THE MUSICAL SCRAMBLE.
MAY is usually a busy. month in our world of music. We are gene- rally visited with a swift succession of concerts ; but this year quite outruns all our former experience. To attend all, or half of them, is impossible: ears, eyes, pockets, feet, horses, would all fail in the at- tempt. It is no love of music that induces all this. There is no novelty in any of these concerts. We are sure to be annoyed with a succes- sion of the same songs, the same duets, the same trios. To take pains in preparation—to rehearse—is perfectly ridiculous, quite out of the question. The first thing is to sell your tickets—the last to make your bill. Secure SONTAG and MALIBRAN ; add, if you can, PISARON1 and CAMPORESE ; then put up such pieces as will give them and your- self no trouble, and you will probably fill your room. But who shall attempt to describe the plots, the contrivings, the workings and coun- ter-workings of the different parties ? There are four series of con- certs now in progress—the worn-out and forgotten Ancient Concert; the Philharmonic ; BOCHSA'S concerts at the Opera-house; and VEL- LuTI'S at the Argyll Rooms. These, in addition to the Opera, are the standing dishes—then as to benefits, " who shall their numbers tell ?" We could very easily occupy twelve hours out of every twenty-four for the next month in listening to public concerts. In the midst of this din and scramble, is any thing done for the ad- vancement of the art ?—Nothing. Music has fallen into the hands of Jews and jobbers, of quacks and pretenders ; and we are quite serious in affirming that there is more done for the support of good music in Change Alley than in the purlieus of the Haymarket and Regent Street. And these men are wise in their generation : they think it probable that the time may come when something more than a brazen face and a smooth tongue will be necessary to give a passport into society —when cheats and pickpockets will again be treated as cheats and pick- pockets were wont to be. And unless the world be turned upside down, it will be so. This folly and madness cannot last: it is too gross, too palpable. In the mean time, let us counsel our English composers and singers to do their duty to themselves and to the public. Let them be assured that all the musical public do not look with complacency uponthis scramble. There is a party, every year increasing in strength, who will patronike music for the sake of music,, and not solely for the sake of fashion. Let our distinguished professors foster and guide this feeling in its right direction. Let those lead who ought to lead ; and let not the name of English concerts be degraded by association with the names of mere pretenders and music-jobbers.
Previous page
