CONTINENTAL MUSIC.
THE statue of BEETHOVEN is now completed, and has attracted name- sous visitors to the studio of Hiihnel the sculptor, at Dresden ; where it remains, previously to its removal to the foundry at Nuremberg. The decorations of the pedestal in relief are much admired for their spirited and characteristic traits of the genius of the composer. They consist of four figures in medallions : the first, on the left side, in high relief, is seated at the organ, and represents Church Music ; the second, on the right, with two masks and a double flute, personifies Dramatic Music : in front, a floating female figure, in bass relief, attended by four boys in characteristic attitudes and motion, is emblematical of the Symphony and its parts : the fourth figure, one highly appropriate to the genius of the master, is Fancy, mounted on a sphynx.
IL Firm has discovered in the Royal Library at Brussels, a rare and highly-embellished musical manuscript, containing Masses and Motets by Flemish and English masters, from the latter part of the fourteenth to the beginning of the fifteenth century. Though partly torn and otherwise defaced, a Mass for six voices by Josouns DE PRES, another of the same parts by HENRY IsAaa, composer to the Emperor Maximi- lian the First, and a five-part mass by PIERRE DE LA. RUE, who flou- rished at Antwerp towards the close of the fifteenth century, are pre- served complete, and have already been pat into score. It is to be hoped that the continued researches of the industrious and erudite Finis will throw some light on the disputed question concerning the origin of contrapuntal science.
The fame of SPOHR is as much on the advance in Germany as in England. Of four new Trios, for Piano, Violin, and Violoncello, that have lately appeared by SPOHR, MARSCHNER, Louis WOLF, and ROSEN- MAIN, his takes the most decided precedence ; and in the pianoforte mu- sic that he has lately chosen to write—the Sonata, for instance, which he has dedicated to FELIX MENDELSSOHN, it is generally agreed that be has renewed his youth and directed his thoughts into a new channel. The invention of really original and brilliant pianoforte solos has much declined since Mammies death, and since Prins has ceased to exert his elegant fancy in that kind of workmanship. But pianoforte quartets, trios, and in fact all the higher order of chamber music, languish less from this defect than from want of the true and logistical method of putting the stringed parts—one writes too high, another too low : it must be a great instrumental master who can produce effects with such simple means as a violin and a bass. This is SPOHR'S excellence, as it was BEETHOVEN'S and MOZART'S. And if in his violin music the fre- quent travelling over the finger-board shall have contributed some mo- notony to his figurate and bravura passages—for here mechanism will control the fancy and fingers encroach on the province of the brain— yet in composing for the piano, of which instrument his knowledge is rather theoretical than practical, his muse must be entirely free from the thraldom of habit. Hence, coupled with the excitement of "fresh gelds and pastures new," the secret of the revived youth and the fresh- ness of his writings ; for in the heart of the genuine artist there is no register of years, but rather one perpetual spring-holyday. This has been a pleasant year for Spoon, in addition to his triumphs in England. Ms Opera of Faust was lately revived at Berlin, under the superinten- dence of MEYERBEER, and met with success. But there are dramatic faults in the scenes and situations of the piece, which argue in the com- poser who would tolerate thenz an imperfect sympathy with this branch of composition. His own stage at Cassel, during his visit to us, was oc- cupied with an opera entitled The Flying Dutchman, by WAGNER, a man of rising reputation and great choral power. Whether he has a native sem of melody, no one has ventured to certify : yet here lies the true strength of the dramatic musician. Some curious theatrical statistics have lately shown bow hardly con- tented. was the struggle between the partisans of Gums and Piccias in their memorable operatic encounter. Twelve representations of Iphi- genia and twelve of Roland brought within a few hundred livres nearly the same sum to the treasury. We do not know whether it be a com- pliment to modern progress in music to say that both would be far sur- passed by a dozen nights of Robert the Devil; popularity being ever a most fallacious test of merit. When the lapse of eighty years shall have carried us into another century, and created fresh work for the his- torian, the lustre of MEYERBEER, it is to be feared, will be somewhat dim in comparison with that of GLUCK and PICCINI. These are names hallowed by associations of deep feeling—stars in the firmament of genius. MEYERBEER fluctuates in opinion ; in Paris he is a god, in London a humbug : strange oscillation !—yet, far from thinking that truth lies between the extremes, we are apt to believe that our lopsided critics have fallen pat upon it. The Huguenots was a thing to make men with ears and souls speak out—were it only for five long acts of personal endurance, and not merely an abstract question of art. Strange, however, it is, that an universal language should be so diversely interpreted at the distance of a few degrees of latitude I The annual music festival of the Lower Rhine was conducted this year by REISSIGER. DURANTE'S Magnifwat, HANDEL'S Samson, and Mo- ZART'S Symphony in G minor, were the principal pieces. The produc- tion of a great work of the severe DURANTE argues a taste worthy of imitation in festival music. To avoid a surfeit, is as wholesome a rule in the conduct of a German festival as to exclude any thing bad. VIEURTEMPS, the young violinist, is at Vienna ; where be has gained great applause by his performance of BEETHOVEN'S magnificent Con- certo in D. The dedication of himself to classical works is a most favourable evidence of taste. The Chevalier NEUKOMM also finds among the lovers of church music at Vienna a favourable hearing for his old Oratorio of Mount Sinai. Cruelly hunted from Birmingham, where he was long " magnus Apollo," and even from England, he yet finds an audience, though not a very enthusiastic one, in the bosom of his own country. To make a great mistake, and to wreak our anger at our own folly on the harmless occasion of it, is the weakness of our countrymen. NEUKOMM was only innocently making a fortune here on the strength of the honours thrust upon him : there was nothing, however, to justify the manner in which he was finally let down with a "run." He will remember England to the day of his death. A Bavarian advocate, an amateur named HEYDENREICH, has lately produced a Requiem for voices, in the style of PALESTRINA. It is said to be a very remarkable work ; and not less interesting from the manner in which it is accomplished, than the nature of the attempt. A strong desire to support the character of the Catholic church music of Ger- many is characteristic of the time ; and a society composed of Cantors and Directors of Choirs has been formed at Vienna to afford facility for the publication and production of new compositions. Accordingly, Masses have been produced by PREYER, RANDHARTENGER, MaLLER, GEIGER, Balers, &c. ; but no striking success has been obtained. Church music is attractive to musicians of barren imaginations, and yet they make nothing of it. The routine of fugues and counterpoint leaves a mass but a dry exercise, if genius have not impressed upon it some new and characteristic features. This is what HAYDN and MOZART did in the last century, and CHERUBIM and HUMMEL in this. It is curious, that at the Carlskirche at Vienna, we may still hear the Mass of Pope MARCELLUS and other works of ORLANDO DI Lasso. Extremes meet : this ragged old ecclesiastical style is perhaps exchanged in an hour for LANNER'S waltzes.
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