artist, in playing his own compositions always yielded himself up to the inspirations of the moment, and paid but little attention to the text before him. On these occasions, and particularly in arriving at a point d'orgue, he gave way to all his Pindaric fire and impetuosity, sometimes with the double chord, sometimes with finely shaded arpeggios, at others with passages crescendo and decrescendo in the higher regions of the strings, but without ever passing the limit of appreciable sounds; and all this in such a manner as to produce the most extraordinary contrasts, and, by a sonorous, and if I may so express it, a magnetic vibration of the chord, could cause emotions almost as lively and profound as those produced by the human voice." The only vocal music which Viotti composed are two polonaise airs, or polaccas, which are chefs-d'œuvres in their kind; the one is Che gioja, che contento! which was sung by Viganoni in La Villanella rapita; the other is the air, Consola, amato bene, the rhythm of which bears a great similarity to the polonaise of V. Martini, in La Cosa rara, beginning La Donna a dolce il core. Dussek has given charming variations to both of these. The principal disciples of the school of Viotti are Rode, Libon, Alday, La Barre, Vacher, Cartier, Pixis, Mad. Paravicini, Melle. Gerbini, and Mori. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE CONCERT SPIRITUEL. In the year 1725, Philidor, musicien de la chambre du Roi, and elder brother to the celebrated composer of that name, obtained from M. Francine, at that time manager of the opera, permission to give a series of concerts on those days, during the Lent season, on which, no performance took place. A contract to that effect was accordingly signed for three years, to commence on the 17th of March of the same year, for the consideration of a thousand livres the season, under express condition, however, that no pieces in the French language, nor from any opera, were to be sung. Philidor afterwards obtained permission to give this Concert Spirituel in the palace of the Tuileries, in the private theatre of which it continued to take place annually for many years. He subsequently obtained from M. Francine, a farther renewal of his contract for three years, and even with permission to introduce French words and music, as well as secular compositions. In 1728, he ceded his privilege to M. Simard, who appointed M. Mouret the director of the music. In 1734, the Academie Royal de Musique took the management of these concerts into their own hands, and appointed M. Rebel director. The two brothers Besozzi, the one professor of the hautboy, and the other of the bassoon to the king of Sardinia, made their debut the following year, and their duos had the most brilliant success. These two celebrated men, who were still living a few years since, were uncles to the M. Besozzi, who was leader of the band to Louis XVI; a proof that talents were hereditary in this family. In 1741, M. Thuret, at that time manager of the opera, confirmed the grant to M. Royer for six years, for a consideration of six thousand livres per annum. So great was the success attending M. Royer's undertaking, that, in 1749, in conjunction with M. Caperan, he renewed the contract for fourteen years, at an increasing sum of one thousand livres for the six first years, and three for the last eight. On the death of Royer, in 1755, M. Mondonville undertook the administration of the concert spirituel, for the benefit of the former proprietor's widow and children. M. d'Auvergne succeeded him in 1762 and continued it with considerable success till 1773, when M. Gaviniés entered upon its management in conjunction with Messrs. Leduc and Gassu, and supported it with increasing splendour till 1777, when M. Legros and his associate M. Berthame embarked in the concern, and continued it till 1789. At this period, unfortunately, the affairs of the directors having become embarrassed, and the return of the king to the Tuileries having deprived them of their former place of performance, the Concert Spirituel received a blow from which it did not appear likely to recover. M. Legros quitted France for America, leaving his powers in the hands of M. Berthame, but, in spite of his zeal and talents, the latter was unable to struggle against such a combination of adverse circumstances. At the period that such men as Gaviniés, Leduc, Lahoussaie, Gossu, &c., were at the head of the orchestra, and when due care was taken to select for the instru mental parts such men only as were of acknowledged excellence, the Concert Spirituel attained to the highest degree of perfection, in the execution of the symphony. As to the chorusses, amateurs were never perfectly satisfied with this part of the establishment; all that can be said is, that it would have been difficult to improve it, for various reasons, which we have not leisure in this place to discuss. The great benefit arising from this institution was the opportunity which it afforded the students of music, and the public in general, of hearing, judging, and comparing the compositions of the great masters of foreign schools, and the spirit of emulation which it naturally inspired. Of M. Legros it is but justice to say, that he spared no efforts, no expense, to accomplish this desirable object. It was to his exertions that the public were indebted for their acquaintance with the great violinists Jarnowick, Lamotte, Viotti, Eck, &c., and with professors on the horn, hautboy, bassoon, and clarionet, such as a Punto, a Lebrun, an Ozi, a Michel. It was to him that they owed the gratification not only of hearing a Todi, and a Mara separately, but of witnessing them exert their powers in the same orchestra, in order to dispute the suffrages of the public. This was At the unfortunate epoch of the revolution, this, as well as all other concerts, ceased altogether. But when the reign of terror had passed, the administration of the theatre-Feydeau undertook to revive the Concert Spirituel. The fullest success crowned the undertaking; never did concerts surpass these in the choice that was made of talents of the first order for the execution of music, both vocal and instrumental. the epoch of the glory of a Garat and a Walbonne. Amateurs hailed with joy the return of the best days of harmony, and the restoration of Italian music, which had, in some measure, been banished by the dispersion of the excellent Italian company, that had formerly delighted all those of unprejudiced minds and refined taste. The Concert Spirituel was at length embodied in the Conservatoire, and has ever since continued to advance with increasing reputation. All the schools of music, German and Italian, have been called to its aid, and the greater part of the grand compositions of the ancient masters have, at different periods, been revived. ON THE RANZ DES VACHES. [Concluded from page 40.] IV. RANZ DES VACHES OF THE ORMONDS, VIOTTI'S COPY. IV. The air sung by the mountaineers of the Ormonds, in the northern part of the Canton de Vaud, with words in patois Italian. There are several variations of this air, the most remarkable among which is that collected by the celebrated violinist, Viotti, of which he gives the following interesting account. "The Ranz des Vaches which I send you, is neither that with which our friend Jean Jacques has presented us, nor that of which M. de la Borde speaks, in his work upon music. "I cannot say whether it be known or not; all I know is, that I heard it in Switzerland, and once heard, I have never forgotten it since. "I was sauntering alone, towards the decline of day, in one of those sequestered spots, where one never feels a desire to open one's lips. The weather was mild and serene; the wind, which I detest, was hushed; all was calm, all was in unison with my feelings, and tended to lull me into that melancholy mood, which, ever since I can remember, I have been accustomed to feel at the hour of twilight. "My thoughts wandered at random, and my footsteps were as undirected. My imagination was not occupied by any particular object, and my heart lay open to every impression of pensive delight. Andante. 66 I walked forward, I descended the valleys, and tra versed the heights. At length chance conducted me to a valley, which, on arousing from my waking dream, I discovered to abound with beauties. It reminded me of one of those delicious retreats so beautifully described by Gessner: flowers, verdure, streamlets, all united to form a picture of perfect harmony. "There, without being fatigued, I seated myself mechanically upon a fragment of rock, and again fell into that kind of profound reverie which so totally absorbed all my faculties, that I forgot whether I was upon earth. "While thus sitting, wrapped in this slumber of the soul, sounds broke upon my ear, which were sometimes of a hurried, sometimes of a prolonged and sustained character, and which were repeated in softened tones by the echos around. I found they proceeded from a mountain-horn; and their effect was heightened by a plaintive female voice. Struck as if by enchantment, I started from my lethargy, listened with breathless attention, and learnt, or rather engraved upon my memory, the Ranz des Vaches, which I send you. But in order to understand all its beauties, you ought to be transported to the scene in which I heard it, and to feel all the enthusiasm that such a moment inspired." V. An air but little known, sung by the shepherds of the Canton de Vaud, in the vicinity of the Jura, with the VI. RANZ DES VACHES OF THE GRUYERE ALPS. VI. The air sung by the mountaineers of the Gruyere Alps, in the canton of Fribourg. This is considered as one of the most beautiful of all the airs of this kind. With respect to the air under this name, introduced by Rousseau in his Dictionaire de la Musique, it resembles no one particular Ranz des Vaches among those acknowledged as genuine, though it bears many little analogies to several among them. It has evidently been compiled, or at least retouched, by this lively writer. Yet such is the sanction of a great name, that it has been implicitly adopted by several succeeding musicians as genuine. Grétry has introduced it in his overture to William Tell, and Adam has also employed it in his Methode de piano du Conservatoire, where it is arranged in imitation of echos. Laborde, in his Essai sur la Musique Ancienne et Moderne, has arranged it in four parts, and adapted words to it, of which the following is a translation : When shall I once again be near Huts so dear, And sunny mountains. And her, the pride of all the plain, My fond and gentle Isabel; When in my native dell Blythe shall I join the festive dance again? ୫ When shall I once again be near Sister, brother, Pleasing as this national air is, by the naïveté and simple beauty it breathes throughout, still it is natural to suppose that the greater portion of its effect would he lost when separated from that local interest and from those associations which constitute its peculiar charm. When, amidst the bold scenery of the Alps, where nature reigns in all her savage grandeur, this wild pastoral swells upon the ear, softened by distance, mingled with the lulling murmurs of some distant waterfall and the tinkling bells of the browsing herds, and repeated by the echos of the neighbouring mountains, it cannot but possess a magic effect, which it would be vain to seek under other circumstances. It is these localities that constitute a great part of its attraction, and hang it round with those illusions that possess an irresistible influence on the heart. Andante. Allegro. repeating the fugue in the Kyrie, at the couplet Cum Sanctis. The exact meaning of the foregoing extract from M. Süsmayer's letter, is not clear to us: we only understand from the former part of it, that he compiled the accompaniments to the Requiem; but the concluding sentence seems to lay claim to much more. We still shall be obliged by further communications upon the subject, and particularly invite those who read extracts from the HARMONICON, through the medium of the ALLGEMEINE Musikalische ZeiTUNG, to assist us in clearing away all the doubts that hang over this very interesting matter. Having read the extract of a letter from a correspondent at Frankfort on the Mayn, which appeared in your last, relative to some unprinted MSS. of Mozart, I hasten to answer the appeal which you make, in a note, for any assistance towards elucidating the subject of the celebrated Requiem. Among a mass of papers and anecdotes which I have been many years collecting for the purpose of illustrating the history of music, I have fortunately hit upon an original letter of M. Süsmayer*, addressed to Messrs. Breitkopf and Haertel, on occasion of their pub--Editor. lication of that volume of Mozart's works, which contains this celebrated composition. As it affords an illustration of this curious point of musical history, I feel most happy in the opportunity of enclosing you this important document, and have the honour to be, Extract of a Letter from M. Süsmayer, Kapelmeister at You are aware, Gentlemen, that to me was confided The pieces which Mozart had almost completed, are, The Kyrie, the Dies ira, and the The four parts for the voice, and the bass of these four pieces are entirely from the hand of Mozart; but only the motivo of different parts of the accompaniment was written. The last couplet of the Dies ira composed by him, is that beginning Qua resurget ex favillá. From the couplet, Judicandus homo reus, the remainder of the Dies ira, the Sanctus, the Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei, belong exclusively to me; but, in order to give more uniformity to the work, I took the liberty of * In our last, the name of this composer was spelt by mistake Siegmayer. CATALOGUE OF MR. RIES' WORKS. The following is the List of Mr. RIES' Works, which we promised in our last number ; Opera 1. Two Sonatas, Piano-Forte, dedicated to Beethoven. 5. Two Sonatas, Piano-Forte. 6. A Sonata, Piano-Forte and Flute. 7. Six German Songs. 8. Two Sonatas, Piano-Forte and Violin. 9. Two Sonatas, Piano-Forte. 10. A Sonata, Piano-Forte and Violin. 11. Two Sonatas, Piano-Forte, to Dr. Haydn. 12. Three Grand Marches, Piano-Forte, for two performers. 13. Quatuor, Piano-Forte, Violin, Tenor and Violoncello. 14. Variations, Piano-Forte, two performers. 15. Variations, Piano-Forte. 16. Three Sonatas, Piano-Forte and Violin. 17. Quatuor, Piano-Forte, Violin, Tenor and Violoncello. 18. A Sonata, Piano-Forte and Violin. 19. A Sonata, Piano-Forte and Violin. 20. A Sonata, Piano-Forte and Violoncello, to B. Romberg. 24. First Concerto, for Violin. 35. Six German Songs, 36. Six German Songs. 37. Quintetto, for two Violins, two Tenors, and Violoncello, 40. Three Themes with variations for Piano-Forte. 45. A Sonata, for Piano-Forte. Opera 51. Variations, Piano-Forte. 52. Swedish Airs, Piano-Forte, and full Orchestra. 53. Three Marches, for two performers. 54. Two Rondos, for Piano-Forte. 55. Third Concerto, Piano-Forte, to Mr. Clementi. 56. Variations for Piano-Forte. 57. Rondo for Harp and Piano-Forte. 58. Trifles for Piano-Forte. 59. Two Sonatas, for Piano-Forte and Violin, dedicated to I. P. Salomon. 60. Forty Preludes, for Piano-Forte. 61. Three Quartetts, for Flute, Violin, Tenor and Violoncello. 62. Divertimento, Piano-Forte and Flute. 63. Trio, Piano-Forte, Flute and Violoncello. 64. Two Rondos, for Piano-Forte. 65. Three Themes, with Variations for Piano-Forte. 66. Three Themes, with Variations for Piano-Forte. 67. Two Rondos, for Piano-Forte. 68. Quintetto, for two Violins, two Tenors and Violoncello. 69. Sonata, Piano-Forte and Violin. 70. Three Quartetts, for two Violins, Tenor and Violoncello. 71. Sonata, Piano-Forte and Violin. 72. Three Russian Airs, Piano-Forte and Violoncello, to Charles Neate. 73. Two Themes, with Variations, for Piano-Forte. 74. Quintetto, Piano-Forte, Violin, Tenor, Violoncello and Double Bass. 75. Variations Rhenish Song, Piano-Forte, to I. B. Cramer. 76. Two Sonatas, Piano-Forte and Flute, ad lib. 77. Two Fantasias, Piano-Forte. 78. Two Rondos, Piano-Forte. 79. Mazurka, Piano-Forte and Harp. 80. Second Symphony, in C minor, to L. van Beethoven. 81. Two Sonatas, Piano-Forte. 82. Three Themes, with variations for Piano-Forte. 83. Sonata, Piano-Forte and Violin. 84. Four Rondos, for Piano-Forte. 85. Fantasia and Rondo, Piano-Forte. 86. Three Sonatas, Piano-Forte. 87. A Sonata, Piano-Forte and Flute, to C. Saust. 88. Three Themes, as Rondos, for Piano-Forte. 89. Notturno, Piano-Forte. 90. Third Symphony, in E flat. 91. English Songs. 92. Two Fantasias, for Piano-Forte. 93. Polonaise for Piano-Forte, two performers. 94. Overture to Don Carlos. 95. Grand trio, Harp and two Piano-Fortes. 96. Four Themes, with Variations, for Piano-Forte. 97. Fantasia, à la mode, Piano-Forte. 98. Two Themes as Rondos, for Piano-Forte. 99. Two Allegri di Bravura, for Piano-Forte. 100. Grand Sestetto, Piano-Forte. 101. Three Themes, with Variations for Piano-Forte. 102. Three Themes, as Rondos, Piano-Forte. 103. Allegro Eroica, Piano-Forte. 104. Three Themes as Rondos, Piano-Forte. 105. Four Themes with Variations, Piano-Forte. 106. Rondo, Piano-Forte. 107. Quintetto, for Flute, Violin, two Tenors, and Violoncello. 108. Two Themes, with Variations, for Piano-Forte, two performers. 109. Fantasia, for Piano-Forte. 110. Fourth Symphony, to L. Sphor. 111. Fandango, Variations for Piano-Forte, and Violin oblig. 112. Fifth Symphony. 113. Two Rondos, for Piano-Forte and Violoncello. 114. Sonata. 115. Fourth Concerto, for Piano-Forte, to I. Moscheles. 116. Rule Britannia, Variations, Piano-Forte, full Orchestra. 117. Divertimento, Piano-Forte. 118. Three Themes, with Variations and Rondo, Piano-Forte. 119. Polonaise, for Piano-Forte and Flute. 120. Fifth Concerto, Piano-Forte. "The whole of these people, but especially the women, are fond of music, both vocal and instrumental. Some of them might be said to be passionately so, removing their hair from off their ears and bending their heads forward as if to catch the sounds more distinctly, whenever we amused them in this manner. Their own music is entirely vocal, unless indeed the drum or tambourine be considered an exception. "The voices of the women are soft and feminine, and when singing with the men are pitched an octave higher than theirs. They have most of them so far good ears, that, in whatever key a song is commenced by one of them, the rest will always join in perfect unison. After singing for ten minutes the key had usually fallen a full semi-tone. Only two of them, of whom Iligluik was one, could catch the tune as pitched by an instrument; which made it difficult with most of them to complete the writing of the notes, for if they once left off they were sure to re-commence in some other key, though a flute or violin was playing at the time. "There is not in any of their songs much variety, compass, or melody. In the following specimens therefore which, in conjunction with Mr. Henderson, I wrote down from their singing, I can only promise that the notes are correctly given, and that I have done best Unto put them into the time in which they are sung. harmonious as they will appear to musical ears, we thought them pleasing when sung in good time by a number of female voices. my "The first and much the most common of these is that in which the well known Greenland chorus, Amna aya,' commences the performance, and is introduced between each verse, constituting about five-sixths of the whole song. When the words of the song are introduced, the notes rise a little for three or four bars, and then relapse again into the same hum-drum chorus as before, which to * Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; performed in the years 1821-22-23, in His Majesty's ships Fury and Hecla, under the orders of Captain William Edward Parry, R.N., F.R.S., and Commander of the Expedition. Illustrated by numerous plates. Published by authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 4to. Murray, Albemarle-street. |