The reform which the emperor has been so industriously and zealously promoting in the manners and customs of the Turks, will soon be as complete in musical as it already is in military affairs. The Turkish, or rather Arabic music, has given way to that of Europe, and scarcely anything of melody or harmony is now heard in Constantinople that has not been imported from Italy. At four o’clock in the afternoon, at the moment of Yindy, the time when the public functionaries among the Ottomans retire from business, a band of wind instruments is daily heard traversing the interval between the courts of the new palace. This band is called the ‘Band of the Agas of the Seraglio,’ and consists entirely of young Turks who have become able performers, under the instruction of M. Donizetti, brother of the composer. At first, the combinations of European harmony, and the overtures of Rossini, were torture to the ears of all good Mussulmen, but they begin, at length, to be somewhat reconciled by use, and their holy horror at whatever proceeds from the Giaours of the West is not proof against the charms of ‘Di Tanti Palpiti,’ and numerous other melodies of Rossini, &c.
NOVARA.
The Maestro Pietro Generali, a composer of some popularity in his time, died lately in this city, of which he had been, for six years past, Maestro di Capella. Most accounts of this master have been in error, both as to his real name, and in stating him to have been a native of Rome. His name was Pietro Mercandetti, and he was born at Masserano, near Vercelli, in Piedmont; but he went to Rome with his father when very young, and studied music in that city, under an old singer belonging to the Sistine chapel. He had a happy turn for music, made a very rapid progress, and for a short time enjoyed a brilliant reputation. His success would have been greater if he had given himself less up to the dominion of his passions, and led a more regular life. During the latter years of his dramatic career many of his compositions were ill received by the public; this disgusted him with the theatre. His pecuniary means were very precarious, and feeling the necessity of making some provision for approaching age, he returned to his native country, and succeeded in attaining, as mentioned above, the situation of Maestro di Capella, at Novara. One opera of his, Adelina, has been performed both in London and Paris; and it has been said, that if Generali’s works had been more long-lived, many of Rossini’s melodies would lose their claim to originality.
DOUAY.
A society has been established here for some months, under the title of ‘Societé d’Emulation;’ the object of which is, to give the amateurs of this city and its environs an opportunity of hearing their compositions—which would otherwise probably have been doomed to remain for ever in the privacy of portfolios—performed in full orchestra. A band was quickly raised among the amateurs and professors, to the no small satisfaction of the young composers, and it may be hoped not without a fair chance of benefit to the art itself. The success of the inauguration concert surpassed the expectation of those most interested. Mr. E. de C., already favourably known as the author of a collection of romances, produced an overture, an aria for a contralto voice, a waltz without accompaniments, and a romance or two, all distinguished by a happy flow of melody, and an easy style of instrumentation, and all much and deservedly applauded. An overture and chorus by Mr. A. T., and an air with variations, for the horn, by Mr. C. C., formed part of the selection. Institutions of this nature cannot be too much encouraged.
BERGAMO.
It is a curious fact, but no less true, that by far the greater part of the celebrated tenor singers of the present and the last age, have been natives of this province. The three brothers Bianchi, David, father and son, Viganoni, Nozzari, Donzelli, Bordogni, Marchetti, Trezzini, Bonetti, Pasini Bolognesi, (a great singer, but a still greater drinker, who, when he had ruined his voice with brandy, blew out his brains because he could sing no longer,) and last, certainly not least, Rubini and his brothers, were all born in the State of Bergamo. It would be useless to seek here for basses; still more so for sopranos, for, indeed, the Bergamese are sometimes compared to birds, of whom the males only sing.
PARIS.
Mr. Field, the celebrated pianist, and most distinguished pupil of Clementi, is in this city, and proposes to give a public concert on the 25th of December. His success cannot be for an instant doubtful; for, besides ranking deservedly high as a composer, he is, perhaps, the sweetest and most beautiful performer on the pianoforte now in existence. There is in his style that inexpressible charm with which we used formerly to be so delighted when hearing Clementi, Dussek, and some other distinguished members of a school which now can hardly be said to exist but in the recollection of a few. Mr. Field represents that school in all its glory. To look at his hands, which scarcely seem to move; to contemplate the calmness of his countenance while playing, one would be tempted to suppose he was performing nothing but the easiest music in the world; while the fact is, that the greatest, the most complicated difficulties, are really no difficulties at all to him. Under Mr. Field’s fingers the piano is no longer a mere piece of mechanism; it sings, and seems as competent to produce sustained tones, as though it were played with a bow. Touched by this exquisite performer, it is a real musical instrument, and no longer a mere theatre for the exhibition of tours de force, the use to which the kind of talent possessed by a majority of what are called the greatest artists of the present day nearly confines it.
Théâtre Italien.—Although the performance of La Straniera satisfied the Parisian critics, as it had already those of London,[20] how little claim Bellini has to the rank as a composer which his Italian flatterers have assigned him! The beauty of the scenery and decorations, added to the singing of Grisi, Rubini, and more especially Tamburini, gave it a popularity which lasted through several repetitions. It was followed by Il Pirata, this by Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, and the latter by Mosè in Egitto. Otello and Don Giovanni are announced, in the latter of which the three female characters are to be performed by the two sisters Grisi and Mad. Tadolini, and the part of Don Juan by Tamburini. But for the singing and acting of Rubini, the Pirata would have been a complete failure. Mdlle. Doulx, a young lady who has obtained some reputation at the Conservatoire for the purity of her voice and the facility of her execution, selected the part of Imogene for her début: the choice was a bad one, because the qualifications necessary to make a good representative of Imogene are exactly the reverse of those which Mdlle. Doulx is said to possess: Imogene requires energy rather than grace; tone and volume of voice rather than agility in running divisions. It was impossible, however, to judge what the young lady might have done under other circumstances, for she was in a state of such dreadful alarm, especially during the first act, that not a note could be heard from her lips, and it appeared at times as if she could not support herself on the stage.