CHEAP MUSICAL PUBLICATIONS.
Mr. Novelle has recently added to his series of cheap publications Han- del's oratorio of Deborah, and the secular cantatas Alexander's Feast and Acis and Galatea. They are in the same form as the previous numbers of the series, and equally commendable for neatness, accuracy, and cheap- ness.
The same publisher has commenced another cheap series, under the general title of " Novello's Library for the Diffusion of Musical Know- ledge." It is announced as a " reprint of standard treatises on the Art of Music, written by the most esteemed English and foreign masters, at prices which will place them within the means of every student." The first number has appeared, and may be regarded as a specimen of the whole. It is Cherubim 's Treatise on Counterpoint and litgue; a most valuable and hitherto a costly work, both in its original form and in its English dress. The present is a new translation, ably executed by Mrs. Cowden Clarke ; and the volume, which includes everything contained in the original, costs only six-and-sixpence. Cherubini's book is admitted to be the most useful extant on the subjects of which it treats. It is ad- dressed only to the advanced student, and presupposes a thorough know- ledge of all that is contained in the elementary treatises on music. To the best of these—the works, for instance, of Gottfried Weber and Dr. Marx—it may be considered as a sequel, not to be entered upon till their contents have been mastered. As a guide through the intricate paths of canon, fugue, and all the varieties of counterpoint, it is of infinite value; because it is applicable to the modern practice of composition, and is di- vested of the pedantic obscurity of the older writers on the subject. To bring such a work, and others of a similar character, more within the reach of the student, is to do a service to the art. We have received a note from Mr. Novello, complaining with courtesy of our having noticed the cheap publications of Messrs. Cocks and Co., as having peculiarly deserved the thanks of the public. Mr. Novello says, and we believe truly, that he originated the publication of cheap musical works; and we have years ago given him due credit (as well as to Messrs. Cocks) for what has been done in this respect: but when he speaks of his scheme of cheap publications as an "invention,"—and adds that " the public are injured by these imitations, which afford no new benefit, but diminish the fund with which new works might be under- taken and fresh experiments made,"—we dissent from him in tote. It is absurd to talk of the commercial idea of cheap publication as an invention conferring any claim, legal, or moral, to a monopoly. On the contrail, its natural and necessary effect is to produce competition; and that the public does derive benefit from such competition, is a proposition too plain to require a single word of argument. In music, cheap publication is as yet confined to a few—it is the exception to the general practice. In literature, however, it is so extended that it has become the rule, and high-priced books are the exception. This also will become the case in music ; and the funds employed in cheap publication, instead of being diminished as Mr. Novello supposes, must be progressively increased. At present the fund consists of the portion set apart for this purpose out of the capitals of Mr. Novello, Messrs. Cocks, and perhaps one or two more. By and by, it will be a part of the capital of every member of the music- publishing trade.
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