NEW MUSIC.
The Musical Library. Part XI.
This excellent work proceeds well, and exhibits no symptom of decline or token of feebleness. The instrumental department contains a well- chosen selection of pieces, either written or adapted for the pianoforte, by HAYDN, CLEMENTI, lttEs, and HANDEL ; and the vocal music is or great and varied excellence, comprising a charming song by SPORE, well set to English words ; Alarmes well-known duetto from Lodoviska, " Parto—ti lascio," and the beautiful solo from the Seasons, " Light and life in sadness languish." The English music consists of TRAVERS'S canzoilet, " Soft Cupid," and the ballad which INCLEDON made so exclusively his own.—" Sally in our alley." The first of these forms an interesting link in the chain of English vocal harmony, and was one of the first essays at part-writing which preceded the birth of the modern glee. It is arranged in G (the original key being C) minor, for the convenience of treble voices ; and, as in most similar cases, suffers somewhat by the change. The accompaniment is, here, judiciously added ; for the contemporary compositions of this class (and they were but few) were all intended to be assisted by a keyed instrument. The editor, very properly, reprobates the omission of the last verse of the canzonet, which is the practice at the Ancient Concerts. This mutilation of Pnion's lively and elegant poem de- stroys its point and renders it unintelligible and absurd. But such is the vulgar and Gothic taste of titled Directors. TRAVERS read the words of his author with a just sense of their spirit and beauty, and has given them musical expression with consummate felicity : the en- deavour of these persons is to rob them of both.
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