25 FEBRUARY 1837, Page 15

MR. MOSCHELES' PIANOFORTE CONCERTS.

IT would seem a bold undertaking for a performer without any aid from instrumentul accompaniment to amuse a company for a whole evening : and, in truth, it demanded such powers as those of MoscitELEs to give the experiment any chance of success. Every eminent pianoforte. player has a style of his own, by which all compositions are, usually, tinged. ('RAMER'S, for instance, in the hands of 14 —Enz, lost their pecu- liar elltracter and charm, and assumed, as far as they could be made to assume, that of the player. Few men could range from BACH to BEETHoVEN, giving to each its appropriate touch, character, and ex- pression; and we listened to MoscitELEs with equal suprise and de- light as be accomplished this difficult achievement. The order of the selection was by no means chronological : perhaps it would have de-

lived additional interest from such an arrangement. He began with a Sonata by WEBER; then came the beautiful dramatic one of BEET- HOVEN; after which he "gave Time's glass a turn," and took us back to the age of BACH, Scanuerrt, and HANDEL. Of the first of these writers' compositions for the Harpsichord, his biographer truly observes, that " He who cannot find there all the characteristics of true genius, is either wholly or imperfectly acquainted with them. Such productions require long and patient study in order to discern all their value.1 :The butteifly spirit which flutters incessantly from flower to flower, without resting upon any, can do nothing here." The laborious intricacy, united with apparent ease, which so eminently characterizes the writ- ings of this great master, was developed by Nloscnztes with equal force and facility. The colossal grandeur of the author was palpable and plain.

" When I came to London," says BURNEY, "in the year 1744, Handellsailarpsichord Lesson and Organ Concertos, and Scarlatti's

lessons were all the good music for keyed instruments at this time in the nation : the latter were not only the pieces with which every young performer displayed his powers of execution, but were the wonder and delight of every hearer who had a spark of enthusiasm about him." Of this extraordinary performer's powers of execution, the following testimony was given by an eye-witness. Rosa:men/we, a very emi- nent organist resident in London at the same time with Handel, when travelling through Italy, was requested to play at the house of a Vene- tian nobleman. " Being," says he, "in better courage and finger than usual, I exerted myself; and fancied, by the applause, that I had made

some impression on the company. A grave young man, who had stood listening very attentively, was then asked to sit down ; and

when he began, I thought ten hundred devils had been at the instru- ment: I never heard such passages of execution and effect before. If any instrument had been near with which I could have done the deed, I should have cut off my own fingers." He did, however, what was much more to the purpose, by publishing SCARLATTI'S Lessons in this country. Our copy has this testimony on the tittlepage- " I think the following pieces, for the delicacy uf style and masterly compo- sition, eminently worthy the attention of the curious. T. BOSINEORAVE."

CLEMENTI also published what he called " SCARLATTI'S Chefs. d'ceuvre," from MSS'. in his possession. The characteristic of this eminent writer is brilliancy ; passages of display follow each other in swift succession, and the "lesson" is sometimes from end to end a chase of the left hand after the right. Occasionally (for example, his Fugue in G minor) shows that the resources of his art were within his call whenever he chose to summon them.

HANDEL united to the learning of the German the grace of the Ita- lian school—a combination which appears in all his works, and no- where more than in his compositions for the harpsichord. The one

selected by MoscliELes was that commonly known by the name of "the Harmonious Blacksmith ;" the history of which Mr. R. CLARK'S

recent publication endeavours to trace. This, as well as other pieces by the old masters, were played on a harpsichord. Some years have elapsed since we heard SCARLATTI and HasanEL after this fashion. It may be early association, or it may be prejudice, but we prefer them on this instrument rather than a pianoforte. HANDEL scarcely received fair play in the selection of one of his most hackneyed and inferior pieces—for such is the vulgarly named "Harmonious Blacksmith." Thus exhibited beside Bacti, he seemed a pigmy, and quite inferior to SCARLATTI.

To those who wish to learn something more of pianoforte-music than the last piece of Henz or CZERNY, and who desire to trace its progress through the hands of men like BACII, HANDEL, MOZART, BEETHOVEN, and WEBER, these concerts will prove a source of equal amusement and instruction.