VOCAL.

La Bayadère, or The Maid of Cashmere, a Ballet-Opera, composed by AUBER; adapted to the English stage by HENRY R. BISHOP. (Chappell.)

AIR, ‘Why discontent?’ (‘Je suis content.’)
AIR, ‘Ah! ne’er for me.’ (‘Ainsi pour me.’)
Trio, ‘Oh! this heart palpitating.’ (‘Tu ne peux t’en défendre.’)

No. 1 is meant as a comic song, but we were unable to perceive the drollery of it on the stage, and are equally at a loss to discover any in it while lying before us. Certainly there is no joke in its great length. The air is quite à la Auber. It begins thus:—

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No. 2 is a tender address from Brahma (the unknown) to the Bayadère, a delicate, pleasing air, though without stage action it will be thought somewhat long.

No. 3, a short trio for soprano, tenor, and base, in A flat, an andante, is one of those morceaux d’ensemble (all of them imitated from ‘Protegga, il giusto cielo,’ in Don Giovanni) which rarely fail of success; and this will be as welcome in the drawing-room, in a domestic party, as on the stage, where it always meets with the warmest applause.

DUETTO, ‘Non ridir non potro mai,’ composed by the HON. EMMA and CATHERINE MAYNARD. (Willis.)
BALLAD, ‘Thy form was fair,’ the words by MISS COSTELLO; the Music by LADY AUGUSTA KENNEDY ERSKINE. (Willis.)
BALLAD, ‘The sally of the students,’ by theHON. MRS. BERTIE PERCY. (Willis.)
ARIETTA, ‘Se più felice oggetto,’ the words by METASTASIO; the Music composed by MISS BLAYDES. (Willis.)
Hajji Baba’s song in the Harem, the words by J. MORIER, Esq.; composed by the BARON SEYMOUR DE CONSTANT. (Willis.)
DUET, ‘Never forget me!’ (the words from the Spanish, by Mrs. Lawrence) composed by JOHN LODGE, Esq. (Lonsdale and Mills.)
BALLAD, ‘Good-nature,’ written and composed by J. AUGUSTINE WADE, Esq. (Hawes.)

MANY a professional composer would be too happy to call himself author of so pleasing and clever a duet as No. 1, which, in whatever way it is considered, proves the musical knowledge and elegant taste of the joint composers. Its style is Italian, but there are notes in the accompaniment which show that the writers are well read in the German school. Young as the ladies are who have produced this, yet there is a method and consistency in it that indicate considerable experience. They must have entered on the study of music with hearty good will, and pursued it with an earnestness which is rarely found in those who have no other object in view but amusement. We regret, however, to inform these very ingenious dilettanti, that the engraver has left so many errors—for his errors they clearly are—that it was with some difficulty we ascertained the intention of the composers in numerous instances; insomuch that we strongly recommend them to make a sacrifice of all the copies printed off, to have the plates corrected, and then publish another edition. They may rest assured that the duet is well worth the trouble and expense. This is dedicated to one of the wonders of the present age, certainly the greatest musical phenomenon that ever existed [80], and is a well-timed tribute to such genius.

No. 2 is very simple, but set with great feeling and taste to well-chosen words. It is now in G, and was, it seems, originally in A flat. Why not have remained in that key? It would not have been at all too high for any soprano voice; and as it is, the B below the clef, to which it extends, may be too low for many singers.

No. 3 is a spirited melodious song, not a ‘ballad,’ as the authoress calls it, for it consists of three movements. The second of these, in A flat, the former ending in G, is much too sudden a transition from a key so entirely irrelative. There are two or three slight oversights in this, which may easily be corrected: and the title of the song at first view is not a little ambiguous. We really read ‘Sally’ as a prænomen, as a Christian name. Would not sortie answer the purpose?

There is much sweetness and grace in No. 4, and the words are most correctly set. It is remarkably easy, and, except a single A above the staff, is within the compass of almost every female voice.

No. 5 is pleasing and elegant, though it does not lead us to suppose that the noble composer has made much effort in search of new effects. The Baron, however, has set the words—a mild anacreontic—with a correctness that many an English composer may take pattern from.

No. 6, written for two young ladies well known in the fashionable circles for their charming manner of singing, is one of those compositions which never fail to please in the drawing-room, for which the author has exclusively calculated his duet. It runs much in smoothly-flowing thirds and sixths, but Mr. Lodge’s natural tendency to something beyond these, occasionally peeps out, with good effect, though without calling on the performers for any additional exertion.

No. 7 sings very agreeably of the most valuable quality to be found among the petites morales, good-nature. There is an ease and suavity in his ballad that well agree with the theme his muse has furnished.

BALLAD, ‘Pretty Love-birds,’ in The Yeoman’s Daughter, the words by Mr. SERLE, composed by J. AGUSTINE WADE, Esq. (Hawes.)
BALLAD, ‘Is Love a thing of Joy?’ in the same, composed by W. HAWES. (Hawes.)

These ballads are sung by Mrs. Waylett at the Adelphi Theatre, to whom they are not a little indebted, for she gives a character to whatever of the kind she undertakes, that scarcely ever fails to draw ‘thunders of applause,’ in the theatrical phrase. But they have also inherent merit. The first is playful and winning, and free from all vulgarity of cadence. The second is in a very popular style, with a pizzicato accompaniment, strongly marked in rhythm, though possessing little of that originality which is so difficult to find.

AIR, ‘Friendship,’ composed by HENRY R. BISHOP. (Chappell.)
BALLAD, ‘I’ve been a Wanderer on the Seas,’ composed by JOHN BARNETT. (Chappell.)
SONG, ‘Above doth stand the DIGGER OF GRAVES,’ translated by W. M. M’GREGOR LOGAN, from the German of Der Todtengräber, composed by FRED. KUHLAU. (Wessel and Co.)
BALLAD, ‘The two Ravens,’ composed by G. HARGREAVES. (Hawes.)
SONG, ‘They bade me sing,’ the words by J. ROBY. Esq.; the Music by CHARLES SMITH. (Cramer and Co.)
NAUTICAL SONG, ‘The Sailor’s Notion,’ composed by W. A. WORDSWORTH. (Monro and May.)
BALLAD, ‘O’er the green Waters,’ the words by W. BALL; the Music by WILLIAM ORDE. (Cocks and Co.)
BALLAD, ‘The Chain,’ composed by W. NEULAND. (Chappell.)

The first of these is one of those correct and gracious airs which always, to a certain extent, please when heard, but, for want of distinctness of character, are forgotten the moment the last note is sounded.

No. 2 meets our longing ears with something in the shape of originality, something which informs us that the composer has taken the trouble to think. Of the latter, the notes at the words, ‘whose voices came,’ is a proof, and the whole is indicative of reflection and knowledge of effect.

No. 3 is true German, both words and music. A giant ‘in sable armour’ goes to a grave-digger, (der Todtengräber)—and insists on being buried. The man of the mournful spade tremblingly complies. The grave-wooer lies down, his head resting on his shield, and is covered up. The sexton crosses himself, and the story ends; but what it means, beyond what is stated, we know not, and suspect that the grave-digger never was better informed on the subject than are we and our readers. The music has a grand simplicity in it that proves of what the composer was capable, and how much we lost by his early death. He was, most probably, impressed with an idea of something mysteriously awful in the words, and admirably adapted his harmony to his conception of the poet’s meaning, into which he penetrated further than we are capable of doing. This is for a base voice, and the English translation is adapted to it with an accuracy seldom attained.

No 4 is also very Germanic, and quite as full of horrors as the former, but of another kind. The poet here sings of two birds, who ask, ‘Where shall we dine?’ The one is in favour of the remains of some shipwrecked mariners, whose corpses look inviting: the other recommends the cold remains of ‘a new-slain knight.’ How the hungry ravens determine, the song saith not, though the arguments of the latter, who seems to have been strongly tempted by the jelly of the knight’s eye, most likely prevail. This really does not seem a lyrical subject, but the composer (an amateur) has made much of it. Indeed, we have here a work of considerable genius, pleasing in spite of the not very inviting story, and superior to most of the songs that come before us.

No. 5 is a clever and very pleasing song, with many beauties, and never a fault.

No 6 possesses the best characteristics of a good sea-song, without any of those vulgarisms in cadence which are often met with in music of this description. The melody is free, the accompaniment unaffected, and the effect of the whole agreeable.

No. 7 is also a sailor’s song, but of the gentlest kind,—of a mariner who sings of ‘The chime of the vesper, the music of prayer;’ so that nothing at all approaching to nautical slang is to be found here. The air is very pretty, and a short chorus, for three sopranos, at the end of each stanza, adds such to effect.

No. 8 is more elegant than new. The composer, a foreigner, may be excused some errors in emphasis that appear in this ballad, which may be corrected without much trouble.