MUSIC.
BERLIOZ IN ENGLAND.
M. HECTOR BERLIOZ, the celebrated French composer and critic, who is now in London in the capacity of musical director in Jullien's Drury Lane Operahouse, gave a concert in that theatre on Monday evening, consisting entirely of his own music. It is hardly necessary to inform our musical readers, that Berlioz, though hitherto unknown in England, has for some years attracted no small share of public attention, not only in his own country, but in Germany; and that his character as a composer has been the subject of opposite opinions and violent controversies even among critics of knowledge and judgment,.—one party placing him on the summit of the musical Parnassus, and another setting him down as little better than a Pretender and a charlatan. From these disputes we had long since in- ferred, in the good old fashion, that the true estimate of his merits would be tjuste milieu between these extremes: for we were satisfied that no man could have occupied and maintained so prominent a position in the musical world, nor have even become the subject of so much hostile crititism, with- out the possession of some extraordinary powers as an artist. This con- elusion was confirmed by the fact, established by the concurring testimony Of foreign journals, that his compositions, performed under his own direc- tion at concerts given by himself in the principal cities of Germany, have made a great impression on the most musical audiences in Europe.
It is only now that the English public have been enabled to form any Judgment on this guoestio verata. The concert of Monday last was of the same kind as those which Berlioz has been in the habit of giving on the Continent. It was a selection from his principal works performed by a i:ocal and instrumental orchestra sufficient to give full effect to his concep- tious, which are all of a vast and grandiose kind, deman dog powerful masses of physical sound. The band and chorus, accordingly, were two
hundred and fifty strong; and the manner in which they surmounted tilie difficulties they had to grapple with deserves the highest praise. The com- poser, we will venture to say, has rarely met with equal intelligence and ability. The pieces performed were an Overture, descriptive of the Car- nival of Rome; a Symphony, called " Harold in Italy," intended to con- vey the impressions and feelings of a sojourner among the Colabrian moun- tains; the first and second parts of the lyrical drama of Faust; a "Chorus of Souls in Purgatory," from the Requiem composed for General Damre- moot; and the finale of the Triumphal Symphony for the inauguration of the column erected on the site of' the &stile. There was also a cavatina from the opera of Benventdo Cellini, and a romance, or ballad, called "The Young Shepherd."
This varied selection was well calculated to exhibit the extent of Ber- lica's powers; and it showed him, it seemed to ns, both in his strength and his weakness. To attempt, after a single hearing, to analyze the structure or decide on the merits of music which, whatever else may be thought of it, is undeniably new and original, would be very rash; though this hear- ing has given us an idea of the grounds on which it has been extolled ES well as censured.
That Berlioz has some of the greatest qualities of a musician, cannot, we think, be doubted for a moment. He has a bold and vigorous mind, independent (only too much so) of all received modes and forms of compo- sition. His fancy teems with imagery; and he possesses in a remarkable degree the faculty of creating by musical sounds impressions similar to those produced by natural objects or phenomena. In other words, he ex- cels in description, and chiefly cultivates that branch of his art; availing himself with consummate skill of all the resources of orchestral combina- tion. To accomplish this, demands a profound knowledge of counter- point, familiarity with the peculiar powers of every instrument, and the nicest and happiest discrimination in the use of each. In his most suc- cessful efforts, the attentive listener will discern that the large mass of sonorous harmony is made up of a multitude of details, minutely laboured and extremely diversified, but all blending in one consistent whole, rich and grateful to the ear. In this respect, the scores of Berlioz are often not
• surpassed by those of Beethoven himself. Berlioz's triumphal march in the Inauguration Symphony, for instance, rivals Beethoven's march in the Symphony in C minor for martial fire and splendour; and similar praise may be bestowed on the Hungarian march in Faust. In his de- scriptive music, he gives a loose to his fantastic imagination; which Mime- times has the happiest, and sometimes the worst effect. Nothing can be more delicate and etherial than the chorus of sylphs in Faust, while the attempts to represent the revels of brigands and the orgies of drunken stu- dents produce only a noisy, unmusical jargon.
But, though Berlioz is certainly a master in the art of musical descrip- tion, yet in the far higher art of expression be appears very deficient. The one object is attained by combination, the other by melody; and the speci- mens of his powers as a melodist were by no means favourable. The airs in Faust, though their words are impassioned, are neither expressive nor pleasing to the ear. The composer seemed anxious to produce his effects by means of the orchestra; whereby the voice of the singer was uniformly overpowered. We are convinced that this" lyrical drama," deriving, as it does, its effects solely from orchestral and choral combination, would never be successful on the stage. Even in his orchestral pieces the paucity of melody is sorely felt. In the midst of their full harmonies sod gorgeous effects, the ear desiderates those flowing and graceful strains, those "sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not," which, streaming from every part of the orchestra, give such an inexpressible charm to the sym- phonies of Beethoven and Mozart. Berlioz's faults, we apprehend, arise from the system on which he pro- fessedly acts. There is a "romantic school" in music as well min poetry; a school which disdains all adherence to classical rules and models, and refuses any other guide than the impulses of genius. But it ought to be remembered, that the established laws of art, and the forms and proportions of the various kinds of musical composition, from the symphony and can- tata to the ballad, are not merely arbitrary and conventional, but the accumulated results of the taste and judgment of a long line of artists. The greatest symphony of Beethoven is in its forms, only an expansion of the orchestral pieces of the seventeenth century; and the most modern sonata preserves on a larger scale the structure of those of Corelli, Bach, and Handel. Models thus created cannot be thrown aside without the sacrifice of all the beauty which is derived from symmetry of proportion and regularity of design; and the want of this beauty in Berlioz's music me by no means compensated by all his richness of fancy and power of combination.
Such are the impressions we derived from one evening spent in hearing Berlioz's music. How far they may be changed or modified by better ao- quaintance with it, we know not. We greatly desire the opportunity of a further hearing, and hope it will be gratified, for it is understood that he intends to give another concert.
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