WHOLE NO. 482. June. BOSTON, SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 1861. BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. I gaze upon the glorious sky A cell within the frozen mould, While fierce the tempests beat— Earth green beneath the feet, There, through the long, long summer hours, And thick young herbs and groups of flowers The oriole should build and tell Should rest him there, and there be heard And what if cheerful shouts at noon Or songs of maids, beucath the moon, Betrothed lovers walk in sight Of my low monument? I would the lovely scene around I know, I know I should not see, But if around my place of sleep And deeply would their hearts rejoice questions must always be the highest interest. In Between the instruction of the artist and of Now to return to our own proper questionWhat is to be learned, and which is the right time for each study? SONG. We have already said that if possible every Objects of Musical Education and their untruly as supernatural; and whose softened, Time. What is to be learned, and which is the proper time for each kind of instruction? These questions, of the utmost importance in their minutest particulars, demand the gravest and most search consideration from parents and teachers wen they have determined to dedicate a child to inusical education. To professors of music, these and therefore, perhaps, more beneficent influence, Song is the most appropriate treasure of the VOL. XIX. No. 13. assembled by one common impulse in the solemn cathedral. Devotion in our churches become more edifying; our popular festivals and days of enjoyment become more mannerly and animated; our social meetings more lively and intellectually joyful; our whole life, in short, becomes more elevated and cheerful by the spread of the love o song and of the power of singing among the greatest possible number of individuals. And these individuals will feel themselves more intimately connected with society, more largely participating in its benefits, of more worth in it and gaining more by it, when they unite their voices in the social harmony of their friends. To the musician, but more especially to the composer, song is an almost irreplaceable and indispensable means of calling forth and seizing the most delicate, tender, and deepest strains of feeling from our inmost sensations. No instrument can be a substitute for song, the immediate creation of our own soul in our own breast; we can have no deeper impression of the relation of sound, of the power of melody; we cannot work more effectively upon our own souls and upon those of our hearers than by heartfelt song. Every friend of music, therefore, should sing; and every musician who has a tolerable voice, should be a master of song in every branch. Song should, also, in the order of time, be our first musical exercise. This should begin in the earliest childhood, in the third to the fifth year, if it be not possible earlier, but not in the form of instruction. The song of the mother which allures imitation, the joyful circle of children playing together, is the first natural singing school, where, without notes or masters, simply according to hearing and fancy, the fibres of the soul are first freely excited and set in vibration. Instruction in music, properly so called, should not in general begin until the second step of life's ladder, between the seventh and fourteenth years. By far the greatest number of individuals have sufficient qualifications of voice for singing, and to justify their pursuit of the art with reasonable hope of success. Indeed, very considerable and valuable vocal faculties are much more common than is generally imagined. There is certainly less deficiency of natural gifts than of persons observant and talented enough to discover, to foster and to cultivate them. In the meantime, if indeed every one have not disposition and means (and good fortune) to become of some consequence as a singer, let us consider that even with an inconsiderable voice, much of the most touching and joy-inspiring capabilities may be attained, if feeling, artistic cultivation, and a vivid conception speak through a medium but slenderly endowed. Why should any one be dissatisfied if small means and trouble have made him capable of touching our hearts with a joyful or tender song or have enabled him to participate skillfully in the choral assemblies of his fellow citizens. Whether it may be advisable to proceed farther in singing and the cultivation of the voice, must be decided by the circumstances and inclinations of each individual. From composers, conductors, and higher masters, a complete knowledge of everything belonging to singing is to be absolutely demanded, and also practical execution thereof; unless, indeed, organic defect should render it to them impossible. A composer who does not expressly study singing, and practice it as far as possible, will scarcely be able to write for the voice; he will with difficulty acquire the more delicate musical declamation; he will never become entire master of the lifelike conducting of the voice, which is something General Musical Instruction. far different from mere correctness.-Dr. Marx's An Opera Rehearsal and Performance. Castil-Blaze gives a detailed account of an opera rehearsal in Paris, which we translate for the benefit of those who are curious about the movements of actors behind the scenes. "When a new opera is to be studied, the sing ers meet at the study-room to rehearse their parts around the pianoforte, at which Henri Potier, an excellent accompanist, officiates. The author presides, and the leader of the orchestra, who wishes to make himself familiar with the score, present. Not less able than his confrère, M. Dietsch, the other leader, has the chorus under his direction, and exercises them in the great hall on the second floor, procul negotiis. The dancers prepare themselves with the ballet master, in their foyer, and two violinists, rehearsers of the dance, regulate their movements. When the singers almost know their parts, they meet at the theatre, where the obscure light does not often allow them to see their score, and they must accustom themselves to perform from memory. Besides this, the prompter is at his post. After some rehearsals as they sit or stand around the stage, the manager, M. Leroy, admir able instructor and erudite comedian, calls the actors up, and, in concert with the author, causes them to act at the same time that they sing their parts. Then everything is arranged in such a way that each personage takes or quits his position, goes to the right or left, or retires, always following the movement and sentiment which the orchestra requires. The instrumental portions which should animate and support the stage action, are modified at the different rehearsals, so that the actor may achieve the desired effect without trouble and with ease. An entrance, an exit or a meeting is twenty or thirty times repeated. In times past these trials were supported by a quintette of violins. Now a piano suffices until the rehearsal becomes general. The choristers then unite with the principals. The leader of the orchestra takes his place, and leads a double quintette to accompany them. The same ceremony is renewed for the dancers and the corps de ballet. The orchestra has one general rehearsal. The manner in which the over ture in "William Tell" was performed at first sight, to Rossini's great surprise, proves that this is not absolutely necessary; but this rehearsal is useful for the collation of the parts. As they are forced to stop every moment or two to correct errors in the manuscript, it is not thought necessary to retain the singers for the rehearsal, which would be useless to them. The decorations are fixed and changed for the mise en scène. The scenery, which must move in harmony with the music, the moon, the sun, the thunder, cannon, would be blamed if they worked out of place. A general rehearsal is given, and the stage is occupied only by the performers. Madame displays her whole toilette; every one is at his post, and the authors remove to the auditorium. Some times a last trial is made in full costume. The leader of the orchestra has an epitome of the score only before him, arranged in five parts: the first violin; the commencement of the music of the wooden wind instruments; the brass in struments; the vocal part which leads off, and the orchestral bass. The whole score is a useless embarrassment, as the leader has no other occupation than that of turning over the leaves without having the time to read them. "We must have a representation to-morrow." "Impossible! the opera is not ready, they don't know it well enough." "No matter, it must be done!" "You don't come to the rehearsals; come and judge if." "I shall be careful not to come, for I shall think as you do, and I absolutely require that it shall be performed to-morrow. It must be done." This concise but pointed dialogue echoes but too often in our provincial theatres. It is there in particular that an opera is pushed forward before the public, and the fruit is gathered, before it shows signs of maturity. Still I have seen miserable, frightful rehearsals, followed by a very satisfactory performance. When the curtain is up each one redoubles his care and attention, for the moment is serious and decisive. They call comparses (supernumeraries) those persons who appear on the stage to swell the singing and dancing crowd, without taking part with them. Soldiers are frequently employed for this purpose. They know how to inarch in time Four hundred soldiers of Biron's to the music. Ernelinde. Eight hundred people were seen at regiment manœuvred on the stage at Versailles in the same time in La Tour Enchantee. We have seen seven hundred at the Opera in the hell of La Tentation. When the curtain falls on the first act, the talk turns on the triumph or the recall of the actors; very different things. A triumph is the result of an enthusiastic success, when a favorite actor, already recalled during the performance, returns at the piece to carry away his harvest of bouquets and crowns. When these prepared projectiles are thrown upon the stage in a transport of admiration; when the ladies throw the masses of rich, brilliant flowers which they have held all the evening, this unpremeditated act doubles the excitement of the audience. But if the crowns fall from the balconies and fourth row boxes, we may readily conclude that the laurels and dahlias, two cents a bunch, were purchased beforehand, betraying a foreordained, organized. success, sustained by claqueurs prompt to recall the actor by furious acclamations. These crowns, at three francs a dozen, can be made cheaper yet; for they are picked up, carried back through the lobbies, and thrown again, when the triumal farce ends in a general furor. I am astonished that in these days of extravagant hyperbole, people are mistaken enough to call the triumph of an actor or actresses an ovation, A hundred oxen were immolated for the "Poor girls!" you will say, in seeing them thus thread the damp pavement. But I should not say, "Poor fellows!" on seeing conscripts in a trench, with water to their knees, affronting an enemy's fire in a chilling and penetrating frost. Is one poor, with two treasures in his possession? two treasures which shine, sparkle to our eyes with all imaginable marvels, whose seductions animate our courage and make us brave famine and plague? two treasures such a youth and hope? These conscripts follow the career of marshal of the empire. These ballet-girls see their shoulders covered with cashmeres, bosoms resplendent in diamonds, ravishing crinolines, destined to press the cushions of sumptuous carriages. These debutant warriors, these naive damsels, are sounding the first notes of the gamut; if they do not reach the culminating point, they may attain, midway, a comfortable mediocrity."-Boston Musical Times. Nigger Minstrelsy in England. About a quarter of a century since, a large proportion of the people of London gave themselves up to one of those fits of idolatry which seems so strangely at variance with the generally For the first phlegmatic character of our race. time they were made familiar with the sort of negro who forms an element of modern American life; and the hideous laugh, the wild gestures, and strange dialect with which they regaled by the celebrated "Jim Crow Rice," produced in them such a novel mixture of wonder and delight that they could not do less than fall down and worship their eccentric instructor. So "Jim Crow became a fixed idea with the Cockneys, referred to in countless ways and manifested in countless shapes. To the chimney-pieces of the classes, where Tom, Jerry, and Logic, Madame Vestris as Giovanni, and Liston as Paul triumph of a hero; a single sheep, oris, figured It is because of this sheep, of which the claat the sacrifice offered to the least of triumphers.middle queurs distribute cutlets (côteletes), that these nice etymologists keep the derisive word ovation. Perhaps you know that, in the claqueur slang, a salvo of applause is called a côtelette. It was at Marseilles that I saw dramatic bouquets of the most elegant and sumptuous character and colossal form, a yard wide and proportionately tall, where camelias figured of every color on a white base. Only the machinist would have been able to manage the descent of these bouquets, and that by the name of pullies. Mme. Laborde sang once an inconceivable rhapsody called Le Rossignol, in the grand theatres at Bourdeaux. She had hardly finished her cavatina, when a monstrous bouquet, awkwardly thrown from the back of a box, struck her directly in the face, overthrew her with its force, and prevented the continuation of the piece. The performance being over, the principals assume their ordinary dress, and go home in carriages. All that is related of the manners of the Academy is much exaggerated; besides, in other society, the great world presents irregularities equally deserving of blame. Self-love, pride, the rivalry of the talent and success, separate hearts that love should unite. Artists have little sympathy for artists. If they sail on the same waters, follow the same career, they detest each other like brothers. Place Pry, had previously been placed as household "gods," the effigy of the shabby negro was elevated with all honor, and aspiring youths who were famed for "a good song regarded a successful imitation of Mr. Rice's vocal performambition. Then the burden of Jim Crow's song, ances as an object worthy of the most soaring "Turn about, wheel about," illustrated by a rotatory movement on the part of the singer, was caught with avidity by the small satirists of the day, who, when they wished to stigmatize statesmen or journals with an habitual readiness to change their political principles, found an apt and universally intelligible illustration of their meaning in the revolving figure of Jim Crow. There is no doubt that Mr. Rice's performances was of a kind entirely novel to Europe, and that his representation of the negro of modern life must be set down as an important item in that course of ethnological instruction which, at long intervals is given to the body of the people at places of public amusement. The comic black, who had become a familiar figure to the Londoners prior to the arrival of of Mr. Rice, was a fanciful personage, whose neatly striped dress, red slippers, bare legs, and huge ear-rings separated him completely from the actual world, and he was accepted as a convention, like the ordinary figures of pantomimes. The learned, we believe, have decided that the old stage black borrowed his dress from the negroes of the Spanish colonies; but that was a point which the playgoers never thought to investigate thirty years ago, when they were perfectly content to behold a citizen of their own day attired after the fashion immortalized by Hogarth, and found nothing exceptional in a Falstaff who appeared as a sort of military Punchinello, with obvious leanings towards the costume of William III. The black black whom everybody went to see, without askman with the blue and white stripes was the Would you like to follow these two joyous-or at least, singing and dancing crowds? yourself in a dark passage, almost subterranean, opening on the rue Drouot, with a damp, dirty pavement. There, at midnight, three or four times a week, a wooden door turns on its hinges, and the young enthusiast for the seductions of the opera, and the ballet in particular, does not dream of its use. From this ignoble egress come forth wrapped in mantles, cloaks, shawls, capes of every age and color, with feet coarsely shod, and tippeted necks, these Olympian deities, these wood nymphs, willis, naiads, peris, just before the object of your passionate admiration. You willing any questions as as to his origin; and a very find around this door but rare instances of French gallantry, awaiting the joy of offering to some solitary sylph their arms and umbrellas at the moment when funny fellow he was. From the stage he he has now passed away, but his literary monument may be found in the old musical comedy, the "Padlock," to the perusal of which those of our readers who care about the stage may not unSes pieds, ses petit pieds de comtesse andalouse. profitably devote a spare hour. Mungo in the are about to sink into a sea of mud to escape the "Padlock" in the best specimen of the old concars, not drawn by doves. ventional black. indulge. Mr. Pell, who himself was "bones”. At first a few unreasonable grumblers endeav- No contrast could be more complete than that between the exceedingly neat negro to whom we have just referred and the ragged, uncouth vagabond who was introduced to the Londoners by "Jim Crow Rice." But in his very shabbiness there was an attraction, “Le laid, voila le beau,” is said to have been the aesthetical maxim adopted by Victor Hugo when he composed the story of Quasimodo, and there is no doubt that the shabby-not in character, but in costume-is greatly relished by the play-goers of every grade. The charm of the "Wandering Minstrel," represented by Mr. Robson to the delight of the most aristocratic audience, lies not only in his song and in his dia lect, but in his tatters; and an Irishman who fastens his coat with a skewer, and substitutes a hayband for a stocking, is welcomed not only as a man and a brother, but as a peculiarly interesting member of the species. In song, dance, rags, dialect, and gesticulation, Mr. Rice was alike acceptable, and the world was surprised to find that a black face could be associated with attri-dition to others in which they wore the sable hue butes once monopolized by the inhabitants of St. Giles's and Whitechapel. Billy Waters, the onelegged black fiddler, copied (if not literally taken) from the streets to embellish "Tom and Jerry." and Agamemnon, the attendant negro of the elder Mr. Charles Matthews's "Jonathan in England," had indeed preceded Jim Crow, and had learned their share of notoriety, but they were too much in the background to become the leading idols of a period ; and although the respect paid to Billy Waters amounted to a sort of heroworship, heightened by the circumstance that he was a fact as well as a figure, he had a formidable rival in Dusty Bob, who still lives in memory as the type of the old London Dustman. "Turn of their profession. Moreover, they styled them- The popularity of "Jim Crow" was a rage 66 Merchant Tailor's Company. They have likewise established a regular form of entertainment which is universally recognized; and to this form their competitors, the Buckley's" and the Campbell's," generally adhere. The first part of the exhibition consists of a concert in which the performers appear in black evening suits, and play, sing, and joke after the model set by Pell and his associates. There is, however, this difference, that the sentimental songs are commonly without reference to the peculiarities of negro life, and are not unfrequently composed by leading musicians, such as Balfe and Wallace. The second part is miscellaneous, and contains a great deal of grotesque dancing, together with a comic scene or two, in which the shabby vagabond negro of "Jim Crow Rice" once more makes his appearance. A burlesque of some well known Italian Opera concludes the whole. If we consider that all this is done, and exceedingly well done, by a company not above twelve strong, we shall have just cause to wonder at the concentration of talent, musical, histrionic, and gymnastic, that has been accomplished in the formation of the troop, and still more, to a marvel at its vitality. When the Arlecchino of an old Italian company died, his loss was regarded as a terrible calamity, the extemporaneous character of the "Commedie dell arte "requiring accomplishments of no ordinary kind; and it would seem that only a rare combination of muscular, vocal, and mimetic powers would enable a man to be chief comedian of the Christy's. So firmly is nigger minstrelsy now established as one of the leading amusements of the metropolis, that London without its regular black band would seem shorn of a necessary appurtenance. The banjo is thrummed all the year round; for when the Christy's" retire to swallow a mouthful of fresh air and to pick up a pocketful of money in the provinces, the Buckley's or the Campbell's are quick to relieve guard, and make a very respectable figure. Those who look on everything with a serious face will find in the popularity of nigger minstrelsy among the educated classes a singular illustration of the close connexion that exists between Puritanism and extreme frivolity. Scores of persons who would think it wicked to see the highest work of dramatic art performed by the finest company in the world, will, with the utmost complacency, spend a long evening in listening to trivial jokes, provided they cannot be convicted of "going to the play." It is not that these persons object to the theatre as an edifice, for they will unscrupulously enter any playhouse in London to witness the tricks of a conjurer; neither are they particularly averse to the dramatic form of entertainment, for this is constantly Bab-employed in their presence by the artists they delight to patronize. But they must not go to the play on any consideration, and the distinction they draw is sufficiently practical to prevent the patronage of all that is elevating in the drama and to promote the encouragement of all that is trivial. an The worship of Jim Crow was short-lived as it was ardent for though his performance was novel, it could be very easily imitated and an English actor named Dunn, who simply copied Mr. Rice, was soon considered his successful rival by the lower class of playgoers, whose opinion with respect to certain branches of art is by no means to be despised. What with the original, and his imitators, and the repetitions of the about" song in every nook and corner, people began to think the comic negro a bore, just as about eight years since a decided distaste for the pious negro succeeded the rage for Uncle Tom. Jim Crow had been forgotten for something less than ten years when negro humor appeared before the public in an entirely new shape. Instead of donning the tattered coat and hat which Mr. Rice had made popular, or bringing into fashion the discarded blue and white suit of his predecessors, the new artistic negroes accoutred themselves in evening suits of black-perfect English gentlemen in every particular save the face. Mr. Rice has displayed his talent in broad Adelphi farces; but Messrs. Pell and Co. eschewed stage-bage in particular. plays, and got up an entertainment which even Among the higher classes, the predilection for the Evangelical classes might patronize without Ethiopian minstrelsy apparently died out, but in inward misgiving. Their maxim was Odi pro- the lower stratum of society the tradition of Pell fanum vulgus et arceo, and instead of inviting was faithfully preserved; and recent events show a roar from the assemblage of an ordinary gal that even in the fashionable world the love of lery, they settled themselves in the most western banjos and black faces was rather in abeyance theatre, and courted the smiles and the tears of than utterly extinct. Though negro melody and the aristocratic. They sang about the joys and negro wit had been so done to death in every sorrows incident to negro life; and though some shape and every quarter, that they seemed on of their comic ditties were absurdities compared the point of descending into a mere street nuisto which "Hot Codlins" is a work of high literary ance, important only to the police, the arrival of art, there was a freshness in their tone that grati-the" Christy's Minstrels." about four years since, fied the most fastidious ears, while the more pathetic melodies were not only pleasing in themselves, but frequently accompanied words that, rather in sorrow than in anger, hinted at the miseries of slavery, and therefore accorded with the serious convictions of many of the audience. The form of the entertainment, too, was entirely novel. The minstrels sat in a row of which the two extremities were respectively occupied by the artists on the "bones" and the tambourine. These, who were somewhat more in the foreground than the players on the banjo and violin, were the humorists of the party, throwing themselves into a grotesque attitude during the performance of the music, and filling up the interval of song with verbal jokes of the kind in which the clowns of equestrian ring are wont to revived the dormant flame. A host of well- And the Christy's Minstrels have kept their There is something melancholy in the fact that a form of religion has widely spread, which manifestly tends to lower the civilization of the educated classes; but those who are content to take things as they find them may agreeably spend an evening with the "Christy's Minstrels," and re spect them as a clever sort of artists, who have thoroughly understood how to make the best of the circumstances in which they are placed, and deport themselves ably and conscientiously in their singular vocation.-London paper. Sunday Music on the Common. Some time since I delivered a lecture on amusements, in which I took a position deemed heretical by the Boston Recorder, and other "evangelical journals. It seemed to me at the time, that the sug gestion I made was a legitimate one, and certain facts which have since come to my knowledge serve sion, sir, I will make my statement over again, and to strengthen that impression. With your permisleave the remedy for the evils, which it is full time we should grapple with, to others, if that which I advocate is not satisfactory. My desire is to see some force brought to bear on the class of which I spoke. brass band as an evangelizing power; but certainly the surprise would not have been greater than that with which, if they were present with us, they would peruse the columns of the Boston Recorder. Some time ago, when there was music on the Common twice a week, it was noticed that the police reports contained only about half the number of arrests for drunkenness on those nights. It only shows that the right kind of people were on the Common; that a brass band was an evangelized power of no slight importance. And if such results could be attained again, the sooner we make music a religions fixture the better. I hope some of our Boston philanthropists will undertake the work as soon as the weather permits.-G. H. H., in Christian Register. There is in Boston church-accommodation for about one-half its inhabitants. Were every seat in every church occupied on the Sabbath, there would be from seventy five to a hundred thousand people who do not hear the Gospel preached. I do not mean by this statement to cut the city in halves, and say this half always attends church, and that half never does. Many of the seventy-five thousand who last Sunday were in the street, will on the next Sunday be in church; and many of the seventy-five thousand who last Sunday were at church, will next Sunday be in the street. I am very glad to correct the wrong impression which most men have when a statement is made that there is church accommodation for only half the people of the city, and to say that as many as two-thirds of our population Taanslated for Dwight's Journal of Music from La France are, to a greater or lesser extent, under the influence of the Christian pulpit. But there is a class of men and women, and a large one it is, who, from one year's end to another, never enter a church. They can hardly remember the time when the preacher's voice was heard by them, so far as they are concerned, the pulpit is wholly useless. A part only of this class are reached by the various missions of the city. The ministry to the poor, which is doing more good than all the other religious organizations of the city put together, does in some way touch the hearts of the very many, and help them towards a higher life. But every city missionary will tell you sadly, that the most promising efforts which he makes are very uncertain. If he makes a conversion to-day, he feels that it is necessary to keep a sharp look-out for the converted one, and see that every possible incentive to right living is offered, since the temptations are so many and so strong, that the lapse from good resolutions are things of of daily experience. Now, besides the number of those who are most effectively acted upon by the missionary, there is a last class, from twenty to thirty thousand strong, who never have any good influence brought to bear on them. They never enter our churches, and are as ignorant of the value of Sunday worship as the Chinese. They are not influenced by the missionary, for he finds it impossible to get at them. This large class is composed of our dangerous men and women. They are often found in our jails and houses of, correction. They live certainly not by honest labor, rather by begging and stealing. And Sunday is their gala-day. They find more dupes and victims than at any other time. The spread their snares, make their worst appointments and accomplish more on that day than on any other. Now, sir, the question arises, How can this be remedied? Will you flood the streets with missionaries, who at every corner shall preach the Gospel to all who are willing to hear? I will join in that plan most heartily, and I will see that my Society bears its full portion of the expense of such an enterprise. But since this might be voted a Utopian rather than a practical scheme, what remedy do you offer that shall have immediate effect? What can you do to get those people out of their haunts, and give them a good impression? My plan, and it is not a novel one, was this. Station one or more bands of music on the Common; and on the most dangerous day of the week, the Sabbath, let those people whom you cannot coax into a church, be gathered together, to breathe the fresh air, and listen to music, rather than to the oaths which alone they are accustomed to hear. The influence could not be bad. The experiment could not fail of accomplishing good. Religious impression is what you want to give them; and will the Boston Recorder say that this cannot be done by music? If you cannot reach the any other way, will you leave them to their doom, simply because this seems a somewhat novel, though, many chances to one, a very efficient missionary force? For one, I am willing to urge the movement with all my might. I have no doubt that every Sabbath would produce its good results. The haunts of vice and the homes of poverty would be penetrated, if not pervaded by an influence that would soon produce good fruit. I have taken pains to notice how such a suggestion strikes the poorer classes. I have talked with intelligent men, members of these classes, who know only too well how many are the needs of those they represent. And one put his hand on my shoulder, and said sadly: "Yes, we should all go to the Common, though God knows we don't go to church; you church people don't know anything about us, you will never give us so good a thing as that. You don't care for us; you only say you do." He turned away sadly, and I felt that we didn't understand his caste of men and women. The above-mentioned paper says the apostles would have been surprised if one had mentioned a Musicale. Un Fanatico per la Musica. The scene we are about to describe, took place not long ago, at St. Petersburg. The journal, le Nord published the account originally and we reproduce it. It concerns one Alessandro Lazarev, a genuine fanatico per la musica, a soi disant unappreciated genius who felt himself called upon to bring about a revolu tion in the art of music and who, for some eight or ten years, has persisted in obliging the public to hear his symphonies, oratorios, overtures hymns, &c. His productions indeed, are not entirely wanting in ideas, or in melodies, sometimes sufficiently new; but this unfortunate composer does not possess even the most elementary notions about counterpoint, or of figured bass and consequently he writes scores utterly impos sible to be executed by instruments; in a word, per fect charivari music. Criticism has told him so several times, but he will not listen to reason and answers by abuse with which he fills great posters three metres long, for lack of any journal that will publish his prose. As you see, he is a maniac, a sort of Russian Wagner. About a month ago, appeared a pamphlet: "Lazarev and Beethoven," with portraits of the two personages on the cover. The purpose of this document, without signature, was to prove to the public of St. Petersburg that it was a fool and an ignoramus that it did not understand that the Signore Alessandro Lazarev, amico de Rossini (so he styles himself in his notices and posters) was by far the superior of the author of Fidelio and the Pastoral Symphony. The anonymous writer, styling himself "Counsellor of State and Chevalier of several orders," proposed to appear before the public at the first concert of Lazarev, ready to maintain against all comers the right of his protégé to the title of a composer of genius. It was supposed at first that there was some humbug about this, but in about ten days appeared a placard announcing for the 29th of March a grand concert of Slavic music of our Wagner, "for the benefit of the Christians in Syria, and ápropos of the Lazarev and Beethoven pamphlet," at which would be also performed music by Beethoven, so that the public might compare and judge. An announcement so absurd attracted the crowd. The scandal was smelt afar off, but the result entirely surpassed their expectations. Never was anything so great scen in any concert hall of the old or new world. The hall of the Club des Bourgeois (maison Iakountchikov) was full an hour before the time for the concert, and for a wonder, the doors were found thrown wide open, and no ticket taker before them. Those poor Christians of Syria will have no chance at all. All our musical celebrities, artists and critics came to see how l'amico di Rossini would make that scamp of a Beethoven come down from his pedestal. The orchestra was composed of the first artists of the capital. At half past two comes the hero of the occasion; he distributes the parts to the musicians with his own hands and ascends his place with a triumph ant air. In Russia they love courage and intrepidity. The maestro bows with dignity and gives the signal to the orchestra. The first morceau is executed amid profound silence; however, by degrees they begin to make interruptions and quite hoisterous laughs are heard among the audience and even among the musicians. When the piece is ended, for better or for worse, the public calls vociferously for the author of the pamphlet to present his argument. Alessandro Lazarev appears again to announce that the " Counsellor of State and chevalier of several orders, Markov is indisposed; but that he is not an imaginary personage. He exists, and those who have any doubt about it can clear up their doubts at his lodgings at the Bridge Alartchine." General laughter in the audience. The second piece was about to begin when suddenly an individual with long curly hair, a musical critic well known and highly esteemed, mounts a chair and asks to be heard. Leave was immediately given and he proceeds, "Gentlemen," said the improvised orator, "you have heard the first piece of this illustrious composer, and it has given you a complete idea of the calibre of his talent. Shall the author of such a cacophony be permitted to couple his name with that of the greatest of composers? Is it not an unworthy speculation, and shall not we be right in throwing rotten potatoes at him who has dared to humbug us in this fashion?" This sally was received with unanimous bravos. Lazarev, not admitting himself to be conquered, rushes to the tribune, (that is, his desk) and asks for silence and the attention of the audience. "Listen, gentlemen, listen I pray you to my overture; you shall then hear one of Beethoven's; then you can make the comparison. As to this gentleman who has just spoken, I despise him and laugh at his opinion." So saying, he gave the signal again to the orchestra, and the overture began. This bravado lent fire to the powder. The andience rose noisily, and cried; "Stop, stop your charivari! You are splitting our ears! This is too bad! The fanatical maestro throws himself into all sorts of attitudes, continuing to direct the orchestra. The patience of the public is exhausted. They make missiles of the handbills, and of every thing they can lay hands upon, and throw them from all sides at the head of the rival of Beethoven. He still holds his ground, although part of the musicians have taken flight; the tumult in the audience rises with the row in the orchestra. At last some individuals rush to the platform and intimate to Lazarev a hint to beat a retreat. He tries to resist, but the numbers of the besiegers being always crescendo, the unhappy maestro is soon dragged off by a crowd that insults, pushes, crowds and finally hustles him out of the hall. This is the way that with us, they encourage innovators, pioneers of musical reform and people who wish to create music such as no one ever heard! In this respect St. Petersburg is as barbarous as Paris. There they hiss the Tannhäuser, and do not wish to listen to the music of the future. We must suppose that the music of Lazarev is of a still more distant future, since it draws down upon him kicks instead of hisses. Music Gardens of Berlin. Out of the well known street, unter den Linden, passing through the magnificent Brandenburg gate, the suburb secker finds himself in the Thier-Garten, a vast park through which runs a wide avenue lined with poplars and lindens, and leading to Charlottenburg. This park, though just outside the wall of a populous city, is as wild and as densely overgrown with trees as a primeval forest. Here and there are little lakes, which, it must be confessed, are generally stagnant and suggestive of miniature dismal swamps, indeed, the Thier Garten is rather damp than otherwise, but this is the only drawback to one of the noblest parks in existence. In one part of it is Kroll's, a sort of theatre and open-air garden, one of the characteristic features of Berlin amusements. It is a really splendid building, the principal apartment being an immense and elegant hall, profusely deco with listening to the silvery eloquence of a few zealous sons of the South, as they held forth to a very rated, lighted up with huge chandeliers, and provided respectable audience scated in a delightful grove, in with a stage and the usual accessories. Here, every night at six o'clock, an opera is performed in German; Flotow, Weber, and Lortzing being the most popular composers. The band is excellent, and the singers above mediocrity. You never hear an old, worn-out, feeble singer. Voice, voice, voice, seems to be the first requisite, and the German operatic artists of Kroll's always possess this essential element of success. Between the acts everybody, male and female, Herr and Frau, and Fraulein, and Kinder, go out to the adjoining rooms to revel in beer. Were I to send to you a statistical report of the immense size of the glasses from which the Teutonic nectar is imbibed, I should be scouted as another Baron Munchausen. Having drank as much beer as would fill an ordinary bathing tub, the Kroll visitor is summoned by a bell to listen to the next act; which over, off he, she or they rush for more beer. So after the second act. Ditto after the third act. Then after the last act all go into the garden to drink beer indefinitely. These gardens are very pretty, and are illuminated with revolving cones of gas jets, und furnished with seats and tables. While the people drink and smoke the orchestra takes its place on a platform and plays divinely. Now it is the weird overture to Oberonnow the grand Coronation March of Meyerbeer's Prophets now one of the witching waltzes of Labitzky or Lanner, or the still more enchanting strains of Strauss. So for an hour or two more the festivities are kept up till about half past ten o'clock, when it is all over. The entrance to the garden, entitling you only to hear the orchestral music before and after the opera, is seven cents-inclusive of the opera, from 20 to 25 cents, according to the place. There are other cheaper music gasdens in and about Berlin, open every night.-Corr. of N. Y. Evening Post. MUSIC IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.-Another exercise which should enter into every scheme of primary instruction, is vocal music. Its claims to public recognition as a regular school exercise, rest upon its value as a means of cultivating the ear to a nice discrimination of sounds, and of the vocal organs to an accurate utterance of the notes of the gamut-upon the rich and pure fountain of enjoyment which it opens to its possessors-but especially upon its blessed and tranquilizing influence upon the minds and hearts of the children in the school-room. As an auxiliary in government, its aid is invaluable. When some excitement has ruffled the temper, or perturbed the spirits of the little school community, it comes like a messenger of peace, and the swelling breast is calm. When the mind is weary with application, it yields to the power of song, and returns to its labor refreshed and strengthened. We all know the strange power of music upon our own feelings, and can readily see that upon the susceptible natures of children this influence is greatly enhanced. Unlike almost everything else, music would seem to be an unmixed good.-N. Y. Teacher. THE NATIONAL HYMN.-The committee on the national hymn announce that the time for the reception of manuscripts by them has expired, and that no more will be admitted to competition. The number already in their hands is over eleven hundred and fifty. The public will see at once that the examination and comparison of such a mass of manuscript matter must be a work of some time. The committee therefore ask the indulgence of these who are interested in this subject; and they take this opportunity of saying to contributors that the first announcement of their decision will be made publicly, and that personal inquiry upon that subject will be entirely in vain. MAUNSELL B. FIELD, Secretary. New York, June 21. Musical Correspondence. front of one of the principal buildings to the Episcopal College. The orations were, on the whole, creditable to the young gentlemen, who delivered themif we except two or three, who seemed anxious to exhibit their independence by advocating the claims of the South-urging the chivalric sons of Kentucky to unite their fortunes with those of the rebel Confederacy. We were gratified to learn, however, that Shelbyville is eminently a Union place-her most distinguished and respectable citizens declaring unconditionally in favor of the Constitution and the Law. Secession is below par, and few can be found bold enough to declare their treasonable sentiments even if entertained. Would it were so throughout the whole length and breadth of the State. On the evening of the same day our attention was arrested by the appearance of a programme for a concert, to be given in the Presbyterian Church by the young ladies of Shelbyville Female College. Of course, there was no resisting such an attraction, and, accordingly-we soon found ourselves closely wedged in among an immense and brilliant audience, all scemingly intent on being pleased, judging by the indiscriminate clamor of applause, which succeeded each and every performance. In both instrumental and vocal pieces, the efforts of the young ladies were most admirably seconded by the magic tones of the | Professor's violin—so skillfully superadded as effectually to cover all defects and finish up the whole with remarkable eclat. But the crowning attraction of the evening was Iliawatha Schottisch, quite ostentatiously set forth as a composition of Talexy (but in reality one of Bellak's easy Duetts), for six Pianos, twenty-four performers." Being simply an amateur in the fine arts, we could scarcely comprehend the manner in which the terms of the programme could be fulfilled-forty fingers on one piano! That must necessarily put nearly all the keys in motion, especially on a "six octave"-but, in due time, the enigma was solved-twenty-four young ladies made their appearance-seated at their pianos, each using but one hand! Truly the people out West are munificent in the bestowal of commendation; and the ingenious little German Professor, to whom the credit of the arrangement belongs, seems to understand very well how to call forth the applause of the multitude. We would venture to suggest, that all instructors of music, in our female seminaries might learn from this and adopt a similar plan, as one well calculated to produce the impression of rare musical skill, on part of both teachers and pupils, and this without so great an expenditure of time and labor as is usually employed for a similar purpose. Why spend weeks and months of unnecessary drill to render pupils exact and independent in the presentation of their pieces, before an audience, who never look beyond the surface, but who so good-naturedly bestow their approbation on what is only seemingly meritorious. No matter if the uninitiated be slightly deceived-if they do wonder and admire without cause-the great object of a musical education seems to have been gained, when public applause is secured, and he, who has tact and ingenuity enough to cause an illusion of two senses at once, and make a grand display, will be sure to share most largely in popular renown. We offer them a plea in behalf of the large class of young ladies, who are now so grievously burdened by a system of never-ending practising and recommend most earnestly that the Professors take a much larger share of the performance upon their own TOWNSEND, MASS., JUNE 22.-During a recent tour through the West, we chanced to tarry for a short period in Shelbyville, a small town in the interior of Kentucky, famed in the regions thereabout for its educational institutions of which there are five, -two for males and three for females-all of them in quite a flourishing condition. It was the anniver-shoulders, and lead off, either by means of a violin, sary occasion in some of the schools, and public exhibitions were being held for the benefit of numerous friends and patrons of the various institutions. On the morning of the 12th inst., we were privileged or otherwise, to relieve their pupils from embarrassing mistakes. Moreover, we would have them learn to exercise a little more ingenuity, in devising some plan by which those unfortunates, who possess One evening last week one of the earlier plays of Dumas was performed at the Tuileries. Eighty ladies were present. At the close of the performance the Empress approached the leading actor, Montrose, and having complimented him on his performance, inquired of him, with a smile, how long it was since the play had been performed at the French theatre ? The actor replied that it had not been performed there for forty years. "In that case," replied the Empress, laughing, "I beg that you will say nothing about it; for there are several ladies here who never admit that they are thirty years of age, and who have just assured me that they have seen this played at the French theatre." AN ARTISTIC CONCERT. The Society of the Union Artistique has given at the Italian theatre, hired for the occasion, a magnificent concert. The andante and finale of Beethoven's Symphony in A, and the Benedictus of the Mass in D, by the same author; the Piano Concerto, in D minor, by Bach; and the overture of Mendelssohn's Quiet Sea," were given, in their most perfect style, by the unrivalled artists of the Conservatoire. Living composers were represented by an Ave verum of Gounod; a song from Membree's opera, Fingal; and the sublime, descriptive composition of Félicién David, "The Last Judgment,' which formed the leading feature of the evening's programme. DAVID THE COMPOSER. The author of the "Desert," the "Pearl of Brazil" and the "Last Judgment," though he has now fully conquered the reluctant suffrages of Paris, was long the object of the bitterest and most persistent hostility. The boldness of his conceptions and the originality of the means which he employs in working them out, though now lauded to the skies, were formerly denonced as monstrous, heretical and absurd. Gentle, refined and exceedingly sensitive, the feelings of the man suffered intensely under the persecution to which the artist was subjected; and it would be difficult to imagine a more tonching protest against the cruel virulence of party passion than the expression of patient, weary suffering worn into the features of the man of genius, whom long persecution has rendered prematurely old. Tall, slightly bent, thin as a shadow; a high forehead, already bald; black elf locks, streaked with silver, falling backwards from a pale, long face; large, lustrous black eves, deep, carnest and sorrowful; a mouth placid, but as sad in expression as the eves; and an air of almost feminine gentleness and timidity, make up a personality equally striking and pathetic. There is no sign of weakness about the man. He is evidently one to hold on his way, as he has done, gently but firmly; never flinching under opposition, but feeling it so acutely that no amount of success can ever obliterate the traces of the suffering through whice he has won his way to his present eminence.-Paris Corr. of N Y. Eve. Post, May 24, 1861. Dwight's Journal of Music. BOSTON, JUNE 29, 1861. MUSIC IN THIS NUMBER.Continuation of the Opera of "Martha." Piano Solo. CHEVE'S SYSTEM. NEW YORK, JUNE 22, 1861.- We observe that the article on the new French method of musical instruction published in your Journal of May 18, has elicited considerable comment, and called out a desire for further facts and details concerning it more particularly for some comprehensive statement of the general principles which it embodies. The object of the above-mentioned article was simply to point out some of the advantages to be derived from a study of this simple and beautiful system, and to show the high esteem in which it is held in France, in spite of the prejudice and opposition which in common with all other important discoveries it was, at first, obliged to encounter. Numerous letters of inquiry from different parts of |