"Air A la Tyrolienne," with Variations, sun,_0. by Madame MA-
LIBRAN GARCIA; and composed for her by J. N. HUMMEL.
We may aswell speak the honest truth at once—for all airs with vocal variations, we have an unqualified contempt. They rob the voice of all the mind and feeling and spirit which it ought to breathe into melody ; they drag it from its high pre-eminence, and sink it to a level with a mere string or pipe. They confound and set at nuoght all the attributes and ends of singing ; which are to make the
Sphere-born harmonious sisters, voice and verse, Wed their divine sounds;" whereas, by this foolish and fantastic jumbling together of notes and words, all meaning, all sense, all propriety and poetry are scattered to the winds. We have listened, with tearful eyes, to MALIBRAN'S sing- ing " Deh parlate "—we have with sorrow and shame heard her talents, her great and unrivalled talents, degraded by the exhibition of this " Air with variations." Did HUMMEL write this Tyrolien in mockery of the English taste, or was it merely to turn the penny ? If the former, it is the most bitter satire that musical pen ever conveyed.
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