New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-10-02

w. S. RoCKsIRo. With an Introductory Noncc oy
George Grove, ID. e. L. limo. pp XIV, 4oZ Mac
milan & Co
1t is not 10 the credit of English scholarship that
no adequate biography of one of the greatest OF
musicians and one of tho favorite idols OF the Eng
lish PEOPLE has yet been undertaken in the only
country where such work can he thoroughly exc
cuted. IL IS in England that the study OF
Hande's music has been most enthusiastically
and successfully pursued. 1t is there that he is
best understood. Most of his manuscripts are pre-
served there; and bis life cannot be written without
constant recourse to English collections No Eng
ishman however has yet attempted to do Tor Handel
what Mr.. Thayer mas done for Beethoven, jain for
Mozart and Spitta for Bach. German Chrysanders
life of Handel, which has been suspended in mid
for eighteen years, is one OF those cumbrous
masses of undIgested learning. entirely without
literary form, with which it is the unfor-
tunate habit of too manv German investigators
to exhaust both their subject and their readers
The principal English life of Handel heretofore has
been the production OF Frenchman NJ Victor
Schn.cher, published in 1857. 1t is work OF
CAREFUL original research. which added great deal
to our knowledge of Handel and also of the condi-
ton of music in England in the first half of the
eighteenth century; but it is not by any means an
entertaining book; it is weak in criticism; and II
is inaccurate in detail. MIR. Rockstro, VINO
is one of the most useful and indus
trous contributors to Groves Dictionary of
Music" has aimed at nothing higher than brei'
readable and correct popular life, less diiiuse than
Sehnlcher's but also somewhat less minute. His
style is not elegant, but it is sufficiently animated
and natural his criticisms not elaborate he
retells the standard anecdotes well enough and
he gives some account of all Handles important
works His principal merit is in the correction
of the errors of his predecessors,-a task IN
which he has diligently followed the
investigations Of Chrysander and others. ana
has made an acute and careful personal examina-
1ion of the Handel manuscripts. Upon the whole
we must compliment him for doing well what he
attempted. But complete book on Handel IN
Guiding study and analysis OF his works-that is
10 saw musicians life--has yet TO be written.
There are two points upon which even biography
like this before us ought to speak with more pre-
cison and authority than MIR. Rockstro
has thought necessary. The first is the
compositon of HendePs orchestra. The
condition of the existing scores has left this matter
curousy uncertain. and it is evident that the old
dispute about additional accomplishments cannot
be intelligently continued while we do not even
know what effects Handel used TO produce. Mi.
Rockstro declares himself opposed 10 all changes
whatever condemnng them indeed with dog
matte vehemeuce but he has failed to make
il clear what the original accompaniments
we're which he wishes to see restored. 1t
10 well known that Handel made great
use of the organ in filling up the thin of his
oratorjos and can.atas but no did moro than that,
and there is not much doubt that his band was con-
sderably fuller than the old scores might lead one
TO SUPPOSE The organization OF an orchestra one
hundred ana fifty years ago was nevertheless so
different from that which modern taste demands,
the prevailing tone-colOr and the balance OF parts
we're co different that to play the " Messiah
T. L. q No no mn ir9b
Handel would not do it himself if
he were here. The sticklers for archaic purity
forget that the difference bet the old orchestra
and the new results not merely from change oil
taste but from positive technical Improvement.
The characteristics of instruments have been modl-
fed their capabilities have been Increased, new
combinations have been studied, the band has
become richer nober. more supple, more expressive
Tones which were once admired are now found
crude and disagreeable, simply because musicians
have learned better way OF pro-
dncinq a parallel effect. Nobody who
has studied the extraordinary development of the
mowers of the orchestra during the present century,
and the consequent changes in the manner OF writ
ing tor it, can doubt that sooner OF later the older
masters will all have to be translated" as Robert
Franz translated Sebastian Bach.
The other matter III which Mr.. RJckstro has dis
appointed us is the important question oil Hsndels
plaglarlSm9 lie reIefs. luucct, W 'he wv Hosl
conspicuous charges of this nature-rbe alleged pill
fering of parts of Israel in Egypt" from
n "Magnifcatn by Erba and of several
Numbers of the "Dettingsn TIE Deum," from work
by Urio-and he Indignantly repels tho idea that
Handel borrowed IN either case; but his defence
contains more rhetoric than reason. The accusa-
tion with respect to Israel" rests upon no very
firm foundation. Among the Handel MSS. at
Buckingham Palace is Latin "MagniIicat" un-
roub vUhc oh 1taip
nine movements closely resembling parts of Israel
in EgyptD in some cases the resemblance amounts
to substantial identity For many years nobody
questioned that this "Magnifcat" was genuine
discarded composition OF Handlers. from which, &C
.cordng to his custom. he drew materials for his
oratorio But in 1857 there was discovered in the
library of the Sacred Harmonic Society very in
correct MS copy of the same work, headed " Mag
o,ficat del Rid sig'r Erba." Mr.. Rockstro
makes the point that this inscription
only means that the volume once belonged to a
nriest named Erba: Had tho MagmGcat' been
composed by Sig. Erba the woid used would have
been dal not DEL" This objection, however, is not
we'll taken Both propositions are used indhercntly
in Italian 10 express authorship Just as the CORE
sponding "of" and "by" are used in English. The
inscription NAV mean what Mr.. RocKstro says it
does but il does not necessarily mean that.
The real objections TO Erbas claims are
that no one knows the history of the
Sacred Harmonic SocIety's MS. or its source dt IS
evidently not an original but bad copy, or the
authority upon which the writer OF the inscription
ascrihcd it to Erba supposug that del IN this case is
meant to indicate authorship, and not merely
ownership; and that the obscure and long
forgotten Erba wrote nothing else which
mankind have thought worth preserv-
ing The disputed passages of Israel"
are in the second part. occurring almost conseca-
4iuelr and nclndng some of the most dIgnfed and