The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-12-09

would DRYDEN have aaid II he had heard the sublime
outbursts Of modern nuic in full orchestral Tho
,esson Why music Is 10 successful in extending It's
influence IL that it speaks the language Of Nature to
the heat Every man who 10 NOT callous and dead
to all the generous impulses of humanity is moved
by the POWER of music. In the words of tbs poet
The man that hath not music in his soul,
And IA not moved with concord Of sweet sounds,
Is fit for Treason strstagems and spoiis-
Let no man trust him.
When we look at music, rs we now enjoy 1t Ia the
United States and compare il with ts infancy, some
centuries ago. we cannot fail to be struck with the
wonderful progress it has made. Formerly, instru-
mental music was only used to mark the time for
the voice, or the dance, and that single instru
ment The ides of concerted music appears to have
been unknown. The term music among the ancient
Greeks not only comprehended music proper, but
dancing, poetry, rhetoric, philosophy, and, &C
cording to Quintillian, even grammar. In short,
the aggregate Of all acquired knoHledge Was then
called Husic. At that time music proper was but q
branch of science; now it has expanded into great
science itself Whether ancient music has shared
the fate of the other lost arts and whether the pre-
ssnt arrangement Of it on scientific principles has
been revived or invented by the moderns, is q mat
ter OF uncertainty and dispute. But Of one thing
there cannot be doubt, that three hundred years
ago the science of music, comprising melody, har-
mony, counterpoint and thorough bass, did not ex-
st Til the time Of Palestrina, about the year 1870
sacred music, for instance WAS nothing but tissue
Of sweet sounds, almost destitute of perceptoe
melody Music, like the other arts of civiliza ion
suffered by the Goths and Huns, who oyerran
Rome and Western Europe. It was not until the
eleventh century, that Guido, Bsnedictine monk
in ITALY, laid the foundation ofsolfaing and Franco
. German, in the latter end of the same century,
laid the foundation of figured music In the four fol-
lowing centuries, harmony, counterpoint, and fugue
were gradually developed Thorough bass was dis.
covered by Viadama, an Italian, two hundred years
ago. All the inventions in music, and the improve
ments, have been by Italians and Germans. Lull
first introduced overtures And even this imperfect
music, in which part only executed the melody,
was performed in Italy, with but small number Of
instruments. Paul veronese, the great painter,
who lived in the middle Of the sixteenth century,
has preserved to us the form of those which were
used in his time in his famous PICTURE the '.Cena d
San Gorgio,' namely, double bass, violoncello,
violin, flute, and the sackbut But it was not till
the time Of the immortal author Of the Creation,
who only died at Vienna forty three years ago.
him conceived the idea Of an orchestra composed
of eighteen kinds Of instruments. Now New York
is filed with bands Of an excellent description, and
as many eighty instruments have performed In
one orchestra within the last two years.
In music, as in everything else, we have little
conception Of what the world was one hundred years
ago. In instrumental music, Haydn produced a
revolution, and attacked by oil the critics of the
day for his daring Innovations He is the Inventor
CT the prestissio, and before his day, the allegro
was only an andantino. 1t was he that compelled
the wind Instruments to execute piantssmo. Before
his time, few movements were constructed with
more than four degrees duration, the shortest being
to the longest as one to eight; but We have now
whole bars, where thirty two notes played in the
time Of in the other parts To him was also due
the extension of the scale into aisyimo, which has
had wonderful effect upon melody, and by increas
ing the number Of harmonic comsinations, has en-
larged the boundaries Of thorough bass In the time
Of Luli, shifting upon the violin was unknown, and
whenever the note c. upon the rst string, occurred
twas looked upon with great terror, and in order
10 put the performers upon their guard, it the
practice of the leader to cry out, mind the G."
The difficulty was got over by an exertion of the
title finger. Hayd was the true inventor of SYM
pbopy, for the symphonies Of Luli and others were
composed of violin part, bass, and nothing more.
Not only was Haydn the inventor of this kind of
music, but he carried it to such degree Of perfec-
ton that it has never been improved by contem DO.
rary or subsequent composers, and even Beethoven
and Mozart have been successful in moving the
passions only when they have followed his genius.
Like Sir Isaac Newton, in astronomical science,
he discovered in music great laws of harmony
but his secret died with him. Like the rules
Of beauty Of the ancient Greek sculp.ors, called
"eanons," which are now lost, and their very
existence buried in obscurity, they were laws
of nature and hence his Ia touching the hu-
man heart Haydn, the son Of q cartwright, brought
up in extreme poverty, and even with no early mu-
aical advantages, is unquestionaby the greatest
musical genius that has ever appeared He is not
only the founder of the modern art, but the most
perfect of all modern suthsrs.
It's curious how nature and science were assisted
by mechanic art, in the case Of Haydn. The con-
means Of developing the sublimest ideas Of the
composer and the deicacy of its tones enabled him
to give the Eghtest shades, AZ well as the bold
est strokes, Of musical expression. It is the
only instrument that will represent the effects of
full orchestra; and, since its mechanism has been
improved later composers have displayed its 20
in way hardly contemplated by Haydn himself
The manner in which he employ ed wind instruments
opens q field for experiment in the musical art
which may not be exhausted for ages. He was the
first who discovered that each instrument has pc.
euliar faculty, and the first who appointed 10 each
its proper office. He not only drew from the several
instruments their peculiar language, but grouped
them into classes for purposes entirely new. And
such il the improvement produced by his genius, that
tho finest overture of Lulli, as performed before
Louis XIV, would now soon empty our
Metropolitan Hall of its audience We have men
toned the piano, enabling composers to give effect
to their works in way to which they never could
have other ,ise attained The modern discovery Of
the ancient instrument called the eackbut and 90