minute
Ii is heard further than land There are
instances Of csnnonades being heard from 80 20
900 miles 1t is a remarkable fact that sounds of all
qualities and pitches with equal rapidly Do not
coriourd quality and pitch with intensity The loud
est instrument in band will be heard furtherest, of
course, but the notes Of all travel pdri passY and
reach the at the same instant The transmission
may be facilitated impeded by Continuance or acc
dent The speaking tuLe in hotels and dwellings shows
how the ordinary tone Of the voice may be conveyed
perfectly between distant points The length of the
tube seems 70 be uraeral In Paris the experiment
has been tried in water pipes, mile long, and the faint
et whisper end distinctly heard al the other
II sound passing through the air meets with an ob
stscls-as for instance wall roof il Is INSTRUCTED
thereby and the phenomenon of reverberaon or echo
Some instances of echoes were mentioned by
the lecturer Of which he had observed the center
Of the ground corridor OF the Naval Asylumat Phiae
phis II single voice SINCE in succession the notes of
the common chord, they heard repeated above and
all together for sometime, dying beautifully away like
the voices OF full chorus in the distance The rolling
and long continued rumbling of thunder is attributable
to echoes, started different points by the erratic
course OF the ghtning-the sound being reverberated
from cloud to cloud from its first tremendous crashes
until it IL lost in far of heavings After further re-
marks at some length upon this department of the
Lecture Mr. Fry took up the subject of ancient music
Among the Egyptians music wa held in high esteem
Every child was obliged at school to learn it. and all
alike. The course Of discipline was full three years.
Greet literature lets into the secret of Egyptian mu-
fic According to Grecian authorities the first gods of
Egypt took pleasure in maoc and were accompanied
by troop of musicians; one of them invented three
stzlneed Tyre Plato speaks with admiration of them.
Ine PeTsan kings, In quitting Egypt took love Of mu
sic with them, Of which luxury soon corrupted the &C.
we're character. The Egyptims became the best mu-