The Transition Period of Musical History. By John Hullah. (Loogmans,
Green, and Co.)—This course of six lectures is full of interest to the professional musician, and the amateur will find in- struction and ample food for refection from a master, whose practised skill and groat research are well known, and who has the power of rendering all he undertakes attractive. The first two lectures are de- voted to Italian music, and trace its transition from the pedantic to the freer and more natural expression given to it by Scarlatti, Porgolosi, and others. Of the remaining lectures, two are on French and German music, and two on English. The musical illustrations are most valu- able, and consist, for the moat part, of pieces never before printed in this country, some of which, indeed, existed heretofore only in manuscript. Mr. Hullab, happily, can appreciate native talent, and does not believe in the hackneyed cry, "England is an unmusical nation!" but in the graceful tribute be pays those who assisted him in the illustrations to his lectures, ho points out that English artists are wider in their range, quicker in their reading, and superior in general musical accomplish- ments than foreign ones, although they may not be equal in some speciality.
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