New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-09-19

A
taking and, to BE- well done, requires the division
Of labor. the specialize plan which produces such
n.sn;scert results in French science. Any at
tempt on the part of one man to produce com
plete cyclopedia must be attended with more or
ie.. mnerfections. growing out Of the vastness oil
the undertaking, though it might possibly be that
an individual, with long life OF LABOR could pro-
duce such book of certain merit and compact
ness. provided he had Travelled. observed con-
ver,ed and studied in maturer years, after having
been completely trained by masters during cn'ld-
hood. In this work there is oi course nuen
vsIusble matter. a. one thousand close
nsces c,puot but contain it; but the whole
is ldigested, contradictory, and has no scleh''hc
point of departure. It's claims on the tltlepage
are overwhelming, and everything should DC
iudged according to its pretensions. we SNAIL
therefore briefly glance at its contents under It's
various heads.
First, as to the elementary part The elements
of music can only be learned from an elementary
work, assisted by good master; for certainly no
one ignorant of music could hunt through
thousand pages to find them out under
thousand heads. which have no particular mean
ing for him until be knows the contents OF those
heads. The elementary part of cyclopsdia Is
therefore of no practical value. Ii is mere rec
ord for the sake of a record. Inc elements oil
music. besides, cannot be learned without prac-
teal skill, and as mere reading they are good for
nothing. The theory of flats and sharps, when
may be considered as under this head IN the Cy-
clopadia, is all wrong and is indeed too tyrolsh
for discussion AZ this time The technical por-
ton Of the Cyclopedia includes the element
ary properly speaking, but taking it in the
compiler's est mate, no system OF technics
can be derived from this work. Take, for
example the article Harmony. The compiler
attempts to squeeze into half-a dozen pages
treatise on Harmony. As well might he aim to
give Mathematics, from Addition to the Mecsnique
Celeste, in the same space. Apart from the fact
that the article like nearly every other one in the
Cycopadia, lie no. original, and is plsgarised
without a syllable Of acknowledgment, except
in the congratulations of the preface the skeleton
theory of the subject would be utterly in,onpre-
hensible to the reader. Harmony is reared upon
Ohkt OF Odte III lut tutuC way tuot thV SWINE va
house are laid upon it's foundation; butinstead OF
finding this subject treated under the head OF
Harmony, We have TO turn TO the article Thorough
Bass, which should have preceded the discussion
Oh Harmony, with the words Thorough Bass only
piyen in the list of musical terms, followed by
simple reference for the reader TO the article
Harmony for details. Unless a treatise is so
scientifically displayed, bui,tup from the base TO
the top, knowledge is impossible. The supposi-
ton that the intensely intricate, the even mystic
nature of harmonies can be so dispatched-in a
treatise without head or tail-deserves notice as
a curiosity. The best way to learn harmony, tor
person suited By nature t. the study-includ-
iDg of course, figured, or thorough bass--is first
to get teacher who knows il as well as did
Reicha, and taking Reicha's great and imperisha-
bic work on Harmony commit il literally to
memory, every word and every note, and use sew
era reams of paper in writing exercises.
Then harmony will De known so we'll that mis-
take will be impossble-for no other author has
the same clearDess ia writing on harmony as
Reicba. At this point the student may feel
whether II is worth his while to try composition
and in that case the sequeis, by rhe same author
on fugue and high compost ion will be found
more gradual and luminous and satists ssDry than
those of any other writer.
The same disjointed mode OF treating a subject
the merits Of the whole lot Considered is here
applied to other subjects in the same way as to
harmony. We have many heads for what should
be treated under one, and the result u.s. the reader
cannot learn properly from any of them.
The historical part OF the work is open to crit
cism. Instead Of an original article the author
gives us the well known old brief sketch by Cho-
ron, which, though possessing superlGtive merits
and doing justice 10 the Italian School, is imper-
feet, ignoring the fountain of musie--thst Of the
East-and telling US nothing since ChOron wrote
under the Emperor Napoleon. If We are to be
enlightened on the history Of music, we may look
under multitude Of other heads in the Cyclope-
dia and the result is simply confusion. A his
tory Of music, even now, offers many novelties
for an original hand guided by eruditioa
But such history is impossible drbbled out IN
der 6f,y different heads, by fifty different hands,
their contradiction of facts and opinions so great,
that j. would require volume to expose them.
The only distinction which musico- cyclopeiic
work in this country could have from the Euro
pean Biographical and Technical Dictionaries.
from viii, the author has simply cut ninety nine
parts of bis large volume, would be full account
of what has been done in music in this country,
by eminent artists like Mrs. Austin, Mrs. Wood.
Mrs. Seguin, Madame Malibran, Mr.. Braham,
Mr.. sesuin, signor Montressor, signor saIvi,
hnoop &c, by such institutions a. the Phihr-
monte societies Of New York, PhiIadelphia &C