but these were of little worth. Another, a German composer, named Gaensbacher, enjoyed considerable reputation, which such of his works as are extant by no means justified. One name, however, shone like a star in the midst of this cloud of obscurities. Pinto, an Englishman, who was cut off at the early age of twenty-one, gave every indication of becoming one of the most remarkable men of his day. His genius was undoubted. He played admirably on the piano-forte and violin, wrote with facility for both instruments, and though so young, was a wonderful extempore performer. It is a disgrace to our publishers, and musical amateurs, that neither the enterprise of the former nor the curiosity of the latter compels a republication of the printed works of Pinto, and the Three production of those that exist in manuscript. sonatas for piano-forte solus, in A, C minor, and E flat minor, which we have seen, are as full of beauties as the best of Dussek, while a set of vocal canzonets which we have also had the opportunity of examining, might, without impropriety, be placed by the side of Haydn's wellknown models. Besides these, a violin concerto, and many other works exist in manuscript. It would, we feel certain, be an excellent speculation on the part of a music publisher, in these times of dearth, to print everything that remains of Pinto, whose death was a severe blow to the hopes of England as a musical nation. Who can say that a genius equal to Mozart's was not thus untimely quenched? Neither Mozart nor Mendelssohn, the most surprising examples of precocious genius in the history of the musical art, gave earlier or more brilliant marks of originality and talent than George Frederick Pinto. (To be continued.) We believe that Jullien's next destination is the Irish capital, where, as at Manchester, he counts his thousands of supporters. SONNET. NO. CXIII. THE Wounds the soul receives are not like those Within thyself is set the standard sure ; Find out thy heart's weak place, and probe it there. ERNST. THE performances of this great violinist at Mr. Willy's Classical Concerts, seems to have created even a greater sensation than his executive prodigies elsewhere. In speaking of the third concert, on Monday night, the Morning Post remarks: "The executive lions were Herr Ernst and Mr. Sterndale Bennett. The renowned violinist proved himself on this occasion truly great, for he rendered the exquisite beauties of Beethoven and Mendelssohn with the sympathetic feeling of a kindred spirit. Those who have merely heard him execute the Carnival of Venice,' or some of his popular fantasias, can form no idea of his wonderful performance of classical music. The astonishing digital dexterity he displays in the fantasia shows him to be a man of most uncommon talent and perseverance; but his reading of the great masters proves him to be endowed with the poetical feeling and classical knowledge of a true musician. These are much higher qualities; the difference being almost as great as that existing between the talent of the rope dancer and that of the actor whose breath gives vitality to the text of Shakspere. As much more knowledge and a higher order of genius are required to render faithfully the music of Beethoven than that of an inferior writer, the merit attached to the performance is proportionately greater. The most wonderful in art is the wonderfully beautiful, and such was Herr Ernst's playing last night. He is the greatest JULLIEN IN MANCHESTER AND BIRMINGHAM. We have received, from a Manchester correspondent (***) a long account of the Mendelssohn night, which went off with immense éclat, at the Free Trade Hall, before a densely thronged audience. We regret that it has come too late for insertion this week. Jullien appeared to be reaping honour as well as profit, by his Mendelssohn performances in the provinces. In allusion to the forthcoming Festival," at Bir-living violinist, for he can do everything. The programme included Beetmingham, the Midland Counties Herald writes : "The second concert will take place to-night, Encouraged by the immense success which attended his late endeavour to popularise classical music, by giving Beethoven and Mendelssohn Festival Evenings, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Mons. Jullien has, at the request of many amateurs, set apart a great portion of the present evening for the performance of some of the most beautiful works of the celebrated Dr. Mendelssohn. In no town in the kingdom could such a performance be more appropriately given. It was for Birmingham that the lamented composer of the Elijah wrote his finest and most enduring works; and it was for the noblest institutions of our town that they were first performed. Mons. Jullien deserves the best thanks of the numerous admirers and personal friends of a man as amiable as he was clever, in placing before them some of Dr. Mendelssohn's finest orchestral works, which will, no doubt, be given in a style and completeness worthy of such chef-d'œuvres. To enhance the attraction of the evening to its performer, M. Halle, the celebrated pianist, (who, as a classical performer, has scarcely a rival, and no superior,) will give three of the Lieder ohne worte, and Madile. Jetty Treffz will sing "Of all the pretty darlings" and the "The first violet" Mr. V. Collins will play the only violin concerto that was composed by Dr. Mendelssohln, and the first part of the concert will conclude with the doctor's music to the "Midsummer Night's Dream," of itself a sufficient attraction to draw a full room. N3 of amateurs." Messrs. Coventry and Co., Dean Street, have introduced the first of these in the excellent compilation of piano-forte works, edited by Mr. Sterndale Bennett, under the title of Classical Practice. Copies of the other are very rare. hoven's sonata for piano and violin, the execution of which by Messrs. Sterndale Bennet and Ernst excited the utmost enthusiasm, the second movement being encored. The greatest treat, however, of the evening was the performance of Mendelssohn's magnificent quartet in E minor, by Messrs Ernst, Willy, Hill, and Reed. It is a work of which Mozart or Beethoven might have been proud, and received full justice from the hands of the above-named artists-Herr Ernst especially, whose playing approached, perfection. The scherzo was enthusiastically encored." We have given a short account of the interesting concert to which the writer alludes in another column. "JULIE" and "MARIE," as these polkas are severally named, are twins, not only in respect of their simultaneous publication, but equally in respect of their excellence, which is such as to insure them very general admiration, whenever they may be heard. They are characterised by a piquant and irresistibly catching vein of melody, and are remarkably showy in proportion to their difficulty for the piano-forte. Walter Macfarren has produced, and is capable of a far higher class of music than that to which the present publication belongs, but it is no discredit to a musician of the loftiest pretensions to descend to trifles when such trifles are so entirely successful as those before us. Mr. ICAL MOORE'S PLAGIARISMS. You little scribbling beau, What demon made you write? Because to write you know, As much as you can fight. SWIFT. Though he can write, he cannot fight. SIR E. BRYDGES. Censur. Litera, iii, 109. Shall we for ever make new books, as Apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another? Are we for ever to be twisting and untwisting the same rope?-for ever in the same track?— for ever at the same pace?-Tristram Shandy. But this our age such authors does afford, As make whole plays, and yet scarce write one word; And what's their plunder, their possession call; DRYDEN. Prologue to Albumazar. Ω ΜΩΡΕ, ΜΩΡΕ ταυτα παντ' εν τηδ' ειν' ARISTOPHANES. Brunck. iii. 257. O Moore, Moore, all these plagiarisms are in thy book. Pone sub curru nimium propinqui HORACE. Literary thefts are of several and various kinds. Some examples of each may be useful, for the clearer understanding of this Encomium. Sometimes, as in the first rule, it is practised openly, and without even an attempt at concealment; as in the following robbery from Philostratus by the classic Ben Jonson.* EP. XXIV. Εμοι δε μόνοις πράπινε τοις ομμασιν, ων και ὁ Ζευς γευσαμενος, καλον οινοχουν περιεστησατο. ει δε βουλει το μεν οινον με παραπαλυει μονου δε εμβάλλουσα ύδατος, και τοις χείλεσι προσφερουσα, πληρου φιλημάτων το εκπωμα, και διδου τοις δεομενοις. JONSON. Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I'll not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise, Demands a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sip, I would not change for thine. EP. XXX. Πεπομφα σοι στέφανον ρόδων, ου σε τιμων, και τούτο μεν γαρ αλλ' αυτοις τι χαριζόμενος τοις ρόδοις, ινα μη μαρανθη. My apology for introducing here a plagiarism so well known as the above, is contained in the following remarks; and when my readers know that the originals of Jonson's song are now for the first time correctly printed, I am sure they will be pleased. Who could ever have believed, that the fine gentleman essayist, Cumberland, would have been hardy enough to concoct the following Greek sentence, and then to declare that he transcribed it from Philostratus, Ep XXV.? Εγω επειδαν ίδω σε, δίψω, και το εκπωμα κατέχων καιτοι μεν ου προσαγω τοις χείλεσι σου δε οιδα πινων. This he did for the purpose of supplying a sort of original for the second stanza of the above song. No such passage exists in the twenty-fifth epistle; nor, as far as I can find, in any part of Philostratus whatever. This "literary curiosity" has not been before noticed. How it escaped Dr. Johnson, who must have read it, when it was first published, is a mystery. The extracts from Philostratus, which are transcribed into the 74th number of The Observer, are several of them ungrammatical, and mean nothing. The copy of that author, from which I now transcribe the originals correctly, is from the library of Sir Philip Francis (Junius), and has some strange, caustic notes in his handwriting. SHENSTONE.* Heu quantò minus est cum reliquis MOORE.-Evenings in Greece. Upon the sands, with broken sword, He, dying, wrote was "Liberty. Crowned with flowers, I saw fair Amaryllis By Thyrsis sit, hard by a bank of chrystal, And with her hand, more white than snow or lillies, But poets are too cautious to rob always with so much openness and sincerity as this. They resort therefore to the second rule of plagiarism, under which a stanza may be filched from two or three authors, and wrapped up with exceeding skill, so that it requires some nicety to discover it. Let us cite for instance GRAY.-Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Full many a gem of purest ray serene The two first lines, it will at once be seen, were suggested by the Spectator, Vol. ix., No. 554. "The soul is a kind of rough diamond which requires labour and time to polish it; for want of which, many a good natural genius is lost, or lies unfashioned, like a jewel in the mine. The two last lines are but a new arrangement of POPE.-Rape of the Lock: There kept my charms concealed from mortal eye, There are three plagiarisms by our little man which illustrate this second rule of robbery as perfectly as anything that can be conceived : MOORE'S MELODIES. And as fresher flowers the sod perfume, Where buried saints are lying, So our hearts shall borrow a sweetening bloom From the image he left there in dying. This plagiarism is almost impenetrably disguised, but to one who has well studied his subject, it is as clear as light. Contemplate its original in— COWLEY.-On the Death of Mr. W. Hervey. He, like the stars, to which he now is gone, Had all the light of youth, of the fire none. Or if ou be not satisfied with this, read it in- From wit's wild petulance serenely free A modest flame that gently shines and warms. Again, in one of the melodies, Moore asks the following question, suggesting an excuse for loving a low-born beauty. Hath the violet less brightness For growing near earth? Who would expect to find a simple thought like this taken from a Latin exercise of Lord North, when at school, and who will deny that it is admirably masked for the purposes of fraud? Chlori quidem parva es, sed non tua gloria parva, (To be continued.) ALBERT SMITH AND MR. SHEPHERD MR. ALBERT SMITH has addressed us another, a final, letter on this subject. Its clearness is quite logical, and admits of no reply. (To the Editor of the Musical World.)` SIR, I can assure you it is with much reluctance that I find myself driven to allude once more to the matter in dispute between Mr. Shepherd and myself; but as that gentleman, with the aid of a cleverly perverted extract, still persists in asserting that I took the notion, which he appropriated, from Les Mousquetaires of M. Dumas, I find I have no other course to pursue than thus, I hope finally, to settle the matter. Permit me to recall to your recollection the effect, of which I submitted the sketch to the Surrey management. It was the section of a ship, made vertically, when she might be supposed to be sailing towards the audience, occupying about the centre third of This is evidently taken from a beautiful passage, cited by Sir the stage, in my original drawing, or perhaps a little more; the William Jones, from SADI. One day as I was in the bath, a friend of mine put into my hand a piece of scented clay. I took it, and said to it, "Art thou musk or ambergris, for I am charmed with thy delightful scent?" It answered, "I was a despicable piece of clay, but 1 was some time in the company of the rose; the sweet quality of my companion was communicated to me, otherwise I should have been only a piece of earth as I appear to be." There is no mention of buried saints in this, it is true. Sadi was an Eastern poet, and had little or no reverence for the holy flagellants of the calendar. But a man does not earn three thousand golden guineas without some ingenuity. From the pen of an honest bard, the above lines would, perhaps, Moore has acknowledged the source from which the image is taken, and quoted the lines of Shenstone in a note.-ED. " M. W.". sides being filled up with a representation of the sea. The crew were to be working her upon deck; the passengers in the cabin ; and the prisoner in the hold to be scuttling her. When this was done, the entire ship was to sink into the water, and the curtain was to fall on this denouement. This was the effect I sent in; it was also the one which Mr. Shepherd most accurately copied in his drama. Now for the scene in Les Mousquetaires. I describe it exactly, both from the piece itself, now on my desk, and from the full information I got, with respect to its management at the Ambigú. The section of the ship was a longitudinal one, to begin with, extending completely across the stage, from wing to wing. After certain business leading to the plot for blowing up the vessel, she was supposed to set sail, and was moved off altogether into the coulisse upon a wheeling platform, and the stage then represented the open sea. After a while a little toy, or profile ship, came on When it in the distance, on the edge of one of the water pieces. I hope, Sir, I have now plainly convinced you and your readers of the utter absence of any similarity between these two scenes, without the aid of either ironical epithets or personal allusions. Had Anthony and Cleopatra been sent into the Surrey, Mr. Shepherd might as well have availed himself of such of the action as suited his purpose, under the pretence that a sectional house had been shewn in Jonathan Bradford. I should have explained all this before, had I not felt some delicacy in occupying your valuable space. As far as I am concerned, the matter will now entirely drop. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, ALBERT SMITH. 14, Percy Street, Jan. 3, 1850 After all, the popular dramatist, novelist, burlesquist, librettist (vide John Parry's short operas bouffés), poet, and essayist, has, in our opinion, given himself unnecessary pains. No one, for an instant, imagined-certainly we did not that he had stolen an idea from Dumas. Mr. Albert Smith has too many ideas of his own to make it requisite for him to purloin those of another. MR. WILLYS CLASSICAL CONCERTS. programme: PART I. 66 by failed to remark any of those "liberties which the Post and Let us, as briefly as possible, dispose of the other vocal THE space occupied by our Index precludes us from doing pieces that demand notice. Miss Lucombe, who has returned, more, this week, than simply record that the last concert in like Mr. Reeves, from a professional tour, from which, like St. Martin's Hall (the third-on Monday evening) was one Mr. Reeves, she has derived evident benefit, was, like Mr. of unusual brilliancy. It was attended by a good five hun-Reeves, very warmly received by the public, and, like dred" amateurs of the right sort, who applauded with fervour, Mr. Reeves, presently asserted her claim to sympathy, by, and always in the right place. The following was the like Mr. Reeves, singing with great spirit and brilliancy. Miss Lucombe's first effort was the cavatina, " Regnava nel silenzio" (Miss Lucombe sang in Italian); her second was Beethoven's grand scena, "Ah, perfido" (Miss Lucombe was, as usual, ambitious); her third was "The Breeze," from Auber's Haydée, to which a very strange imitation of the G. Macfarren. south wind was appended in the refrain, by M. Thalberg, Mr. Bridge Frodsham, Mr. Stammers, and other noted individuals interested in the Wednesday Concerts; her fourth and last was a delightful chamber duet of Macfarren, "The little watchful bird," in which Miss Lucombe received the valuable assistance of Miss Dolby, a veritable bird of silver throat and golden plumage. The "Breeze," with its droll accompaniment at the stairs of the platform, near the southern gallery, was encored, and Miss Lucombe, nothing loth, repeated it. Quartet (in C major, No. 6) two violins, viola, and PART II. Grand Quartet (in E minor, Op. 44), two violins, viola, Canzonet, Miss Cobham, "Truth in absence," Mozart. Beethoven. Mendelssohn. E. J. Harper. Ernst, the honoured guest, and in terms of metaphor, the "Lion of the Concert," was enthusiastically welcomed. The last movement of Beethoven's sonata, and the scherzo of Mendelssohn's quartet, were both rapturously enchored. Sterndale Bennett played superbly. He and Ernst "went together" in the sonata, as though they had never been apart-like the Siamese twins. Willy was in fine force; Hill was Hill; and little Reed, who supplied the formidable place of Piatti, acquitted himself admirably. It was a glorious evening. Next week we shall probably speak of it at length. LONDON WEDNESDAY CONCERTS. THE eleventh concert was such a bumper as must have done Mr. Stammers's heart as much good as his pocket. The occasion was the return of Mr. Sims Reeves, who made his bow amidst the clamorous cheering and applause of upwards of 2,500 persons. Gratified, though not abashed, by this reception, Mr. Reeves quickly established his right to it, by singing the eternal "Fra Poco" in his very best style. Subsequently he gave the "Adelaida" equally well, and we We have much pleasure in noticing two very admirable examples of vocal talent-the magnificent air in G minor of the Queen of Night, "Gli angui d'inferno," sung by Mrs. Alexander Newton; and a divine song from Handel's opera, Flavio, "Amor nel mio penar," which fell into the very good hands of Miss Dolby. We were delighted with both-with the immense spirit and clear execution of Mrs. Newton, and with the exquisite pathos and angelic purity of Miss Dolby, both being precisely what was required by the respective songs, each in its way a masterpiece. In Mozart's air, Mr. Ribas played the flute obligato part to admiration. Three encores may next be mentioned. One was gained by Miss Poole; another by Mrs. Newton, Miss Poole, and Miss Dolby. The first of these was a song by Frank Romer, "the Sailor Boy's Return;" the second was the trio of Cimarosa, My Lady the Countess," from the spirited English version of Il Matrimonio Segreto, in which Miss Dolby made a very lovely 66 * Published by C. Jefferys, of Soho Square, who also published Mr, Loder's Night Dancers and Signor Schira's Mina, lively young old lady, and a capital scold to boot. The third encore was again for Miss Poole, who sang the fine old ballad (would that all ballads were like that), "John Anderson my Jo," with exquisite feeling. Need we add that all three encores were well deserved? Miss Dolby also sang a graceful ballad by Vincent Wallace, "A fireside song," with a simplicity perfectly in unison with its unaffected character; and Mrs. Newton gave a forcible reading to a dull song by J, W. Kalliwoda, "The home of love," which was relieved from insipidity by Mr. Maycock's very clever performance of the clarinet obligato. And now we have no more to add about the vocal music. Ernst played his Otello, and was applauded with enthusiasm. We have nothing new to say of this fine performance, which combines the most passionate tenderness with wonderful feats of mechanism. Ernst also played his Carnaval de Venise, and, as usual, created a furore. The same reiterated plaudits, the same bursts of hilarity at the more humorous and whimsical variations, and the same tumultuous encore at the conclusion-leading, as usual to another series of variations quite different from their predecessors, but equally brilliant and effective-to which Ernst has long been habituated, accompanied the performance. In this piece Ernst appears a prodigal as well as a prodigy; his invention is as inexhaustible as his execution is unprecedented. Thalberg astonished his hearers with his brilliant fantasia on airss in the Figlia del Reggimento, which being unanimously encored he played the latter part of Lucrezia Borgia, beginning with the well-known trio. In the second part, Thalberg played, with equal talent, and equal success (though too late in the evening for an encore), a very clever and interesting fantasia on Russian themes, which we never heard before but should like to hear again. The band did not figure to advantage at this concert. The romantic and beautiful overture of Sterndale Bennett, the Wood Nymphs, one of the masterpieces of modern orchestral music, was played in a slovenly, rambling manner. We must withdraw our praise of Mr. Anschuez' orchestra, if such carelessness be persisted in. Mr. Stammers should know, or be told, that an elaborate and difficult composition like the Wood Nymphs, cannot be got through, without rehearsal, as readily as such rattling frivolities as the overtures to the Pré au Clercs and the Cheval de Bronze, which, having been written impromptu, may perhaps be played impromptu. With Sterndale Bennett's music it is a wholly diffrent matter. It must be pre-studied carefully to be properly executed. The coming of Mr. Sims Reeves is both an important and a lucrative event to the Wednesday Concerts, but if this be counted on as an excuse for carelessness in the instrumental department, depend upon it Mr. Stammers makes a mistake, which he will find out to his disadvantage. He must bear in mind that the notoriety recently accorded to his entertainments by the press is owing to the marked improvement of his orchestra, and the interest given to the instrumental solos, by the co-operation of the gifted Ernst, and has nothing whatever to do with the ballads, &c., that choke up his programme, as ill weeds choke up a garden, neutralizing the perfume of the flowers, impeding their growth, and dimming the glory of their hues. Verbum sat. sap.-a word to Stammers will suffice. But he must read the Morning Chronicle of Thursday, where he will find some wholesome rules laid down for his consideration. Formes did not sing at the eleventh concert. He was at Norwich rehearsing the Messiah, which was to be performed on Thursday evening, in St. Andrew's Hall, and for which Sims Reeves, who went by an early train on Thursday morning, (From Macfarren's new Opera King Charles II.) Nan trembling stood upon the deck To speak the word she strove in vain, "Cheer up," cried Tom, "I'll soon come back To Nan of Battersea ! Full seven long years were past and gone, And ere the week was out, she died, DRAMATIC INTELLIGENCE. DRURY LANE. MR. ANDERSON has commenced his managerial career under the most flattering auspices. Drury Lane has been crowded to excess every night; and if the audiences have not shown the utmost respect for the legitimale fare set before them, they have made ample amends by an extra quantity of attention bestowed upon the pantomime. Mr. Anderson in his prospectus has laid much stress upon a determination to uphold, and carry out to the fullest extent," the objects of the legitimate drama. As yet we espy but the faintest gleams from such brilliant promises. The Merchant of Venice, with which the theatre opened, in its intrinsic brightness, certainly constituted a glorious dawn for the purposes of legitimacy; but when we find such pieces as The Gamester, the Stranger, and Rob Roy, treading close on the heels of Shakspere's play, we cannot but incline to the supposition, either that the manager had got heartily tired of so hacknied a subject as the legitimate drama, and consequently resigned all thoughts of its revivification, bidding it farewell on the very threshold of endeavour; or, that he found the season of pantomimes not happily adapted to carry out his object, and so foreclosed his intention for awhile, until a more proper occasion should arise; and this latter we take to be Mr. Anderson's object. He reasons thus: it is good to revive the legitimate drama, provided the legitimate drama may be heard; but if, in consequence of some particular combination of circumstances, at a particular time, no one will be found to lend an ear to, or exhibit the slightest feeling of affection towards, the legitimate drama, why then the legitimate drama may assuredly be set aside for a period, and no accusation of a breach of promise, or disrespect to legitimacy, can fall on the head of the manager. What could Mr. Anderson do in such a state of affairs? He tried his audience with the Merchant of Venice the first night-setting out on true legitimate principles-but alas! the only legitimate entertainment acknowledged by the multitude, was the pantomime-they would hear and see nothing but the pantomime. Shakspere, never before, was treated |