MUSIC.
A n English Adaptation of Mozart's Requiem, with an Accompaniment for the Organ or Pianoforte. By Vincent Novella.
The new forms in which the works of the great masters are constantly reappearing afford convincing testimony of the present extension of practical music, in the wants of a new community. Supply meets demand; and the surest criterion of popular progress in the art is found from day to day in the varieties of classical republication. For a long time the expensive edition of Mozart's Requiem, with its arranged accompaniment and original Latin text, satisfied the musical public; and the affection demonstrated by amateurs, chiefly Protestants, towards this work from motives connected with its author, its romantic history, and intrinsic excellence, probably repaid the editor for an undertaking which, had it depended upon Roman Catholic patronage and the employment of the work in the ritual of the Romish ser- vice, would have been but inadequately recompensed. A new public has now arisen, unbounded in reverence for the catholic genius of Mozart, but little disposed to the peculiar dogmas of creed, and with small pretension to Latin or long purses. The edition now offered is therefore English—close in the translation, and well accented; it is also, as far as we can judge, not unorthodox in the theology; the alto and tenor are printed in the G clef; the arrangement is identical with that of the large copy; the note, though small, is extremely clear and legible; and the price of the whole is about one-third less than we have been accustomed to pay. Provincial musical societies, and singing classes generally, will find their advantage in this edition of the Requiem, on the score of cheapness and correctness.
Previous page
