NEW MUSIC.
The Vocal Souvenir, for 1S:35. By Mrs. IL MASON.
This production is not, in the present acceptation of the term, an An- neal, but simply consists of four songs and one duet, by the same com- poser, a lady, who, as we understand, has studied music only as an accomplishment. These compositions are not merely airs hammered oat of the pianoforte, and then handed over to some professional drudge to be reduced to form and rule, and set forth with an decompaniment, but are evidently, throughout, the work of one mind. :Mrs. H. MasoN has studied assiduously and perseveringly, nut merely the rudiments, bat many of the intricacies of the art. Her accompaniments are wrought up with considerable skill, and evince much power of concep- tion as well as execution. But she fails in the power to origi- nate an interesting melody; her passages are not sufficiently vocal, and, we suspect, were played rather than sung before they were com- mitted to paper. This is a fault common to most pianoforte- players when they nttempt to write for the voice. It is not enough that certain pa-,sages are !pleasing and perhaps easy on the instrument : the composer should ask trill they sing well ? above all, do they convey the ineaming of the poetry (if meaning it chance to have) by appropriate sounds? are there no false accents, no emphatic " ofs " and " no lines in which the sense is severed by an im- pertinent symphony, no needless repetitions of unimportant words ? If any such things occur, they should be noted and erased as blemishes which mar the just purpose and end of vocal writing. The fair autho-
ress of these songs is evidently in possession of much native mid ac- quired talent ; and in order that she may attain to greater force and skill in that department of the art in which she now appears before the public, we would recommend to her the study of those writers who trusted more to their singers and allotted less to the accompanist. In too many modern compositions, the latter is the principal and the former but the subordinate person in the performance.
Previous page
