Handel, Arne, and others, to the mellifluous and enchanting verses of Milton and Shakespear. The mufic compofed for Macbeth, and many of the fongs interfperfed in the plays of the latter, fufficiently indicate that affinity of genius which only could reduce to rules of art, and adapt to mufical expreffion the Native wood-notes wild of the most harmonious writer that ever existed. There is a wide difference, however, between fetting a few detached airs, and compofing a whole drama. And if our modern opera-writers and compofers, had but attended to thofe circumstances, which mufical and poetical harmony have in common with each other, it is prefumed they might have fucceeded more happily than they have hitherto done. Nothing could poffibly be more inconfiftent with their defign of improving. this fpecies of compofition, than the fcheme of adopting blank verfe, with its profaic periods of a mile, for the recitative of their operas. The merit and fuccefs of Artaxerxes, however, feems to have confirmed fucceeding compofers in this error: for fuch it is. We hardly know any piece worse written for mu fic than this favorite performance. The language of the reci tative is most execrably rough and hobbling: nay, if we remember right, we met with the horrid contraction a' th' hardly to be tolerated in the vileft profe, twice inferted in one line, The moft favorite air in the piece, begins alfo with the following ungraceful repetition of the fame fyllable. In infancy our hopes and fears, &c. A writer for mufic fhould be extremely careful to avoid all fuch inftances of cacophony; laying it down as an invariable rule, that what cannot be gracefully read can never be melo dioufly fung. But the truth is, as above hinted, that our poets, are in general as little capable of reading with grace and propriety as our compofers. We know, fome of the moft harmonious yerfifiers now living, who are fuch intolerable readers, that.< it is impoffible for a judicious ear to bear their repetition, even of their own verses. So rare, indeed, is the exercife of a talent for eloquence among us, that if a man deliver but a few connected fentences, with tolerable fluency in public, he is looked upon as a prodigy, and dignified with the name of an Orator. Nor is this to be wondered at, if we reflect how much the art of pronunciation, and graceful delivery in general, is neglected in our schools and colleges. It is ftill lefs to be wondered at, that vocal mufic fhould be at fo low an ebb, where even the natural gift of fpeech is fo little cultivated; or, that a people fhould not have learned the art of finging, who have not yet been properly taught to speak, Cc 4 Having Having been thus diffufe in our obfervations on operas in general, we fhall detain our Readers the lefs by what we have to offer concerning Almena in particular. Had the mufic been publifhed, indeed, we fhould have endeavoured to illuftrate the foregoing remarks by fome comparative extracts; although this. might have been thought foreign, perhaps, to our province as literary Reviewers. At prefent we can only take upon us to review the performance of the Writer. And this, confidered as a piece intended for mufic, is almoft as defective in point of language, as the plot and conduct of it is abfurd, when viewed in the light of a dramatic compofition, We fhall not trouble the Reader with the story or business of the piece, as the former is but indifferently chofen, and the latter very trifling, and as indifferently tranfacted. It is on the whole, indeed, one of the most unequal performances we remember to have feen; the poetic merit of fome few airs being equal to that of most in our language; while the compofition in feveral others, is altogether contemptible. There appears alfo as much difference in the propriety with which they are introduced; the purport of many of them being entirely foreign to the bufinefs of the fcene, and totally unconnected with the dialogue; while others again are more remarkably applicable and pertinent than is ufual in works of this kind. The first song in the piece is of the former kind, and very improperly introduced, being neither adapted to the fituation of the character, nor giving any kind of information whatever to the audience; the fame may be faid of feveral others. One would hardly think the Writer of the first, fifth, fixth, and ninth airs in the second act, could be guilty of fuch unmeaning, flimfy ftanzas as we meet with, particularly near the end of the performance. We fhall quote two or three from different parts of the piece, and leave our Readers to judge for themselves of the ftrange inequahity of this production. The three following are bold, nervous, and fignificant. Air 1. Act II. A Soliloquy by Mirza, the Hero of the poem, who is defeated, taken prifoner, and confined in a dungeon, where a lamp hangs glimmering above his head : Air 9. Untimely fetting at the dawn, My fun of glory thus withdrawn, Act II. A moral reflection by Abudah, a refolute and Poiz'd Poiz'd in Heaven's eternal scale, Tho' right to pow'r a while may bend, Air 4. A&t III. The imprecation of Aspatia, a captive Queen, enraged against the Tyrant and Ufurper. O Tyrant! horrible, accurs'd! On thy devoted head to burft! The following are poetical and sentimental. Air 5. A&t. II. Afpatia's reply to the Tyrant's folicitations of love. Till thou fee'ft the timid fawn Shall I turn with scorn away. Air 6. Act II. The reflection of a flighted Princess, plotting the destruction of her rival. Though foft as down the female breast, The heart is turn'd to stone. Air 1. A& III. A mother's complaint for the lofs of her daughter. With doubts and fears for her I love, My heart is still distress'd; Aficted as the plaintive dove, When plunder'd of her neft; When fad and moaning all the day, She pines in folitude away. To these may be added, the fecond and fifth airs in the first act, and the ninth air in the third act: in all which the fentiments are characteristical and pertinent, and the verfification chafte and correct. The following are of a different ftamp. Air 6. Act. I. Soliloquy of a Princess in love, Sure I feel the dart of love Reason then fhould heal the smart. But But if Reafon quits the rein, It is not uncommon to hear of a Lady's bofom being pierced by Cupid's dart; of his darts being transfixed deeply or lodged there but for her to feel it move about there, is very extraordinary. On the whole, there is a strange jumble of metaphors in this air, which render the sense vague and obfcure, while the verfification is mean and puerile. The like.cenfure may be paffed on the following: Air 2. A& III. Sung by Almena supposed to be blind. Beaming like the widow'd dove, How a melting eye fhould beam like a widow'd dove, or what the Author means by it, we cannot devife: this fimile of the dove, however, is brought in very unluckily here, as it immediately fucceeds that of the dove plundered of her nest in Aspatia's fong above-quoted. Air 2. A& II. An invitation from Zara, a virgin Princess, to a captive Prince. Would That Pity should have a melting eye, as in the preceding air, is not at all amifs: but that Pity fhould be fuppofed to dart rays to kindle love, is as much as to compare it to the fun, a dull comparison truly and yet we cannot light our pipes by his rays, without the interpofition of a burning-glafs. As to the melting, thrilling, glowing heart-adopting woes, we can form no conception of the matter. Duet in the laft Act. On the joyful meeting of Almena and Afpatia. BOTH. As flows the cool and purling rill, ALM. It chears the myrtle and the vine, Air. ASP. So ftreams from the maternal heart, What tender nature can impart : BоTн. Thus happy in my arms to fold, And to my heart Afpatia hold. If the Reader can difcover the propriety or beauty of this fimile, he hath more critical fagacity than we can pretend to.-The Hero is faluted in his triumphal entry by the following chorus of Priests: Hail! Victor, hail! with choral lay Freedom is ours, and glory thine. If Perfia's fhining had not been mentioned, would not this choral lay be a good deal in the style of a Christmass carol? God rest you, merry Gentlemen, Let nothing you difmay, &c. The following air is the last in the piece, and is fung by the Hero of the Drama: Fortune with a wanton joy, Does her fleeting power employ: Nobly have we fought the foe; Freedom fhall our labours crown. We have heard frequently of wagers, and of battles being loft and won, and of victories being gained; but, as a victory cannot well be loft, unless people can be faid to lose what they do not poffefs, so it cannot with much propriety be said to be won. The fentiment in the laft line about Freedom, comes with very little propriety alfo from the mouth of an Eaftern Defpot, the abfolute mafter of the lives and properties of his fubjects. The air might as well have ended thus; and it would have been as good fenfe, and much better rhime: Now the crown of Perfia's won, And our opera is done. As to the Recitative, it is written in a kind of profaic blank verfe, and therefore not in fo flowing a ftyle as, for the reasons above given, is requifite for mufic. It is otherwife, for the most part, correct and nervous, except where the Writer hath too much affected metaphor and allegory. Thus Almena defires Abudah not To |