The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-05-12
For the Register.
The Fine Arts.

OF man LOT tfuln. anu an lntense ueSlre
after an approach to Godlike character,
which makes it requisite that the inmo1
r'"iineS of the soul should be in perfect
on with cTicrn0I nctiOns.
. he perception Of the beautiful consists
alone in this necessity for harmony in the
nature Of man. Beauty is objective only
when the moral truth and divinity of its
formS, harmonic with the feelings of the
Sori. This occurs in the physical as well
as in the metaphysical world, far The beau-
hfM reprcsc1fs RE 1cW NJ mature. The
desire for the representation or reproduc-
ton of an ideal arises from this sense Of
beauty, and his is the aim and limit of
true art Therefore we acknowledge four
simple or indie endent fine arts viz. Ar
chitecture, Painting Music and Poetry.
Besides these are the two mixed ones
Sculpture and the Drama.
1--THE SCIENCE OF Music.
BY means Of music man idealizes only
the sentiments of his own soul. Architecture
and painting represent other objects, acts
and feelings. The true composer and vir-
| tuoso so idealizes by his musical compost
| lions his own subjective feelings SO that
| one may have the spirit of music without
being a composer, because he has not tech
ncal perfection, Merefo'e e, Musr rs The
| finely adcafizcd md true me 'odiouS en-
| preston Of the human, moral, and 2,SY-
| choiogical tcI'ingS. The human song is
prmeval music, and the only aim of In
strumental music is to represent artistic
ally the human voice. and to inform and
| 1. r. al l.
a composer expresses and represents ez-
te, nal objects, las the emotions oftho heart,
for instance one cannot unsteady describe
the four seasons of the year, but only the
human feelings during the year.
Especially does music give expression
to the psychological feelings so far it is
no fine but only resuscitation of the
moral sentiments, by the graduation Of the
psychological energy of life, and we find
here the reason, why in olden time men
placed so high value upon its effects.
These effects upon soul and body are the
mystery of Music. In later times no
song has been productive of greater re-
suits than the Marsellese, without it the
French revolutions both of 1889 and of
1913 would have taken an entirely diff.
ferent course. The Utmost character of
nation is shown more truly by its music
than by the most elaborate descriptions Of
external circumstances.
According to this definition must be the
laws of Music Thorough Bass and these
are made by means of the different KEYS.
These keys have their true character in
connection with degree of movement, time,
and accent. These three points are, to the
science of Music what vocabularies the
number of syllable, syntax and prosody
are to language. The four voices Sopra-
no, Alto, Tenor and Bass are according
= to the four ages of life. Altogether they
form a musical harmony and deaize a
whole man.
l Doubtless it is there that the effects
which the power or different keys in Music
: make, depend upon the character and sit
uaton of the listener. Only for the sad
is mournful, and for the gay lively Music,
the same piece, the same concert, &c, cannot
possibly have the same effect upon each
enc in mixed collection of individuals.
The truth Of the sentiments expressed, a.
bove is proved by the entirely different
criticisms which have been passed upon the
vocal performances of our last Soiree The
selections, and the accurate pure execution
: of the unusually difficult pieces, would have
: been wholly satisfactory to the ear Of a
: connoiseur, but the effect was partially
;: lost by the impractical position and other
Il unfavorabe circumstances of those who
: criticized. The appreciation of such songS.
+ The "Erl-king" by Schubert, /" Gondola"
+ and Drift my bark" by Kuecken, and
o How blest" by Beethoven demand an
:, entirely different feeling from Tive merry
5, girls, by Glover. Birds of beauty bysMiss
l. NJ. B. Scott and Gentle Annie by Foster.
This theory explains why such numer-
e Gus and significant effects may be produced
$ on the minds of men, if the composer or
j. vrtuoso has been able to examine the au-
/ dience beforehand, aud according to this
# examination selects his pieces. Such en-
y nent composers as Gluck, Mozart, Betho.
ven, Weber &C., felt the same emotions as
n those who listened to their music. They
9 were acquainted with the human heart, in
% its finest organization and therefore the
n eternal beauty of their compositions.
It A chord is the contemporary connection
of relative sounds.
lila, mony and cOnsonance are the sue
L cessve continuation of relative chords.
: Dissononce is thesnegation of Harmony
j and consonance.
! Melody is the successive order Of
: sounds and chords as total.
A Musician is no artist in so far as he
plays thoughtlessly on his instrument the
= compositions of others, but becomes SC
when he begins to extemporze, or when
he excels more on his own instrument than
J.; on any other, in other words when he
MeaiieeS his instrument, as Paganini or
9 Ole Bull the violin &c.
l. The formation of every scale depends
upon the same conditions as the formation
C of the alphabet upon the orglns of the cal
Y and voice, because the song is the original
!, music. What highly delights as produce.
n in the Chinese and Turks painful sensa-
tion. Especially was music among the
Greeks different thing from what it i:
at present with us. They had no separat,